The first and highly anticipated biography of the author of such classics of suspense as Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley.
The life of Patricia Highsmith was as secretive and unusual as that of many of the best-known characters who people her "peerlessly disturbing" writing. Yet even as her work - her thrillers, short stories, and the pseudonymous lesbian novel The Price of Salt - have found new popularity in the last few years, the life of this famously elusive writer has remained a mystery.
For Beautiful Shadow, the first biography of Highsmith, journalist Andrew Wilson mined the vast archive of diaries, notebooks, and letters that Patricia Highsmith left behind, astonishing in their candor and detail. He interviewed her closest friends and colleagues as well as some of her many lovers. But Wilson also traces Highsmith's literary roots in the work of Poe, noir, and existentialism, locating the influences that helped distinguish Highsmith's writing so startlingly from more ordinary thrillers.
The result is both a serious critical biography and one that reveals much about a brilliant and contradictory woman, one who despite her acclaim and affairs always maintained her solitude.
The life of Patricia Highsmith was as secretive and unusual as that of many of the best-known characters who people her "peerlessly disturbing" writing. Yet even as her work - her thrillers, short stories, and the pseudonymous lesbian novel The Price of Salt - have found new popularity in the last few years, the life of this famously elusive writer has remained a mystery.
For Beautiful Shadow, the first biography of Highsmith, journalist Andrew Wilson mined the vast archive of diaries, notebooks, and letters that Patricia Highsmith left behind, astonishing in their candor and detail. He interviewed her closest friends and colleagues as well as some of her many lovers. But Wilson also traces Highsmith's literary roots in the work of Poe, noir, and existentialism, locating the influences that helped distinguish Highsmith's writing so startlingly from more ordinary thrillers.
The result is both a serious critical biography and one that reveals much about a brilliant and contradictory woman, one who despite her acclaim and affairs always maintained her solitude.
Similar Books by other authors...
The Selected Stories of Patricia Highsmith Patricia Highsmith | The Price of Salt Clare Morgan | Deep Water Patricia Highsmith | The Black House Patricia Highsmith |
Used availability for Andrew Wilson's Beautiful Shadow
See all available used copies of this book at: Abebooks UK or Abebooks US
Hardback Editions
2007 : Hardback
| Title: Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith Author(s): Andrew Wilson ISBN: 0-641-83060-2 / 978-0-641-83060-0 Publisher: Unknown Availability: Amazon More details... |
July 2003 : Hardback
| Title: Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith Author(s): Andrew Wilson Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Availability: Amazon More details... |
July 2003 : Hardback
| Title: Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith Author(s): Andrew Wilson ISBN: 1-58234-198-2 / 9781582341989 (USA edition) Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
June 2003 : Hardback
| Title: Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith Author(s): Andrew Wilson ISBN: 0-7475-6314-4 / 978-0-7475-6314-3 (UK edition) Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
Paperback Editions
June 2010 : Paperback
| Title: Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith (Bloomsbury Lives of Women) Author(s): Andrew Wilson ISBN: 1-4088-1119-7 / 978-1-4088-1119-1 (UK edition) Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
2007 : Paperback
| Title: Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith Author(s): Andrew Wilson Availability: Amazon More details... |
May 2004 : Paperback
| Title: Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith Author(s): Andrew Wilson ISBN: 0-7475-6855-3 / 978-0-7475-6855-1 (UK edition) Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
April 2004 : Paperback
| Title: Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith Author(s): Andrew Wilson Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
April 2004 : Paperback
| Title: Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith Author(s): Andrew Wilson ISBN: 1-58234-411-6 / 9781582344119 (USA edition) Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
2003 : Paperback
| Title: Beautiful Shadow : A Life of Patricia Highsmith Author(s): Andrew Wilson Publisher: Bloomsbury Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
Other Editions
June 2010 : Kindle edition
| Title: Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith (Bloomsbury Lives of Women) Author(s): Andrew Wilson Publisher: Bloomsbury Paperbacks Availability: Amazon UK More details... |
December 2008 : Kindle edition
| Title: Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith (Bloomsbury Lives of Women) Author(s): Andrew Wilson Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
2004 : Unknown
| Title: Beautiful Shadow A Life of Patricia Highsmith [Paperback] Author(s): Andrew Wilson Publisher: Bloomsbury Availability: Amazon More details... |
January 2003 : Unknown
| Title: Beautiful Shadow A Life of Patricia Highsmith Author(s): Publisher: Bloomsbury Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
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