Synopses & Reviews
Review
"Confronted with a feast of available material: journals, letters, memoirs by John Middleton Murry and Ida Baker, previous biographies as well as personal interviews, Tomalin had served only the bones. Her biography of this interesting writer remains exasperatingly vague and fails to bring the insights that she, as a woman biographer, professes. Was her reluctance to be specific a matter of delicacy or lack of information? What is meant by Murry and Mansfield, two experienced adults who flitted from lover to lover, defining their relationship as childlike? The account of the couples' friendship with D.H. Lawrence and Frieda is sketchy. Ida Baker, a key figure in Mansfield's life, remains a shadow. The friendship with Virginia Woolfe is not explored. And how did Mansfield, who was often ill and in pain, often short of funds, manage to move from house to house, , country to country, and continue to write? The portraits of Mansfield and Murry are, however, vivid. Mansfield was imperious, demanding, dishonest, but a good writer who, Tomalin speculates, might have grown into a better one under other circumstances. Her dependence on Murry, who was weak, egotistical, immature, and thoughtless, resulted in a self-destructive relationship that fared best when they were apart, idealizing each other and their love into something it never was." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 273-278) index.