Glenway Wescott Personally: A Biography

325 Pages·2010·1.59 MB·English

by  Jerry Rosco

Glenway Wescott Personally
Glenway Wescott
Personally
A BIOGRAPHY
Jerry Rosco
The University of Wisconsin Press
The University of Wisconsin Press
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Copyright © 2002
The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval sys-
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bedded in critical articles and reviews.
5 4 3 2
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rosco, Jerry.
Glenway Wescott personally : a biography / Jerry Rosco.
pp. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-299-17730-0 (cloth: alk. paper)
1. Wescott, Glenway, 1901– 2. Authors, American—20th century—Biography. 3. Amer-
icans—France—Paris—History—20th century. 4. New York (N.Y.)—Intellectual life—20th
century. 5. Paris (France)—Intellectual life—20th century. 6. Gay men—United States—
Biography. 7. Wisconsin—Biography. I. Title.
PS3545.E827 Z84 2002
813'.52—dc21 2001005410
ISBN 978-0-299-17734-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
To my great friend Peter Adelman.
Also in thanks to John Stevenson and Ian Young.
And in memory of Glenway’s editor, Robert Phelps (1923–89),
and my companion, Jack Bissell (1962–95).
Contents
Illustrations ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction xv
1. Wisconsin Farm Boy to Midwest Prodigy 3
2. The Next Step: New York and Europe 21
3. The Expatriate Twenties 32
4. Paris and a New Family 47
5. Lost in America: The Thirties 62
6. The Little Masterpiece and Willie Maugham 89
7. The Bestseller 108
8. Dr. Kinsey and the Institute for Sex Research 126
9. Inside the Circle: Farewell to George 152
10. Beyond Fiction: The Valley Submerged 164
11. The Great Divide and Images of Truth 191
12. “Quail and Strawberries” 217
13. Golden Leaves and the Birthday Book 244
Epilogue: Other Voices and Continual Lessons 260
Notes 271
Index 297
vii
Illustrations
Glenway Wescott in Paris, 1925 81
Glenway Wescott, Paris, 1930 82
Glenway and Lloyd Wescott with Monroe Wheeler, 1934 83
“Acteon,” advertisement 83
Monroe Wheeler, W. Somerset Maugham, and Wescott at
Stone-blossom 84
Nelson Lansdale 85
Baroness Pauline de Rothschild 85
Ralph Pomeroy with Wescott 86
Raymond Mortimer visits Wescott at Stone-blossom 86
Wescott with Alfred C. Kinsey at the Institute for Sex
Research, 1952 87
Wescott and his mother at Stone-blossom, 1959 87
Wescott and John Connolly in the farmhouse kitchen 88
Wescott’s elegant script, from “The Valley Submerged” 88
Wescott and Wheeler at Stone-blossom, 1959 181
“Luncheon at Haymeadows,” painting by Harold Bruder 181
Katherine Anne Porter with Wheeler and Wescott, Summer 1960 182
Anatole Pohorilenko, 1977 182
Wescott with attentive barn cat at Haymeadows 183
Dinner conversation with Wescott 184
At home on the farm, Wescott in denim overall 185
Wescott and Marianne Moore at the artists’ colony,
August 20, 1967 186
ix