Patricia Highsmith

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Patricia Highsmith
Pathigh.jpg
Publicity photo from 1966
Born Mary Patricia Plangman
(1921-01-19)January 19, 1921
Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.
Died February 4, 1995(1995-02-04) (aged 74)
Locarno, Switzerland
Resting place Tegna, Switzerland
Pen name Claire Morgan (1952)
Occupation Novelist, short story writer
Language English
Nationality American
Education Julia Richman High School
Alma mater Barnard College
Period 1942–1995
Genre Suspense, psychological thriller, crime fiction, romance
Literary movement Modernist literature
Notable works
Signature

Patricia Highsmith (January 19, 1921 – February 4, 1995)[1] was an American novelist and short story writer, known for her psychological thrillers, which led to more than two dozen film adaptations. Her first novel, Strangers on a Train, has been adapted for stage and screen numerous times, notably by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951. Highsmith wrote 22 novels, including her series of five novels with Tom Ripley as protagonist, and many short stories. Existentialism is the literary movement that most influenced her writing, with "Dostoyevsky and Gide through Camus and Sartre" among her favorite authors.[2] Graham Greene described Highsmith as "the poet of apprehension rather than fear. Fear after a time...is narcotic, it can lull one by fatigue into sleep, but apprehension nags at the nerves gently and inescapably."[3] Published under the pseudonym of "Claire Morgan," Highsmith wrote the first lesbian novel with a happy ending, The Price of Salt, republished 38 years later as Carol under her own name.

Early life[edit]

Highsmith was born Mary Patricia Plangman in Fort Worth, Texas, she was the only child of artists Jay Bernard Plangman (1889–1975), who was of German descent,[4] and Mary Plangman (née Coates; September 13, 1895 – March 12, 1991). The couple divorced ten days before their daughter's birth;[5] in 1927, Highsmith, her mother and her adoptive stepfather, artist Stanley Highsmith, whom her mother had married in 1924, moved to New York City.[5] When she was 12 years old, Highsmith was sent to Fort Worth and lived with her grandmother for a year, she called this the "saddest year" of her life and felt "abandoned" by her mother. She returned to New York to continue living with her mother and stepfather, primarily in Manhattan, but also in Astoria, Queens.

According to Highsmith, her mother once told her that she had tried to abort her by drinking turpentine,[6] although a biography of Highsmith indicates Jay Plangman tried to persuade his wife to have the abortion but she refused.[5] Highsmith never resolved this love–hate relationship, which reportedly haunted her for the rest of her life, and which she fictionalized in "The Terrapin," her short story about a young boy who stabs his mother to death.[5] Highsmith's mother predeceased her by only four years, dying at the age of 95.[6]

Highsmith's grandmother taught her to read at an early age, and she made good use of her grandmother's extensive library, at the age of nine, she found a resemblance to her own imaginative life in the case histories of The Human Mind by Karl Menninger, a popularizer of Freudian analysis.[5]

345 E. 57th Street, NYC – Residence of Patricia Highsmith

Many of Highsmith's 22 novels were set in Greenwich Village,[7] where she lived at 48 Grove Street from 1940 to 1942, before moving to 345 E. 57th Street.[citation needed] In 1942, Highsmith graduated from Barnard College, where she studied English composition, playwriting, and short story prose.[5] After graduating from college, and despite endorsements from "highly placed professionals,"[8] she applied without success for a job at publications such as Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, Mademoiselle, Good Housekeeping, Time, Fortune, and The New Yorker.[9]

Based on the recommendation from Truman Capote, Highsmith was accepted by the Yaddo artist's retreat during the summer of 1948, where she worked on her first novel, Strangers on a Train.[10][11]

Personal life[edit]

When Highsmith was four years old, she was stricken with Spanish flu, one of the most lethal pandemics in history,[12] she endured cycles of depression, some of them deep, throughout her life. Despite literary success, she wrote in her diary of January 1970: "[I] am now cynical, fairly rich ... lonely, depressed, and totally pessimistic."[13] Over the years, Highsmith suffered from female hormone deficiency, anorexia nervosa,[14] chronic anemia, Buerger's disease, and lung cancer.[15]

To all the devils, lusts, passions, greeds, envys, loves, hates, strange desires, enemies ghostly and real, the army of memories, with which I do battle — may they never give me peace.
– Patricia Highsmith, "My New Year's Toast", journal entry, 1947[16]

According to her biographer Andrew Wilson, Highsmith's personal life was a "troubled one." She was an alcoholic who, allegedly, never had an intimate relationship that lasted for more than a few years, and she was seen by some of her contemporaries and acquaintances as misanthropic and hostile.[17] Her chronic alcoholism intensified as she grew older.[18][19]

She famously preferred the company of animals to that of people and stated in a 1991 interview, "I choose to live alone because my imagination functions better when I don't have to speak with people."[20]

Otto Penzler, her U.S. publisher through his Penzler Books imprint,[21] had met Highsmith in 1983, and four years later witnessed some of her theatrics intended to create havoc at dinner tables and shipwreck an evening.[22] He said after her death that "[Highsmith] was a mean, cruel, hard, unlovable, unloving human being…I could never penetrate how any human being could be that relentlessly ugly…, but her books? Brilliant.”[23]

