Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Bette Howland (1937-2017), an author I'd never heard of until yesterday


Sources:  LINKcat, MadCat

Bette Howland, Author and Protege of Saul Bellow, Dies at 80  (The New York Times, 12/18/2017)
In 1984 Ms. Howland received a MacArthur Foundation award — the so-called genius grant. But her literary output dried up. Jacob Howland sees the two things as related. 
“I think the award may have sapped her confidence,” he told the website Literary Hub in 2015. “If people don’t expect great things from you, it’s easier to please them. But people expect great things from a writer who has won the MacArthur.”

Related reading:
Bellow and Bette:  Love Letters.  (Commentary, 10/1/2015)
Bette Howland:  The tale of a forgotten genius.  (Literary Hub, 12/4/2015)
An Elegy for Bette Howland, a Writer Who Was Nearly Forgotten.  (Longreads, 12/19/2017)

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