READING BIOGRAPHY
When it comes to nonfiction, I read more biography than anything else. I find historical biography often compelling and am regularly drawn into memoirs written by contemporaries. The past few weeks, I’ve been dipping into two works in this genre.
The True History of the First Mrs. Meredith and Other Lesser Lives by Diane Johnson
Novelist Diane Johnson wrote this biography in 1972. New York Review Books re-issued it this year with a new introduction by critic Vivian Gornick. Mrs. Meredith, or Mary Ellen Meredith, was novelist George Meredith’s first wife. She ultimately left Meredith for artist Henry Wallis, with whom she’d been having an affair—a scandalous act for a woman in the 1850’s.
What makes this biography unconventional is Johnson’s attention to other individuals in Mary Ellen’s life, even those to whom she had only the briefest of connections. Mary Ellen’s journals and quotes from poems are included as well as tidbits of history and lore. Johnson was fortunate in her search for material to locate a cache of letters from Mary Ellen to Henry secreted in the former home of their son Felix.
It’s a quirky book and quite delightful, a bit like exploring an old-fashioned desk with pigeonholes filled with seemingly unrelated items. It was also an inspiration for Phyllis Rose. She’s the author of one of my favorite collective biographies entitled, Parallel Lives: Five Victorian Marriages, published in 1983.
The Shadow in the Garden: A Biographer’s Tale by James Atlas
James Atlas was a publisher and biographer whose works include the life stories of novelist Saul Bellow and poet Delmore Schwartz. His Schwartz biography was nominated for the National Book Award. In this work, Atlas talks about his approach to writing a life and, along the way discusses classical biographical works by Samuel Johnson, Elizabeth Gaskell and others. He also shares his conversations and encounters with noted critics of the 20th century such as Elia Kazan, Philip Rahv, and Allen Bloom.
It’s a chatty book, written in an informal style. I quickly found myself warming to this self-effacing man who was persistent when on the hunt for source material. I have yet to finish it (have been happily distracted by my granddaughters) but will enjoy continuing his journey. The book was published in 2017 and, I just learned that Atlas died in 2019 at age 70.
THE MAINE GARDEN
The website for the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens is mainegardens.org so it seems appropriate to call it the Maine garden. Despite all the restrictions imposed due to Covid-19, the garden is beautiful and a draw for locals, tourists, and kids. I was concerned that our granddaughters would be disappointed since the playhouse, story barn, and water pump in the Children’s Garden are not available. They loved the Fairy Village, however, and requested a return visit. The village was the highlight, but they were also entranced by a waterfall, intrigued by hunting for and counting frogs, curious about the honeybee exhibit, and happy to traipse along the woodland trail noting the occasional sculpture or rock outcropping.
Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved)