Other friends, publishers, and acquaintances held different views of Highsmith. Editor Gary Fisketjon, who published her later novels through Knopf, said that "She was very rough, very difficult...But she was also plainspoken, dryly funny, and great fun to be around."[23] Composer David Diamond met Highsmith in 1943 and described her as being "quite a depressed person—and I think people explain her by pulling out traits like cold and reserved, when in fact it all came from depression."[24] J. G. Ballard said of Highsmith, "The author of Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley was every bit as deviant and quirky as her mischievous heroes, and didn't seem to mind if everyone knew it."[25] Screenwriter Phyllis Nagy, who adapted The Price of Salt into the 2015 film Carol, met Highsmith in 1987 and the two remained friends for the rest of Highsmith's life.[26] Nagy said that Highsmith was "very sweet" and "encouraging" to her as a young writer, as well as "wonderfully funny."[27][28]

She was considered by some as "a lesbian with a misogynist streak."[29] However, in his review of Little Tales of Misogyny, Nicholas Lezard thought the accusations of misogyny to be without foundation.[30][a]

Highsmith loved cats, and she bred about three hundred snails in her garden at home in Suffolk, England.[31] Highsmith once attended a London cocktail party with a "gigantic handbag" that "contained a head of lettuce and a hundred snails" which she said were her "companions for the evening."[31]

She loved woodworking tools and made several pieces of furniture. Highsmith worked without stopping; in later life, she became stooped, with an osteoporotic hump.[5] Though the 22 novels and 8 books of short stories she wrote were highly acclaimed, especially outside of the United States, Highsmith preferred her personal life to remain private.[32]

A lifelong diarist, Highsmith left behind eight thousand pages of handwritten notebooks and diaries.[33]

She never married or had children.

Sexuality[edit]

Highsmith on the British television discussion programme After Dark in June 1988 - more here

Patricia Highsmith was sexually attracted to women only[34] and her sexual relationships were primarily with them.[35] When younger, she occasionally engaged in sex with men without physical desire for them, and wrote in her diary: "The male face doesn't attract me, isn't beautiful to me."[36][b] She told writer Marijane Meaker in the late 1950s that she had "tried to like men. I like most men better than I like women, but not in bed."[37] In a 1970 letter to her stepfather Stanley, Highsmith described sexual encounters with men as "steel wool in the face, a sensation of being raped in the wrong place—leading to a sensation of having to have, pretty soon, a boewl [sic] movement." Stressing, "If these words are unpleasant to read, I can assure you it is a little more unpleasant in bed."[34] Phyllis Nagy described Highsmith as "a lesbian who did not very much enjoy being around other women" and the few sexual dabbles she'd had with men occurred just to "see if she could be into men in that way because she so much more preferred their company."[26]

In 1943, Highsmith had an affair with artist Allela Cornell who, despondent over unrequited love from another woman, committed suicide in 1946 by drinking nitric acid.[10]

During her stay at Yaddo, Highsmith met writer Marc Brandel, son of author J.D. Beresford.[34] Even though she told him about her homosexuality,[34] they soon entered into a short-lived relationship,[38] he convinced her to visit him in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where he introduced her to Ann Smith, a painter and designer with a previous métier as a Vogue fashion model, and the two became involved.[34] After Smith left Provincetown, Highsmith felt she was "in prison" with Brandel and told him she was leaving. "[B]ecause of that I have to sleep with him, and only the fact that it is the last night strengthens me to bear it." Highsmith, who had never been sexually exclusive with Brandel, resented having sex with him.[39] Highsmith temporarily broke off the relationship with Brandel and continued to be involved with several women; reuniting after the well-received publication of his new novel. Beginning November 30, 1948, and continuing for the next six months, Highsmith underwent psychoanalysis in an effort "to regularize herself sexually" so she could marry Brandel, the analysis was brought to a stop by Highsmith, after which she ended her relationship with him.[39]

After ending her engagement to Marc Brandel, she had an affair with psychoanalyst Kathryn Hamill Cohen, the wife of British publisher Dennis Cohen and founder of Cresset Press, which later published Strangers on a Train.[40][41]

To help pay for the twice-a-week therapy sessions, Highsmith had taken a sales job during Christmas rush season in the toy section of Bloomingdale's department store.[39] Ironically, it was during this attempt to "cure" her homosexuality that Highsmith was inspired to write her semi-autobiographical novel The Price of Salt, in which two women meet in a department store and begin a passionate affair.[42][43][c]

In early September 1951, she began an affair with sociologist Ellen Blumenthal Hill, traveling back and forth to Europe to meet with her.[5] When Highsmith and Hill came to New York in early May 1953, their affair ostensibly "in a fragile state," Highsmith began an "impossible" affair with the German homosexual photographer Rolf Tietgens, who had played a "sporadic, intense, and unconsummated role in her emotional life since 1943."[5] She was reportedly attracted to Tietgens on account of his homosexuality, confiding that she felt with him "as if he is another girl, or a singularly innocent man." Tietgens shot several nude photographs of Highsmith, but only one has survived.[49] It has been torn in half at the waist so that only her upper body appears,[5] she dedicated The Two Faces of January (1964) to Tietgens.

Between 1959 and 1961, Highsmith was in love with author Marijane Meaker.[50][51] Meaker wrote lesbian stories under the pseudonym "Ann Aldrich" and mystery/suspense fiction as "Vin Packer," and later wrote young adult fiction as "M.E. Kerr."[51] In the late 1980s, after 27 years of separation, Highsmith began corresponding with Meaker again, and one day showed up on Meaker's doorstep, slightly drunk and ranting bitterly. Meaker later said she was horrified at how Highsmith's personality had changed.[d]

Highsmith was attracted to women of privilege who expected their lovers to treat them with veneration.[52] According to Phyllis Nagy, she belonged to a "very particular subset of lesbians" and described her conduct with many women she was interested in as being comparable to a movie "studio boss" who chased starlets. Many of these women, who to some extent belonged to the 'Carol Aird'-type[e] and her social set, remained friendly with Highsmith and confirmed the stories of seduction.[26]

