Download PDF Louis Auchincloss A Writer Life Non Series Carol Gelderman 9781570037115 Books

Product details

Series Non Series
Paperback 304 pages
Publisher University of South Carolina Press; Revised edition (December 3, 2007)
Language English
ISBN-10 1570037116

Auchincloss is one of the few serious novelists who combined his artistic career with a full-time job as a Wall Street lawyer.

He was prolific, perhaps too prolific, because only one or two of his books is first-rate (The Rector of Justin, The House of Five Talents).

On the other hand, his "lit crit", though not extensive, is outstanding, mostly because he wasn't a full-time reviewer and read, as he often says, for "pleasure". His brief essays on Proust, Wharton, and Saint-Simon are excellent. His full-length study of Henry James, his favorite writer, is superior to most academic Jamesian criticism.

His life, of course, is not varied, romantic, or particularly interesting in any respect, but it's worth reading this short biography to see how he balanced his twin careers and remained a happy man.
If you enjoy reading the fiction of LA you'll enjoy this book. One star off because the biographer did not include a chronological listing of all of Auchincloss's work.