A difficult woman: the challenging life and times of Lillian Hellman
Lillian Hellman was a giant of twentieth-century letters and a groundbreaking figure as one of the most successful female playwrights on Broadway. Yet the author of The Little Foxes and Toys in the Attic is today remembered more as a toxic, bitter survivor and literary fabulist, the woman of whom Mary McCarthy said, "Every word she writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the.'" In A Difficult Woman, renowned historian Alice Kessler-Harris undertakes a feat few would dare to attempt: a reclamation of a combative, controversial woman who straddled so many political and cultural fault lines of her time.
Kessler-Harris renders Hellman's feisty wit and personality in all of its contradictions: as a non-Jewish Jew, a displaced Southerner, a passionate political voice without a party, an artist immersed in commerce, a sexually free woman who scorned much of the women's movement, a loyal friend whose trust was often betrayed, and a writer of memoirs who repeatedly questioned the possibility of achieving truth and doubted her memory.
Hellman was a writer whose plays spoke the language of morality yet whose achievements foundered on accusations of mendacity. Above all else, she was a woman who made her way in a man's world. Kessler-Harris has crafted a nuanced life of Hellman, empathetic yet unsparing, that situates her in the varied contexts in which she moved, from New Orleans to Broadway to the hearing room of HUAC. A Difficut Woman is a major work of literary and intellectual history. This will be one of the most reviewed, and most acclaimed, books of 2012.
9781608193790
Grouping Information
Grouped Work ID | b04632b7-37ff-f731-0bd8-0170636e06f7 |
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Grouping Title | difficult woman the challenging life and times of lillian hellman |
Grouping Author | alice kessler harris |
Grouping Category | book |
Grouping Language | English (eng) |
Last Grouping Update | 2022-05-25 02:08:31AM |
Last Indexed | 2022-05-25 02:56:23AM |
Novelist Primary ISBN | none |
Solr Details
accelerated_reader_point_value | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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accelerated_reader_reading_level | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
author | Kessler-Harris, Alice | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
author_display | Kessler-Harris, Alice | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
available_at_catalog | Southgate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
detailed_location_catalog | Southgate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
display_description | Lillian Hellman was a giant of twentieth-century letters and a groundbreaking figure as one of the most successful female playwrights on Broadway. Yet the author of The Little Foxes and Toys in the Attic is today remembered more as a toxic, bitter survivor and literary fabulist, the woman of whom Mary McCarthy said, "Every word she writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the.'" In A Difficult Woman, renowned historian Alice Kessler-Harris undertakes a feat few would dare to attempt: a reclamation of a combative, controversial woman who straddled so many political and cultural fault lines of her time. Kessler-Harris renders Hellman's feisty wit and personality in all of its contradictions: as a non-Jewish Jew, a displaced Southerner, a passionate political voice without a party, an artist immersed in commerce, a sexually free woman who scorned much of the women's movement, a loyal friend whose trust was often betrayed, and a writer of memoirs who repeatedly questioned the possibility of achieving truth and doubted her memory. Hellman was a writer whose plays spoke the language of morality yet whose achievements foundered on accusations of mendacity. Above all else, she was a woman who made her way in a man's world. Kessler-Harris has crafted a nuanced life of Hellman, empathetic yet unsparing, that situates her in the varied contexts in which she moved, from New Orleans to Broadway to the hearing room of HUAC. A Difficut Woman is a major work of literary and intellectual history. This will be one of the most reviewed, and most acclaimed, books of 2012. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
format_catalog | Book eBook | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
format_category_catalog | Books eBook | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
id | b04632b7-37ff-f731-0bd8-0170636e06f7 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
isbn | 9781596913639 9781608193790 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
item_details
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itype_catalog | Adult Book Non-Fiction | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
last_indexed | 2022-05-25T09:56:23.737Z | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
lexile_score | -1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
literary_form | Non Fiction | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
literary_form_full | Non Fiction | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
local_callnumber_catalog | 812 H477zk 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
owning_library_catalog | Sacramento Public Library | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
owning_location_catalog | Southgate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
primary_isbn | 9781596913639 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
publishDate | 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
publisher | Bloomsbury Press, Bloomsbury Publishing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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recordtype | grouped_work | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
scoping_details_catalog
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subject_facet | Dramatists, American -- 20th century -- Biography Hellman, Lillian, -- 1905-1984 Hellman, Lillian, -- 1905-1984 -- Political and social views | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
title_display | A difficult woman : the challenging life and times of Lillian Hellman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
title_full | A Difficult Woman The Challenging Life and Times of Lillian Hellman A difficult woman : the challenging life and times of Lillian Hellman / Alice Kessler-Harris | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
title_short | A difficult woman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
title_sub | the challenging life and times of Lillian Hellman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
topic_facet | Biography & Autobiography Dramatists, American Hellman, Lillian Nonfiction Performing Arts Political and social views |