An intensely private person, Highsmith was remarkably open and outspoken about her sexuality,[32][34] she told Meaker: "the only difference between us and heterosexuals is what we do in bed."[53]

Religious, racial and ethnic views[edit]

Highsmith was a resolute atheist,[54] although she considered herself a liberal, and in her school years had gotten along with Black students,[55] in later years she became convinced that Blacks were responsible for the welfare crisis in America.[56] She disliked Koreans because "they ate dogs".[57]

From the beginning of the occupation of Palestine by Israel, Highsmith was an active supporter of Palestinian rights, a stance which, according to Carol screenwriter Phyllis Nagy, "often teetered into outright antisemitism."[58] When she was living in Switzerland in the 1980s, she used nearly 40 aliases when writing to various government bodies and newspapers deploring the state of Israel and the "influence" of the Jews.[59] Nevertheless, many of the women she became romantically involved with as well as friends she valued were Jewish,[60] such as Arthur Koestler, whom she met in October 1950[61] and with whom she had an unsuccessful affair designed to hide her homosexuality, believing that Marc Brandel's disclosure that she was homosexual would hurt her professionally.[62] Moreover, Saul Bellow, also Jewish, was a favorite author.[63]

Politics[edit]

Highsmith described herself as a social democrat,[57] she believed in American democratic ideals and in "the promise" of U.S. history, but she was also highly critical of the reality of the country's 20th-century culture and foreign policy. Tales of Natural and Unnatural Catastrophes, her 1987 anthology of short stories, was notoriously anti-American, and she often cast her homeland in a deeply unflattering light. Beginning in 1963, she resided exclusively in Europe,[5] she retained her United States citizenship, despite the tax penalties, of which she complained bitterly while living for many years in France and Switzerland.

Israel[edit]

After Israel declared independence following the 1948 Palestine war and 1948 Arab–Israeli War it seized control of three-quarters of the Palestine state, and Highsmith aligned herself with writers such as Gore Vidal, Alexander Cockburn, Noam Chomsky and Edward Said in supporting Palestinian self-determination.[64] As a member of Amnesty International, she felt duty-bound to express publicly her opposition to the displacement of Palestinians.[64] Highsmith prohibited her books from being published in Israel after the election of Menachem Begin as Prime Minister in 1977,[64] she dedicated her 1983 novel People Who Knock on the Door to the Palestinian people:

To the courage of the Palestinian people and their leaders in the struggle to regain a part of their homeland, this book has nothing to do with their problem.

The inscription was dropped from the U.S. edition with permission from her agent but without consent from Highsmith.[65]

Highsmith contributed financially to the Jewish Committee on the Middle East,[64] an organization founded in 1988 that represented American Jews who wanted the United States to "dissociate...from the policies of Israel."[66] She wrote in an August 1993 letter to Marijane Meaker: "USA could save 11 million per day if they would cut the dough to Israel, the Jewish vote is 1%."[67]

Death[edit]

Patricia Highsmith, aged 74, died on February 4, 1995, from a combination of aplastic anemia and lung cancer at Carita hospital in Locarno, Switzerland, near the village where she had lived since 1982. She was cremated at the cemetery in Bellinzona; a memorial service was conducted in the Chiesa di Tegna in Tegna, Ticino, Switzerland; and her ashes were interred in its columbarium.[68][57][69][70]

She left her estate, worth an estimated $3 million, and the promise of any future royalties to the Yaddo colony, where she spent two months in 1948 writing the draft of Strangers on a Train.[34][f] Highsmith bequeathed her literary estate to the Swiss Literary Archives at the Swiss National Library in Bern, Switzerland.[72] Her Swiss publisher, Diogenes Verlag, was appointed literary executor of the estate.[60]

Writing career[edit]

Comic books[edit]

Before her short stories started appearing in print, Highsmith wrote for comic book publishers from 1942 and 1948, while she lived in New York City and Mexico. Answering an ad for "reporter/rewrite," she landed a job working for comic book publisher Ned Pines in a "bullpen" with four artists and three other writers. Initially scripting two comic-book stories a day for $55-a-week paychecks, Highsmith soon realized she could make more money by freelance writing for comics, a situation which enabled her to find time to work on her own short stories and live for a period in Mexico, the comic book scriptwriter job was the only long-term job Highsmith ever held.[5]

From 1942–43, for the Sangor-Pines shop (Better/Cinema/Pines/Standard/Nedor), Highsmith wrote "Sergeant Bill King" stories and contributed to Black Terror and Fighting Yank comics; and wrote profiles such as Catherine the Great, Barney Ross, and Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker for the "Real Life Comics" series. From 1943–1946, under editor Vincent Fago at Timely Comics, she contributed to its U.S.A. Comics wartime series, writing scenarios for comics such as Jap Buster Johnson and The Destroyer. During these same years she wrote for Fawcett Publications, scripting for Fawcett Comics characters "Crisco and Jasper" and others.[73] Highsmith also wrote for Western Comics from 1945 to 1947.[citation needed]

When Highsmith wrote the psychological thriller novel The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955), one of the title character's first victims is a comic-book artist named Reddington: "Tom had a hunch about Reddington. He was a comic-book artist, he probably didn't know whether he was coming or going."[74]

Novels and short stories[edit]

Highsmith's first novel, Strangers on a Train, proved modestly successful upon publication in 1950, and Alfred Hitchcock's 1951 film adaptation of the novel enhanced her reputation.

