Illumination and Night Glare : The Unfinished Autobiography of Carson McCullers

Published more than 30 years after it was written, this is the autobiography of Carson McCullers, one of the most gifted writers of her generation who died of a stroke at the age of 50. It looks back over her life from a precocious childhood in Georgia to her painful decline.

This is the autobiography of Carson McCullers, published more than 30 years after it was written. McCullers, one of the most gifted writers of her generation - the author of "The Member of the Wedding", "Reflections in a Golden Eye" and "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe" - died of a stroke at the age of 50 before finishing this, her last manuscript. Editor Carlos L. Dews has brought her story back to life, complete with letters between McCullers and her husband Reeves, and an outline of her most famous novel, "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter". Looking back over her life from a precocious childhood in Georgia to her painful decline from a series of crippling strokes, McCullers offers poignant and unabashed remembrances of her early writing success, her family attachments, a troubled marriage to a failed writer, friendships with literary and film luminaries (Gypsy Rose Lee, Richard Wright, Isak Dinesen, John Huston, Marilyn Monroe), and her intense relationships with the important women in her life.