Published in 1998 (first published 1980)
476 pages
Millicent Dillon was an American writer. She was born in New York City and studied physics at Hunter College. She also worked variously at Princeton University, Standard Oil Company, Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft, and Northrop Aircraft. In 1965, at the age of 40, Dillon enrolled in the creative writing program at San Francisco State University. Subsequently, she taught at Foothill College in Los Altos, California. She also worked at Stanford University for nearly a decade.
Millicent became a full-time writer in 1983. She is best known for her scholarly works on the American writers Jane Bowles and Paul Bowles. These include a couple of biographies and a collection of letters, as well as The Viking Portable Paul and Jane Bowles (1994) which Dillon edited. Besides these, she also wrote short stories, novels, and plays. Her novel Harry Gold (2000) was nominated for the PEN Faulkner Award. She won five O. Henry awards and also received a Guggenheim Fellowship.
What is this book about?
The only biography of this powerful writer.
Tennessee Williams called Jane Bowles “the most important writer of prose fiction in modern American letters.” John Ashbery said she was “one of the finest modern writers of fiction in any language,” consistently producing “the surprise that is the one essential ingredient of great art.”
review on Amazon from katharinek:
I found Jane Bowles completely fascinating. I knew a little about her husband Paul from various books about Morocco. But I had no idea how fascinating and tortured Jane was. At once a glorious friend and a complete basket case. A marvelous story teller and a hopelessly blocked writer. Expanding the notion of sexual attraction and conservatively trapped by her circumstances. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in reading about a woman way ahead of her time.