Highsmith's second novel, The Price of Salt, was published in 1952 under the nom de plume Claire Morgan.[75] Highsmith mined her personal life for the novel's content,[45] its groundbreaking happy ending[76][g] and departure from stereotypical conceptions about lesbians made it stand out in lesbian fiction.[77] In what BBC 2's "The Late Show" presenter Sarah Dunant described as a "literary coming out" after 38 years of disaffirmation,[78] Highsmith finally acknowledged authorship of the novel publicly when she agreed to the 1990 publication by Bloomsbury retitled Carol. Highsmith wrote in the "Afterword" to the new edition:

If I were to write a novel about a lesbian relationship, would I then be labelled a lesbian-book writer? That was a possibility, even though I might never be inspired to write another such book in my life. So I decided to offer the book under another name.

The appeal of The Price of Salt was that it had a happy ending for its two main characters, or at least they were going to try to have a future together. Prior to this book, homosexuals male and female in American novels had had to pay for their deviation by cutting their wrists, drowning themselves in a swimming pool, or by switching to heterosexuality (so it was stated), or by collapsing – alone and miserable and shunned – into a depression equal to hell.[79]

How was it possible to be afraid and in love, Therese thought. The two things did not go together. How was it possible to be afraid, when the two of them grew stronger together every day? And every night. Every night was different, and every morning. Together they possessed a miracle.
–The Price of Salt, chapter eighteen (Coward-McCann, 1952)

The paperback version of the novel sold nearly one million copies before its 1990 reissue as Carol.[80] The Price of Salt is distinct for also being the only one of Highsmith's novels in which no violent crime takes place,[48] and where her characters have "more explicit sexual existences" and allowed "to find happiness in their relationship."[2]

Her short stories appeared for the first time in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in the early 1950s.

Her last novel, Small g: a Summer Idyll, was rejected by Knopf (her usual publisher by then) several months before her death,[81] leaving Highsmith without an American publisher.[60] It was published posthumously in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury Publishing in March 1995,[82] and nine years later in the United States by W.W. Norton.[83]

The "Ripliad"[edit]

Cover of The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955).

In 1955, Highsmith wrote The Talented Mr. Ripley, a novel about Tom Ripley, a criminal who murders a rich man and steals his identity. Highsmith wrote four sequels: Ripley Under Ground (1970), Ripley's Game (1974), The Boy Who Followed Ripley (1980) and Ripley Under Water (1991), about Ripley's exploits as a con artist and serial killer who always gets away with his crimes. The series—collectively dubbed "The Ripliad"—are some of Highsmith's most popular works and have sold millions of copies worldwide.

The "suave, agreeable and utterly amoral" Ripley is Highsmith's most famous character, and has been critically acclaimed for being "both a likable character and a cold-blooded killer."[84] He has typically been regarded as "cultivated," a "dapper sociopath," and an "agreeable and urbane psychopath."[85]

Sam Jordison of The Guardian wrote, "It is near impossible, I would say, not to root for Tom Ripley. Not to like him. Not, on some level, to want him to win. Patricia Highsmith does a fine job of ensuring he wheedles his way into our sympathies."[86] Film critic Roger Ebert made a similar appraisal of the character in his review of Purple Noon, Rene Clement's 1960 film adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley: "Ripley is a criminal of intelligence and cunning who gets away with murder. He's charming and literate, and a monster. It's insidious, the way Highsmith seduces us into identifying with him and sharing his selfishness; Ripley believes that getting his own way is worth whatever price anyone else might have to pay. We all have a little of that in us."[87] Novelist Sarah Waters esteemed The Talented Mr. Ripley as the "one book I wish I'd written."[88]

In 2015, The Hollywood Reporter announced that a group of production companies were planning a television series based on the novels,[89] the series is currently in development.[90]

Film adaptations[edit]

The first three books in the series have been adapted into films five times:

  • 1960. The Talented Mr. Ripley was adapted as the French film Plein soleil (titled Purple Noon for English-speaking audiences, though it translates as "Full Sun"). Directed by René Clément with Alain Delon as Tom Ripley. Both Highsmith and film critic Roger Ebert criticized the screenplay for altering the ending to prevent Ripley from going unpunished as he does in the novel.[91][87]
  • 1977. Ripley's Game (third novel) and a "plot fragment" of Ripley Under Ground (second novel) were adapted as German-language film Der Amerikanische Freund (The American Friend). Directed by Wim Wenders with Dennis Hopper as Ripley. Highsmith initially disliked the film but later found it stylish, although she did not like how Ripley was interpreted.[92]
  • 1999. The Talented Mr. Ripley was adapted as an American production. Directed by Anthony Minghella with Matt Damon as Ripley.
  • 2002. Ripley's Game was adapted as a film of same name for an English-language Italian production. Directed by Liliana Cavani with John Malkovich as Ripley, although not all reviews were favorable, Roger Ebert regarded it as the best of all the Ripley films.[93]
  • 2005. Ripley Under Ground was adapted as a film of same name. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode with Barry Pepper as Ripley.

