Dawn Powell
by Tim Page
0.0
Open LibraryAbout this book
Over the past decade, the works of Dawn Powell (1896-1965) have enjoyed a spectacular revival. Now Tim Page has written the first biography of this brilliant and insightful American author, whose longtime cult following has blossomed into well-deserved general popularity. Powell came to New York City at the age of twenty-one, a gifted and ambitious young woman from small-town Ohio. There she would live for another forty-seven years, but she always managed to maintain the fresh perspective of a "permanent visitor," exalting the multiplicity and sheer sensory overload of her beloved Manhattan. This is what she distilled into her extensive and impressive body of work: hundreds of short stories and articles, dozens of poems, at least ten plays, a magnificent diary that spans thirty-five years, and - the achievement that meant the most to her - a number of dizzying and inventive novels. For such a witty woman, Powell lived a restless and troubled life. Her youth was a ghastly one, a long series of deaths, disruptions, and petty cruelties. Her only son was born mentally and emotionally impaired, and her husband became an alcoholic. She drank too much herself and suffered from mysterious health problems for most of her life. Her mood swings were drastic and sometimes incapacitating. In her sixties, she was desperately poor and, indeed, essentially homeless for a time. Throughout it all, she persevered - and now, with the reissue of her life's work, she has triumphed.
Themes & subjects
BiographyAmerican AuthorsAmerican Women authorsWomen authorsAuthors, americanNew York Times reviewed
First published 1998Characters & people
Setting
20th century
About the author
Tim Page
11 Oct 1954
Tim Page (born October 11, 1954) is an American writer, music critic, editor, producer and professor who won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for his music criticism for *The Washington Post*. Anthony Tommasini, the chief music critic for *The New York Times*, has praised Page’s criticism for its "extensive knowledge of cultural history, especially literature; the instincts and news sense of a sharp beat reporter; the skills of a good storyteller; infectious inquisitiveness; immunity to dogma; and an always-running pomposity detector." Other notable writings by Page include his biography of the novelist Dawn Powell, which is credited for helping to spark the revival of Powell’s work, and a memoir tha…
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