Elizabeth Jane Howard, Brian Moore, and authors’ personal lives – welcome to episode 138!
In the first half of the episode, we do a question that Lindsey suggested: do we care about authors’ personal lives? It takes us to questions both of ethics and of privacy. In the second half, we pit The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne by Brian Moore against The Beautiful Visit by Elizabeth Jane Howard.
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The books and authors we mention in this episode are:
Recommended! by Nicola Wilson
Hugh Walpole
J.B. Priestley
Sylvia Lynd
Clemence Dane
Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield
Blue Postcards by Douglas Bruton
Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico
Stasiland by Anna Funder
Crooked Cross by Sally Carson
Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer
Virginia Woolf
Stella Gibbons
Enid Blyton
Neil Gaiman
Mary Lawson
The Other Elizabeth Taylor by Nicola Beauman
Jane Austen
Dorothy L. Sayers
Don’t Look Round by Violet Trefusis
Echo by Violet Trefusis
Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey
Elena Ferrante
Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley
J.K. Rowling
Nothing To See Here by Kevin Wilson
Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater
John Keats
Percy Shelley
Dusty Answer by Rosamond Lehmann
Invitiation to the Waltz by Rosamond Lehmann
R.C. Sherriff
The Doctor’s Wife by Brian Moore
The Great Victorian Collection by Brian Moore
O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker
The Sundial by Shirley Jackson
I don’t listen much to podcasts, but you tempted me with this one… such a vexed question these days.
I have a good collection of literary biographies, and I enjoy reading them, but the ones I really like are the ones that explore the trajectory of the author’s development as a writer. Sometimes that brings in aspects of their personal lives, but mostly not, and I do agree that the personal life of a living writer is not our business, and it’s not automatically fair game even after they’re dead, especially if they have family still living and especially living children.
Yes, it must be so painful for children to have their parents’ lives raked over, as seems so common.
Thank you for a very thoughtful and insightful podcast. I agree with your views concerning an author’s private life. I am as nosy as anyone and do find it fascinating to know about an artist’s backstory and wonder how it influenced and informed their work. Nevertheless, I do think it reflects something rather unpleasant in the perpetrators who enjoy ‘digging up dirt’ to sully an author’s reputation and, as Lisa says, it is horrible for their still living relatives. I do think it helps to know if an author has personal experience of situations that they are writing about, just as you said. For example, in books with neurodiverse characters or where characters suffer from mental illnesses, I like to know the bases upon which the author’s characterisation or story rest.
I haven’t read either of the books discussed. I have borrowed The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne from the library twice, but I am afraid each time I started and then felt I could not subject myself to such a painful ordeal. I will continue to try to gird my loins and maybe one day I will feel strong enough to attempt it!
I’d say it also depends partly on the particular author – seems we can’t get enough info about authors such as Austen, Christie, Shakespeare! I think it is interesting to know a bit about an author’s backstory if you notice that they regularly write on certain themes and you want to know if this is biographical – your example of Elizabeth Jane Howard is a good one. Likewise if an author is writing about, say, alcoholism and you find out that they suffered this themselves (eg, Stephen King and The Shining), then this gives the book greater veracity – similar to Sarah’s point above? At the very least, I usually like to know if they are male or female. But, conversely, if an author writes really well about something that you know they have no experience of, then you can appreciate their skill as a writer better. Having read quite a few Ivy Compton-Burnett books, I’d be interested to read a biography of her to understand where her particularly unique style came from!
I absolutely love your podcast! Thank you Simon and Rachel. Do you have favorite literary podcasts you could recommend?
Thank you so much, Wendy! I love Lost Ladies of Lit – covers many similar books to ours. Unburied Books is great too, and you can’t go wrong with Radio 4’s A Good Read.
I absolutely love your podcast! Thank you Simon and Rachel. Do you have favorite literary podcasts you could recommend?
If you enjoy reading golden age detective fiction, I’d recommend the ‘Shedunnit’ podcast by Caroline Crampton.
Another good book podcast is ‘Backlisted’ in which a couple of guests join the hosts to discuss books which may have been forgotten about (although I’m not sure what the actual criteria are for selection!) It seems to have become erratic recently, but I’d suggest looking back through previous episodes as you’re sure to find one on a book you are interested in.