Honors[edit]

Awards and nominations[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

W. W. Norton & Company (2002) ISBN 978-0-393-05187-2

Novels[edit]

The "Ripliad"[edit]

Short story collections[edit]

  • Eleven (1970) (Foreword by Graham Greene) (published as The Snail-Watcher and Other Stories in the U.S.)
  • Little Tales of Misogyny (1975) (published first as Kleine Geschichtgen für Weiberfeinde in Switzerland)
  • The Animal Lover's Book of Beastly Murder (1975)
  • Slowly, Slowly in the Wind (1979)
  • The Black House (1981)
  • Mermaids on the Golf Course (1985)
  • Tales of Natural and Unnatural Catastrophes (1987)
  • Chillers (1990)
  • Nothing That Meets the Eye: The Uncollected Stories (2002) (published posthumously)

Other books[edit]

  • Miranda the Panda is on the Veranda (1958) with Doris Sanders (children's book of verse and illustrations)
  • Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction (1966) (enlarged and revised edition, 1981)

Essays and articles[edit]

  • "Not-Thinking with the Dishes" (1982), Whodunit? A Guide to Crime, Suspense and Spy Fiction, pg. 92. By H. R. F. Keating, Windward, ISBN 0-7112-0249-4[98]
  • "Scene of the Crime" (1989), Granta, Issue No. 29, Winter

Miscellaneous[edit]

Collected works[edit]

Film, television, theatre and radio adaptations[edit]

Several of Highsmith's works have been adapted for other media, some more than once.[101][102][103] In 1978, Highsmith was president of the jury at the 28th Berlin International Film Festival.[5][104] There have been five film adaptations of the Tom Ripley novels (see "Ripliad" section).

Film[edit]

Television[edit]

  • 1958. Strangers on a Train was adapted by Warner Brothers for an episode of the TV series 77 Sunset Strip.
  • 1982. Scenes from the Ripley novels were dramatized in the episode A Gift for Murder of The South Bank Show, with Jonathan Kent portraying Tom Ripley. The episode included an interview with Patricia Highsmith.[105]
  • 1987. The Cry of the Owl was adapted for German television as Der Schrei der Eule, directed by Tom Toelle starring Matthias Habich as Robert, Birgit Doll as Johanna, and Jacques Breuer as Karl.
  • 1990. The twelve episodes of the television series Mistress of Suspense are based on stories by Highsmith, the series aired first in France, then in the U.K. It became available in the U.S. under the title Chillers.[citation needed]
  • 1993. The Tremor of Forgery was adapted as German television film Trip nach Tunis, directed by Peter Goedel starring David Hunt as Howard Ingham, Karen Sillas as Ina Pallant and John Seitz as Francis J. Adams.
  • 1995. Little Tales of Misogyny was adapted as Spanish/Catalan television film Petits contes misògins, directed by Pere Sagristà starring Marta Pérez, Carme Pla, Mamen Duch, and Míriam Iscla.
  • 1996. Strangers on a Train was adapted for television as Once You Meet a Stranger, directed by Tommy Lee Wallace starring Jacqueline Bisset as Sheila Gaines ("Guy"), Theresa Russell as Margo Anthony ("Bruno") and Celeste Holm as Clara. The gender of the two lead characters was changed from male to female.
  • 1996. A Dog's Ransom was adapted as French television film La rançon du chien, directed by Peter Kassovitz starring François Négret as César, François Perrot as Edouard Raynaud, Daniel Prévost as Max Ducasse and Charlotte Valandrey as Sophie.

Theatre[edit]

Radio[edit]

Fictional works about Patricia Highsmith[edit]

See also[edit]

