Anne Sexton (Magill’s Literary Annual 1992)
At a glance:
- Author: Diane Wood Middlebrook
- First Published: 1991
- Type of Work: Literary biography
- Time of Work: 1928-1975
- Setting: Massachusetts
- Principal Characters: Anne Sexton, Alfred “Kayo” Muller Sexton II, Linda Gray Sexton, Joy Sexton, Mary Gray Staples Harvey, Ralph Harvey, Maxine Kumin
- Genres: Nonfiction, Biography
- Subjects: 1960’s, Suicide, Literature, Alcoholism or alcoholics, Child abuse, Substance abuse, Feminism, Drug addiction or addicts, Women’s movement, Psychiatry or psychiatrists
- Locales: Massachusetts
Anne Sexton’s life and death tend to overshadow her poetry. A flamboyant performer of her own works, a woman whose life was characterized by frequent suicide attempts and love affairs, a poet whose words about taking her own life were prophetically realized in her suicide—these are some of the sensational details that suggest Anne Sexton was the principal character in a soap opera. Diane Wood Middlebrook does not view Sexton as a melodramatic victim, however; instead, she offers a biography that probes the complex relationship between Sexton’s art and her illness.
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