Patricia Highsmith (Highsmith_on_After_Dark-June-18-1988-Open-Media-Ltd-1988.jpg)
Women and Adversity:
Patricia Highsmith
Mystery Novelist
known for psychological thrillers
Short Story Writer, Lesbian
June is Pride Month
Because her father didn’t want a child, Patricia Highsmith’s mother tried to abort her by drinking turpentine. The attempt failed, and nine days before their daughter was born, Jay and Mary Plangman divorced. Such is the start of Patricia Highsmith’s troubled life.
Her mother married Stanley Highsmith in 1924, but Patricia lived with her maternal grandmother until 1927 before moving to New York to live with her mother and stepfather, whom she hated. Her growing-up years were turbulent in some ways because she was sent to live with her grandmother in Texas for a year, and she felt abandoned. She did well in high school and college and read widely, becoming fascinated with Edgar Allan Poe’s stories and eastern philosophy.
Highsmith’s short stories were published in both her high school and college literary magazines, but when she graduated from Barnard, the top magazines—Time, Vogue, New Yorker among others—didn’t hire her. She got a job with comic book publisher Sangor—Pines but wrote her own stories on the side. Her stories gained fame, and she was touted in some circles as a genius.
She had numerous sexual experiences, primarily with women, and didn’t really like men. She was rude, insulted Jews, became an alcoholic, drinking from morning until night, smoked about 40 cigarettes a day and would bring her pet snails to parties. It was unfortunate that her life dissipated to this extent.
Some of her quotes:
- Honesty, for me, is usually the worst policy imaginable.
- My imagination functions much better when I don’t have to speak to people.
- Honestly, I don’t understand why people get so worked up about a little murder!
On February 4, 1995 Highsmith passed away in Locarno, Switzerland of aplastic anemia and lung cancer. She was 74 years old.
Bio
- 1921 – Born Mary Patricia Plangman in Fort Worth, Texas on January 19
- 1934-38 – attended Julia Richman High School, New York City
- 1942 – Graduated from Barnard College, New York City
- 1949 – Traveled to Europe and settled there
Career and some of her writings
- 1950 – Strangers on a Train, first published novel
- 1951 – Alfred Hitchcock made the book into a movie
- 1952 – The Price of Salt, written under the pseudonym Claire Morgan. A story of lesbian lovers.
- 1955 – The Talented Mr. Ripley, the first in a series featuring Tom Ripley, a likable murderer
- 1966 – Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction; revised in 1981
- 1975 – The Animal-Lover’s Book of Beastly Murder, about animals killing humans
- 1990 – The Price of Salt published under the title Carol
- 2015 – Carol, the movie
- 2021 – Patricia Highsmith: Her Diaries and Notebooks, 1941-1995, edited by Anna von Planta
More information
www.azquotes.com/author/6683-Patricia_Highsmith
www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/books/features/patricia-highsmith-ripley-author-netflix-bio-novels-b2518279.html
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UcTR15XA_I
My ebooks available at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com:
Honoring 23 Black Women, Recognizing 23 Notable Mothers, Saluting 23 Faithful Suffragists