  • Ruth Rendell: A "mistress of suspense" contemporary of Highsmith for whom Highsmith acknowledged rarely-admitted admiration. Rendell explored characters and themes similar to Highsmith's.[114][115]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ The book was first published in 1975 in German, under the title Kleine Geschichte für Weiberfeinde, appearing in English two years later. The German title means, literally, Little Tales for Misogynists. Lezard remarked, "The mischief here extends to what at first glance looks like a single-minded assault on her own sex, until it becomes clear that what she is actually attacking is a range of stupid or vicious behaviours; the charge of misogyny is something of a red herring."[30]
  2. ^ Highsmith wrote in her "Diary 8" on June 17, 1948: "What is so impossible, is that the male face doesn't attract me, isn't beautiful to me. Though I can imagine a familiarity with a man, which would ... allow us to work and make us happy—and certainly sane ... [t]he question is, whether men alone, their selves, don't get unbearably boring?"[36]
  3. ^ The character of Carol Aird and much of the plot of The Price of Salt was inspired by Highsmith's former lovers Kathryn Hamill Cohen and Philadelphia socialite Virginia Kent Catherwood,[41][10][44] and her relationships with them.[45][46] Catherwood[47] lost custody of her daughter in divorce proceedings that involved tape-recorded lesbian trysts in hotel rooms.[48]
  4. ^ Meaker recalled: "[Patricia] was a wonderful, giving, funny person when I [first] met her. I can always remember her smile and her laughter because that was so much a part of her, but when she came back she was despicable. I couldn't believe her hatred for blacks, for Jews in particular, but even for gay people, she hated everybody."[51]
  5. ^ "Carol Aird" is the upper-class, married woman going through a difficult divorce in Highsmith's novel The Price of Salt.
  6. ^ During her lifetime, Highsmith supported Yaddo with contributions she preferred to keep anonymous. One of these gifts created an endowed fund to underwrite an annual residency for a young creative artist working in any medium, at her request the residency is now known as the "Patricia Highsmith-Plangman Residency".[71]
  7. ^ Marijane Meaker stated: "[The Price of Salt ] was for many years the only lesbian novel, in either hard or soft cover, with a happy ending."[76]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Mary P Highsmith". FamilySearch. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (From the United States Social Security Administration Death Master File). 
  2. ^ a b Shore, Robert (January 27, 2000). "The talented Ms Highsmith". The Guardian. Retrieved March 29, 2017. 
  3. ^ Highsmith, Patricia (1970). "Foreword". Eleven (1st ed.). William Heinemann Ltd. p. xi. ISBN 043433510X. 
  4. ^ Castle, Terry (November 10, 2003). "The Ick Factor". The New Republic. Archived from the original on September 22, 2015. Retrieved October 6, 2015. 
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Schenkar, Joan (2009). The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9780312303754. [page needed]
  6. ^ a b Doll, Jen (December 4, 2015). "The Bizarre True Story Behind "The Talented Mr. Ripley"". Mental Floss. Retrieved June 9, 2017. 
  7. ^ Cohen, Patricia (December 10, 2009). "The Haunts of Miss Highsmith". The New York Times. Retrieved October 6, 2015. 
  8. ^ Schenkar, Joan (2009). "Alter Ego: Part 1". The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). St. Martin's Press. p. 130. ISBN 9780312303754. 
  9. ^ Michaud, Jon (January 25, 2010). "Book Club: Highsmith and The New Yorker". The New Yorker. Retrieved March 24, 2017. 
  10. ^ a b c Wilson, Andrew (2003). "How I adore my Virginias". Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). Bloomsbury. ISBN 1582341982. 
  11. ^ Willcox, Kathleen (June 1, 2016). "Patricia Highsmith, Yaddo and America". Saratoga Living. Retrieved March 24, 2017. 
  12. ^ Wilson, Andrew (2003). "Born under a sickly star". Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). Bloomsbury. ISBN 1582341982. 
  13. ^ Schenkar, Joan (2009). "The Real Romance of Objects". The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9780312303754. 
  14. ^ Schenkar, Joan (2009). "La Mamma: Part 3". The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9780312303754. 
  15. ^ Schenkar, Joan (2009). "A Simple Act of Forgery". The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9780312303754. 
  16. ^ Schenkar, Joan (2009). "The Cake That Was Shaped Like a Coffin: Part 8". The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). St. Martin's Press. p. 559. ISBN 9780312303754. 
  17. ^ Wilson, Andrew (2003). "This shimmery void 1967-1968". Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). Bloomsbury. ISBN 1582341982. 
  18. ^ O'Neill, Anne (September 28, 2015). "Booze as muse: writers and alcohol, from Ernest Hemingway to Patricia Highsmith". The Irish Times. Retrieved April 12, 2017. 
  19. ^ Schenkar, Joan (2009). "Social Studies: Part 1". The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9780312303754. 
  20. ^ Guinard, Mavis (August 17, 1991). "Patricia Highsmith: Alone With Ripley". The New York Times. Retrieved October 6, 2015. 
  21. ^ Wilson, Andrew (2003). "Work is more fun than play 1983-1986". Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). Bloomsbury. ISBN 1582341982. 
  22. ^ Schenkar, Joan (2009). "The Cake That Was Shaped Like a Coffin". The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9780312303754. 
  23. ^ a b Fierman, Daniel (January 14, 2000). "Mystery Girl: Deceased mistress of suspense Patricia Highsmith is finding new fans with The Talented Mr. Ripley". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved October 6, 2015. 
  24. ^ Schenkar, Joan (2009). "Alter Ego: Part 3". The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9780312303754. 
  25. ^ Ballard, JG (21 July 2003). "Summer reading (from The Sunday Telegraph) What I'll be reading this summer". The Sunday Telegraph. Retrieved June 13, 2017. 
