Up close with some favourite authors

I have been reading some of the biographies written about my favourite authors in the last few weeks and it has been a wonderful journey of discovery. In some cases, the lives of these famous authors were far more interesting than the works they created. This was especially true in the case of Truman Capote. It can be argued that the creator of In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany's led a life that was so colourful and so extraordinary that his fictional characters struggled to match up. Gerald Clarke's definitive Capote biography, as well as George Plimpton's juicy collection of opinions/anecdotes from friends and rivals, give us a picture of a writer who was also an incorrigible gossip and man-about-town. Capote was also selfish and highly manipulative. But he was someone who was born to write, even though his eventual output was surprisingly far less than what one would have expected from a writer who made a mark so early on in his career.
I also read two biographies of W Somerset Maugham, of which only one (by Robert Calder) is worth mentioning. Maugham - who was equally good at writing plays, short stories, novels and essays - was also the most widely travelled writer of his generation. One needs to follow his footprints to properly understand where he got the ideas for his stories. Calder achieves this marvellously well. Maugham was also famously prolific and he was active till his mid-80s. The account of his senile final years, though, makes for sad reading; this is the part of the Calder book that is most movingly written.
Andrew Wilson's acclaimed Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith takes a look at the life and times of an under-rated writer. Highsmith, memorably described as "the poet of apprehension" by Graham Greene, was never really appreciated in her native America during her lifetime. But her unsettling works of crime fiction are now slowly getting well-deserved attention, especially after the release of Anthony Minghella's 1999 screen version of Highsmith's best novel, The Talented Mr Ripley. Highsmith's life was not as eventful as Maugham's or as colourful as Capote's but the story of what factors influenced her fiction makes for very interesting reading.
It is fascinating to note that all three literary luminaries mentioned above - Capote, Maugham and Highsmith - were well-known homosexuals. The fact that they were "queer" influenced their writings in subtle ways - all three, though, took care not to play up or write about their natural inclinations in their books (Maugham was especially careful in this regard) and, except for Highsmith's overtly homosexual novel The Price of Salt (or Carol), there are very few instances where one can say that they wrote about "unnatural love".
A very different kind of writer was crime fiction great Raymond Chandler. He started writing crime novels only when he was 50 and then, in a short space of a few years, created some unforgettable works, mostly featuring private eye Phillip Marlowe. Chandler rewrote the rules of "hard-boiled crime fiction" and his Marlowe novels are highly regarded both by critics and the reading public. They have never lost their appeal. Tom Hiney's Chandler biography is not the most detailed or comprehensive but is useful as a beginner's guide to the life of this unique author.
Charles J Shields' Mockingbird is a profile of Harper Lee, who is famous for having produced just one stunning book (the acclaimed To Kill a Mockingbird). Most of Shield's narrative deals with how Lee's masterpiece was written and of her friendship with childhood mate Capote. The reasons as to why Lee never produced anything after her debut novel is not made very clear by Shields; also, the last part of his book suffers from having too little material to work with.
Paul Alexander's much-criticised biography of the famed literary hermit, J D Salinger, is rather similiar to the Shields book on Lee. Alexander traces the early part of Salinger's life very well and relates how he became the hottest writer in the US with the release of the cult favourite, The Catcher in the Rye, in 1951. Salinger, portrayed as a disturbed and strange individual throughout the book, soon got tired of the unceasing attention from fans and academics and decided to withdraw fully from the real world. He has been famously described as "the last private man in America" and is notorious for his ultra-reclusive nature. Salinger says he writes only for himself and the literary world has wondered for years whether he has several manuscripts stashed away in his house. The writer speculates whether Salinger's decision to become a recluse is a PR master stroke or whether he genuninely detests contact with the outside world. Alexander also examines a dark side of Salinger's personality - his obsession with young girls, both in his fiction and in real life.
A magisterial biography of the traditional kind is Robert McCrum's fine Wodehouse: A Life. As one may expect, the most interesting part of the narrative deals with Wodehouse's foolish and misguided decision during World War II to make some (typically breezy) radio broadcasts from Germany. Wodehouse's life, otherwise, was that of a highly disciplined writer who knew exactly what his strengths were. Like his contemporary Maugham, Wodehouse had a long and very prolific career and he was also equally at home in various genres.
Some of the writers mentioned here (Maugham, Wodehouse, Highsmith) had long and very productive careers, while two (Salinger, Lee) had only a couple of glorious moments in the sun. Capote and Chandler shone brightly despite the relative brevity of their output. But all of them were extraordinary craftspeople and, after reading about their lives in some detail, I now have a renewed appreciation of their art.