{"product_id":"9781803998633-stevie-smith-a-biography","title":"Stevie Smith","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA Biography\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eA biography of the poet Stevie Smith\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e‘Confident and very readable . one of Frances Spalding’s achievements in this book is to display Stevie Smith’s frailties without destroying her dignity’\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e – Victoria Glendinning, \u003cem\u003eLiterary Review\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e‘A careful, informative and worthwhile book’\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e – Hermione Lee, \u003cem\u003eThe Observer\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e‘It is a biography of inner life. It is also a hymn to tenebrous suburbia, a book full of English oddness, and a lovely loamish read.’\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e – \u003cem\u003eThe Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eStevie Smith had a unique literary voice: her idiosyncratic, wonderfully funny and poignant poems established her as one of the most individual of English modern poets.\u003c\/strong\u003e She claimed her own life was ‘precious dull’, but Frances Spalding’s acclaimed biography reveals a far from conventional woman.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile she lived in suburbia with her beloved ‘Lion Aunt’, Stevie Smith was from the early 1930s a vibrant figure on London’s intellectual and literary scene, mixing with artists and writers, among them Olivia Manning, Rosamond Lehmann and George Orwell. She was noted for her wit – often maliciously directed at friends – and occasional public tantrums. Her use of real people in her writing angered many of her friends and brought the threat of libel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlways feeling herself out of step with the world, she was haunted by her father’s absence during her childhood and her mother’s early death; she longed for love yet was sexually ambivalent. In exploring the intimate relationship between Stevie Smith’s life and work, Frances Spalding gives a new insight into a writer who always saw death as a friend, yet was also one of the great celebrators of life, whether commonplace or extraordinary.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53571795157366,"sku":"9781803998633","price":13.75,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/orig_31827269.jpg?v=1734623491","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9781803998633-stevie-smith-a-biography","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}