  26. ^ a b c Gross, Terry (January 6, 2016). "In 'Carol,' 2 Women Leap Into An Unlikely Love Affair". Fresh Air. NPR. Retrieved March 13, 2017. 
  27. ^ Cocozza, Paula (November 12, 2015). "How Patricia Highsmith's Carol became a film: 'Lesbianism is not an issue. It's a state of normal'". The Guardian. Retrieved December 14, 2015. 
  28. ^ Emily (November 13, 2015). "Phyllis Nagy: On Screen Writing and CAROL". The Laughing Lesbian. Retrieved December 14, 2015. 
  29. ^ Walter, Natasha (July 11, 2003). "A lover, not a liker". The Guardian. Retrieved October 6, 2015. 
  30. ^ a b Lezard, Nicholas (January 20, 2015). "Little Tales of Misogyny by Patricia Highsmith review – a mischievous look at the suburban American dream". The Guardian. Retrieved October 6, 2015. 
  31. ^ a b Currey, Mason (2013). Daily Rituals: How Artists Work (1st ed.). Knopf. p. 12. ISBN 978-0307273604. 
  32. ^ a b Dawson, Jill (May 13, 2015). "Carol: the women behind Patricia Highsmith's lesbian novel". The Guardian. Retrieved October 6, 2015. 
  33. ^ Schenkar, Joan (September 29, 2011). "After Patricia". The Paris Review. Retrieved October 6, 2015. 
  34. ^ a b c d e f g Wilson, Andrew (2003). "Yaddo, shadow – shadow, Yaddo!". Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). Bloomsbury. ISBN 1582341982. 
  35. ^ Schenkar, Joan (2009). "Les Girls". The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). St. Martin's Press. pp. 267–435. ISBN 9780312303754. 
  36. ^ a b Schenkar, Joan (2009). "Social Studies Part 2". The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). St. Martin's Press. p. 257. ISBN 9780312303754. 
  37. ^ Meaker, Marijane (2003). "Four". Highsmith: A Romance of the 1950s (1st ed.). Cleis Press. p. 25. ISBN 1573441716. 
  38. ^ Espana, Marco (May 6, 2015). "Famous First Words: Strangers on a Train". Late Night Library. Retrieved March 11, 2016. 
  39. ^ a b c Schenkar, Joan (2009). "Social Studies Part 2". The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9780312303754. 
  40. ^ Schenkar, Joan (2009). "Les Girls: Part 2". The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). St. Martin's Press. pp. 287–289. ISBN 9780312303754. 
  41. ^ a b Wilson, Andrew (2003). "Instantly, I love her". Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). Bloomsbury. ISBN 1582341982. 
  42. ^ Wilson, Andrew (2003). "Introduction". Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). Bloomsbury. ISBN 1582341982. 
  43. ^ Hart, Kate (August 15, 2011). "The Inner Life of Patricia Highsmith". This Recording. Retrieved October 6, 2015. 
  44. ^ Schenkar, Joan (2009). The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). St. Martin's Press. pp. 282–286, 287–289. ISBN 9780312303754. 
  45. ^ a b Wilson, Andrew (2003). "Carol, in a thousand cities". Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). Bloomsbury. ISBN 1582341982. 
  46. ^ Jordan, Louis (November 19, 2015). "Carol's Happy Ending". Slate. The Slate Group. Retrieved February 27, 2017. 
  47. ^ "Virginia Tucker Kent Catherwood". Find A Grave. July 17, 2012. Retrieved February 27, 2017. 
  48. ^ a b Talbot, Margaret (November 30, 2015). "Forbidden Love". The New Yorker. Retrieved March 5, 2016. 
  49. ^ Rolf Tietgens, portrait of the writer Patricia Highsmith at age 21 (1942) - Photos as ukiyo-e: pictures of the floating world - The senses of literature
  50. ^ Meaker, Marijane (2003). Highsmith: A Romance of the 1950s (1st ed.). Cleis Press. ISBN 1573441716. 
  51. ^ a b c de Bertodano, Helena (June 16, 2003). "A passion that turned to poison". The Telegraph. Retrieved October 6, 2015. 
  52. ^ Meaker, Marijane (2003). "Eleven". Highsmith: A Romance of the 1950s (1st ed.). Cleis Press. p. 63. ISBN 1573441716. 
  53. ^ Meaker, Marijane (2003). "Four". Highsmith: A Romance of the 1950s (1st ed.). Cleis Press. p. 24. ISBN 1573441716. 
  54. ^ Gray, John (17 May 2013). "A Point of View: Tom Ripley and the meaning of evil". BBC News Magazine. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved June 9, 2017. 
  55. ^ Attallah, Naim (May 27, 2010). "No Longer With Us: Patricia Highsmith". Naim Attallah Online. Retrieved June 9, 2017. 
  56. ^ Wilson, Andrew (2003). "The forever seeking". Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). Bloomsbury. ISBN 1582341982. 
  57. ^ a b c Hodgson, Godfrey (February 6, 1995). "Obituary: Patricia Highsmith". The Independent. Retrieved March 16, 2017. 
  58. ^ Nagy, Phyllis (November 29, 2015). "Scotch, beer and cigarettes: my weekend with Patricia Highsmith". The Guardian. Retrieved March 28, 2017. 
  59. ^ Winterson, Jeanette (December 16, 2009). "Patricia Highsmith, Hiding in Plain Sight". The New York Times. Retrieved October 6, 2015. 
  60. ^ a b c Bolonik, Kera (November 20, 2003). "Murder, She Wrote". The Nation. Retrieved March 15, 2016. 
  61. ^ Schenkar, Joan (2009). "Les Girls: Part 2". The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). St. Martin's Press. p. 293. ISBN 9780312303754. 
  62. ^ Torrance, Kelly Jane (March 2010). "In cold blood". The New Criterion. Archived from the original on October 5, 2013. Retrieved June 10, 2017. 
  63. ^ Wilson, Andrew (2003). "Name: Ishmael 1970-1971". Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). Bloomsbury. ISBN 1582341982. 
  64. ^ a b c d Wilson, Andrew (2003). "A face accustomed to its ghosts". Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). Bloomsbury. ISBN 1582341982. 
  65. ^ Wilson, Andrew (2003). "No end in sight". Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). Bloomsbury. ISBN 1582341982. 
  66. ^ "Statement of Principles". The Jewish Committee on the Middle East (JCOME). February 1988. Retrieved April 7, 2017. 
  67. ^ Meaker, Marijane (2003). "Epilogue". Highsmith: A Romance of the 1950s (1st ed.). Cleis Press. p. 205. ISBN 1573441716. 
  68. ^ Schenkar, Joan (2009). "Appendix 1: Just the Facts". The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). St. Martin's Press. p. 590. ISBN 9780312303754. 
