Virginia Spencer Carr
Encyclopedia
Virginia Spencer Carr is an award-winning biographer of Carson McCullers
, John Dos Passos
and Paul Bowles
.
Carr was also a college professor for more than 25 years at Columbus State University
in Columbus, Georgia
, and Georgia State University
in Atlanta.
and Paul Bowles
.
Over the years, the two of them meet many times to discuss McCullers as well as other literary luminaries of Williams’ social circle. As a result, a friendship ensued and Carr, ultimately, garnered the rights to write Williams' biography.
Williams said upon his first meeting with Carr:
She originally met him when she traveled to Morocco in 1989 to interview him for a biography on Tennessee Williams that she was drafting.
During her visit with Bowles, she asked him to sign a copy of a recently published biography on him, An Invisible Spectator, which prompted Bowles to state: ‘Does this book have anything to do with me?’ As a result of this comment and the later suggestion by Gore Vidal
to postpone her work on Williams' biography and instead write one on Bowles, Carr changed gears and began creating what would become Paul Bowles: A Life.
Bowles agreed to offer Carr his no-strings-attached cooperation on the work. The payoff - after 12 years and thirteen trips to visit Bowles in Morocco, and arrangements she made for his medical treatment in Atlanta - was that Bowles revealed in person and in letters tantalizing revelations to Carr about his life and the people with whom he'd associated. It was understood from Carr that she couldn't publish any of this information until he had died.
Carr was able to read aloud to Bowles her completed work shortly before he died in 1999.
, on July 21, 1929, to a pioneer family of the community. From the age of 12, Carr knew she wanted to someday be a writer.
in 1969.
She was a professor of English at Columbus State University, until she accepted to chair the Department of English at Georgia State University in 1985. In 1993, she was named the John B. and Elena Diaz Verson Amos Distinguished Professor in English Letters, a position she held until her retirement in 2003.
, as well as finishing work on her biography of Tennessee Williams.
Carson McCullers
Carson McCullers was an American writer. She wrote novels, short stories, and two plays, as well as essays and some poetry. Her first novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter explores the spiritual isolation of misfits and outcasts of the South...
, John Dos Passos
John Dos Passos
John Roderigo Dos Passos was an American novelist and artist.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Dos Passos was the illegitimate son of John Randolph Dos Passos , a distinguished lawyer of Madeiran Portuguese descent, and Lucy Addison Sprigg Madison of Petersburg, Virginia. The elder Dos Passos...
and Paul Bowles
Paul Bowles
Paul Frederic Bowles was an American expatriate composer, author, and translator.Following a cultured middle-class upbringing in New York City, during which he displayed a talent for music and writing, Bowles pursued his education at the University of Virginia before making various trips to Paris...
.
Carr was also a college professor for more than 25 years at Columbus State University
Columbus State University
Columbus State University is a public institution of higher learning located in Columbus, Georgia. Founded as Columbus College in 1958, the university was established and is administered by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, and is fully accredited by the Commission on...
in Columbus, Georgia
Columbus, Georgia
Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Muscogee County, Georgia, United States, with which it is consolidated. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 189,885. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2009, had an estimated population of 292,795...
, and Georgia State University
Georgia State University
Georgia State University is a research university in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Founded in 1913, it serves about 30,000 students and is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities...
in Atlanta.
Relationships with those she wrote about
Virginia Spencer Carr not only researched and wrote extensively about her subjects, but developed personal relationships with them - in particular Tennessee WilliamsTennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
and Paul Bowles
Paul Bowles
Paul Frederic Bowles was an American expatriate composer, author, and translator.Following a cultured middle-class upbringing in New York City, during which he displayed a talent for music and writing, Bowles pursued his education at the University of Virginia before making various trips to Paris...
.
Tennessee Williams
Carr first met Tennessee Williams in the early 1970s when she was in the preparatory stages of writing her biography on Carson McCullers, The Lonely Hunter.Over the years, the two of them meet many times to discuss McCullers as well as other literary luminaries of Williams’ social circle. As a result, a friendship ensued and Carr, ultimately, garnered the rights to write Williams' biography.
