The Journals of Mavis Gallant: 1952-1968

Description

The fascinating, never-before-published diaries of short-story master and literary figurehead Mavis Gallant When Mavis Gallant was fifteen years old, she told a friend that she would live as a writer in Paris and be published by the New Yorker. It later turned out that she would not only realise her dream, but become one of the most beloved masters of the modern short story. Between lengthy periods of writing, Gallant decided to keep a diary documenting her travels, as she moved beyond Paris to get inspiration for her stories. Published here for the first time are Gallant's diaries from the 1950s and 1960s (minus those which she burned). From tales of the poverty she saw in Madrid to the love stories she watched unfold from benches in Paris, the diaries paint a remarkable portrait of Gallant as a young woman, and include astonishing snapshots of the huge range of friends and colleagues who populated her life, from legendary editors, Diana Athill, William Maxwell and William Shawn to fellow writers A. J. Leventhal, Czeslaw Milosz and Brian Moore. More than just a look at the characters and sentiments of that period, Mavis Gallant's journals reveal an individual looking at her surroundings with an artist's eye. They capture how she struggled to support herself, the personal issues that impacted upon her work and the moment when she felt like giving up not only her writing, but her life too. A unique insight into an incredible literary icon.

Mavis Gallant was born in Montreal in 1922 and worked as a journalist at The Standard before moving to Europe in 1950 to devote herself to writing fiction. After travelling extensively she settled in Paris. She was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in London and a Companion of the Order of Canada. Steven Barclay met Mavis Gallant in the mid-1980s and they remained good friends. In 2012, Mavis Gallant asked him to oversee the editing of her diaries. He divides his time between California and Paris. Frances Kiernan is a former editor at The New Yorker, where she worked under Gallant's editor William Maxwell. She is the author of Seeing Mary Plain: A Life of Mary McCarthy, and The Last Mrs. Astor: A New York Story. She died in February 2014.