  69. ^ Dupont, Joan (September 9, 1997). "A Writer's Legacy: Little Tales of Cats and Snails". The New York Times. Retrieved April 7, 2016. 
  70. ^ Kennedy, Randy (February 5, 1995). "Patricia Highsmith, Writer Of Crime Tales, Dies at 74". The New York Times. Retrieved April 7, 2016. 
  71. ^ Yaddo News (Spring 2004). "Yaddo Shadow" (PDF). Yaddo. pp. 14–17. Retrieved March 13, 2016. 
  72. ^ Swiss Literary Archives (March 7, 2006). "Patricia Highsmith at the Swiss National Library". Swiss National Library. Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek. Retrieved March 13, 2016. 
  73. ^ Schenkar, Joan (December 2009). "Patricia Highsmith & The Golden Age Of American Comics". Alter Ego. TwoMorrows Publishing. 3 (90): 35–40. 
  74. ^ Highsmith, Patricia (2008). The Talented Mr. Ripley. W.W. Norton & Company. pp. 19–20. ISBN 9780393332148.  Originally published by Coward-McCann, Inc., New York, 1955, LCCN 55010083.
  75. ^ Jones, Nick (September 25, 2015). "Carol by Patricia Highsmith (Bloomsbury, 1990); Orig. The Price of Salt by Claire Morgan (Coward-McCann, 1952): Book Review". Existential Ennui. Retrieved March 12, 2016. 
  76. ^ a b Meaker, Marijane (2003). "One". Highsmith: A Romance of the 1950s (1st ed.). Cleis Press. p. 1. ISBN 1573441716. 
  77. ^ Carlston, Erin G. (November 22, 2015). "Essay: Patricia Highsmith's The Price of Salt, The Lesbian Novel That's Now A Major Motion Picture". The National Book Review. Retrieved March 5, 2016. 
  78. ^ Wilson, Andrew (2003). "Art is not always healthy and why should it be? 1988-1992". Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith (1st ed.). Bloomsbury. ISBN 1582341982. 
  79. ^ Patricia Highsmith (November 11, 2015). "Happily ever after, at last: Patricia Highsmith on the inspiration for Carol". The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group Limited. Retrieved March 5, 2016. 
  80. ^ Rich, Frank (November 18, 2015). "Loving Carol". Vulture. New York. Retrieved March 5, 2016. 
  81. ^ Rich, Frank (December 12, 1999). "American pseudo". The New York Times. Retrieved November 27, 2015. 
  82. ^ King, Francis (18 March 1995). "Perverse and foolish". The Spectator. Retrieved June 13, 2017. 
  83. ^ Leavitt, David (June 20, 2004). "Strangers in a Bar". The New York Times. Retrieved November 27, 2015. 
  84. ^ Jordison, Sam (June 9, 2015). "Mr Ripley's great talent? Making us like a killer and his crimes". The Guardian. Retrieved March 18, 2017. 
  85. ^ Silet, Charles L.P. "Patricia Highsmith's Thomas Ripley". MysteryNet. Retrieved December 30, 2010. 
  86. ^ Jordison, Sam (June 2, 2015). "Tom Ripley, the likable psychopath". The Guardian. Retrieved March 18, 2017. 
  87. ^ a b Ebert, Roger (July 3, 1996). "Purple Noon". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved October 6, 2015. 
  88. ^ Gleeson, Sinead (June 13, 2015). "Patricia Highsmith: a talented writer who always let rip". The Irish Times. Retrieved June 13, 2017. 
  89. ^ Goldberg, Lesley (May 27, 2015). "Patricia Highsmith's 'Ripley' Book Series Headed to TV (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. 
  90. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (March 24, 2016). "‘Luther’ Creator Neil Cross To Write TV Series Adaptation Of Tom Ripley Books". Deadline.com. Retrieved July 14, 2016. 
  91. ^ Wilson, Andrew (May 24, 2003). "Ripley's enduring allure". The Telegraph. Retrieved October 6, 2015. 
  92. ^ Peary, Gerald (Spring 1988). "Patricia Highsmith". geraldpeary.com. Retrieved October 6, 2015. 
  93. ^ Ebert, Roger (April 9, 2006). "Ripley's Game". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved October 6, 2015. 
  94. ^ "Le Prix Littéraire Lucien Barrière". Festival du Cinéma Américain de Deauville. Retrieved April 12, 2017. 
  95. ^ Wright, Lance. "The Vuoden Johtolanka (Clue) Award". Omnimystery. Retrieved April 11, 2017. 
  96. ^ "Edgars Database". TheEdgars.com. Mystery Writers of America. Retrieved April 11, 2017. 
  97. ^ "Books and Writers". booksandwriters.co.uk. Crime Writers' Association. Retrieved April 11, 2017. 
  98. ^ http://www.worldcat.org/title/whodunit-a-guide-to-crime-suspense-and-spy-fiction/oclc/9509434
  99. ^ https://lccn.loc.gov/78300757
  100. ^ https://openlibrary.org/books/OL18769106M/Crime_mystery
  101. ^ Arn, Jackson (November 25, 2015). "Adaptation: Patricia Highsmith". Film Comment. Film Society of Lincoln Center. Retrieved March 11, 2016. 
  102. ^ Nolan, Monica (Fall 2015). "Everyone Is Guilty: The Films of Patricia Highsmith" (PDF). Noir City. Film Noir Foundation. Retrieved April 5, 2016. 
  103. ^ Morris, Bill (November 25, 2015). "The Filmable Miss Highsmith". The Millions. Retrieved March 28, 2017. 
  104. ^ Berlinale. "Juries 1978". Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin. 
  105. ^ Nagy, Phyllis (December 26, 2016). "Not Easily Pleased". Metrograph Theatre. Retrieved March 28, 2017. 
  106. ^ Benedict, David (29 September 1998). "Theatre: Getting away with murder". The Independent. Retrieved March 26, 2017. 
  107. ^ Marks, Peter (September 17, 2010). "Karl Miller shines as 'Talented Mr. Ripley' at Round House Theatre". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 26, 2017. 
  108. ^ "Patricia Highsmith – The Cry of the Owl". BBC Radio 4. June–July 2002. 
  109. ^ "The Complete Ripley". BBC Radio 4. February–March 2009. 
  110. ^ "Carol". 15 Minute Drama. BBC Radio 4. December 2014. 
  111. ^ Dawson, Jill (2016). "The Crime Writer". Hodder & Stoughton. Retrieved March 28, 2017. 
  112. ^ Murray-Smith, Joanna (2015). "Switzerland". Dramatists Play Service. Retrieved March 28, 2017. 
  113. ^ Sydney Theatre Company (November–December 2014). "Switzerland". Retrieved March 28, 2017. 
  114. ^ Peters, Fiona (2011). Anxiety and Evil in the Writings of Patricia Highsmith. Ashgate Publishing. pp. 17–18. ISBN 9781409423348. 
  115. ^ Hillerman, Tony; Herbert, Rosemary, eds. (2005). A New Omnibus of Crime. Oxford University Press. p. 194. ISBN 9780195182149. 

Further reading[edit]

Books

External links[edit]

Audio interviews[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Patricia_Highsmith&oldid=800031816"