Williams said upon his first meeting with Carr:
Paul Bowles
In the last ten years of Paul Bowles' life, Carr formed a close, personal friendship with the reclusive, expatriate writer and composer.She originally met him when she traveled to Morocco in 1989 to interview him for a biography on Tennessee Williams that she was drafting.
During her visit with Bowles, she asked him to sign a copy of a recently published biography on him, An Invisible Spectator, which prompted Bowles to state: ‘Does this book have anything to do with me?’ As a result of this comment and the later suggestion by Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. His third novel, The City and the Pillar , outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality...
to postpone her work on Williams' biography and instead write one on Bowles, Carr changed gears and began creating what would become Paul Bowles: A Life.
Bowles agreed to offer Carr his no-strings-attached cooperation on the work. The payoff - after 12 years and thirteen trips to visit Bowles in Morocco, and arrangements she made for his medical treatment in Atlanta - was that Bowles revealed in person and in letters tantalizing revelations to Carr about his life and the people with whom he'd associated. It was understood from Carr that she couldn't publish any of this information until he had died.
Carr was able to read aloud to Bowles her completed work shortly before he died in 1999.
Family and home
Virginia Spencer Carr was born in West Palm Beach, FloridaWest Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and is the most populous city in and county seat of Palm Beach County, the third most populous county in Florida with a 2010 population of 1,320,134. The city is also the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida...
, on July 21, 1929, to a pioneer family of the community. From the age of 12, Carr knew she wanted to someday be a writer.
Awards, honors, and distinctions
- Pulitzer PrizePulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
finalists for both The Lonely Hunter: A Biography of Carson McCullers and Dos Passos: A life - Senior Fulbright professor in Poland (1980–1981)
- Southern Historical Association’s Francis Butler Simkins Prize (The Lonely Hunter: A Biography of Carson McCullers)
- Council of Authors and Journalist Nonfiction Prize (Dos Passos: A life)
- John B. and Elena Diaz Verson Amos Distinguished Professor Emerita of English Letters at Georgia State University (1993–2003)
- South Atlantic Modern Language Association’s John Hurt Fisher Award (2004)
- Melon Fellowship recipient awarded by the Harry Ransom Humanities Research CenterHarry Ransom Humanities Research CenterThe Harry Ransom Center is a library and archive at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the United States and Europe. The Ransom Center houses 36 million literary manuscripts, 1 million rare books, 5 million photographs, and more...
of the University of Texas at AustinUniversity of Texas at AustinThe University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin... - Stanley J. Kahrl Fellowship awarded by Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
Career
Carr received her doctorate degree from Florida State UniversityFlorida State University
The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...
in 1969.
She was a professor of English at Columbus State University, until she accepted to chair the Department of English at Georgia State University in 1985. In 1993, she was named the John B. and Elena Diaz Verson Amos Distinguished Professor in English Letters, a position she held until her retirement in 2003.
Current projects and recent publications
Virginia Spencer Carr is currently working on Radiance: A Biography of Eudora WeltyEudora Welty
Eudora Alice Welty was an American author of short stories and novels about the American South. Her novel The Optimist's Daughter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among numerous awards. She was the first living author to have her works published...
, as well as finishing work on her biography of Tennessee Williams.
Biographies
- A Lonely Hunter: A Biography of Carson McCullers with a foreword by Tennessee WilliamsTennessee WilliamsThomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
(University of Georgia PressUniversity of Georgia PressThe University of Georgia Press or UGA Press is a publishing house and is a member of the Association of American University Presses.Founded in 1938, the UGA Press is a division of the University of Georgia and is located on the campus in Athens, Georgia, USA...
, Reprint, 2003) - Dos Passos: A Life (Northwestern University PressNorthwestern University PressNorthwestern University Press is the university press of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, USA.- History :Northwestern University Press was founded in 1893, at first specializing in legal periodicals. Today, the Press publishes scholarly books of fiction, non-fiction, and literary...
, Reprint, 2004) - Paul Bowles: A Life (Scribner 2004)
Other Works
- Flowering Judas: Katherine Anne Porter (Women Writers: Text and Context), Editor (Rutgers University PressRutgers University PressRutgers University Press is a nonprofit academic publishing house, operating in Piscataway, New Jersey under the auspices of Rutgers University.-History:...
, 1993) - Understanding Carson McCullers (University of South Carolina Press, Reprint 2005)