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Rating: 
Summary: Very Good Biography
Review: I remember seeing Mary Renault's obituary in a magazine back in 1983 and being quite depressed because I had missed the chance to find out more about the mysterious author of some of my most cherished books - was she indeed a man? What was her life story and how did she come to write the Charioteer, or her Alexander trilogy? This biography suddenly leapt out at me in a book store a few years ago and filled in many of the gaps. It is well written and I recommend it to anyone who is curious to know more about this writer. It is balanced and also examines fairly the unfortunate controversy relating to PEN in South Africa during thje Apartheid era.
Rating: 
Summary: wonderful biography
Review: I've long been an admirer of Renault's novels; her muscular prose, idealistic philosphies, model heroes, and her affection for gay male characters have struck a very resonant chord in me. After reading Sweetman's biography, I am now very much an admirer of Renault herself: intelligent, talented, courageous and strong. Once she wrote to a friend, speaking about feminists and women in general [she had a lifelong distaste for women, a point on which I now find myself differing]: "..the truth obviously is that [they] do seem to have, as men, some extra reserve of neural strength, some capacity for sustained intensity and inner drive, which women do not possess. I will believe otherwise when given evidence," rather selling herself short, I think, by not recognizing that very intensity and drive in herself.Highly recommended for any fan of Renault's.
Rating:
Summary: wonderful biography
Review: I've long been an admirer of Renault's novels; her muscular prose, idealistic philosphies, model heroes, and her affection for gay male characters have struck a very resonant chord in me. After reading Sweetman's biography, I am now very much an admirer of Renault herself: intelligent, talented, courageous and strong. Once she wrote to a friend, speaking about feminists and women in general [she had a lifelong distaste for women, a point on which I now find myself differing]: "..the truth obviously is that [they] do seem to have, as men, some extra reserve of neural strength, some capacity for sustained intensity and inner drive, which women do not possess. I will believe otherwise when given evidence," rather selling herself short, I think, by not recognizing that very intensity and drive in herself. Highly recommended for any fan of Renault's.
Rating:
Summary: nice bio
Review: It is well-written, and easy to read. I especially appreciated the episodes and explanations of the circumstances, political movements, and her struggles which inspired Mary Renault to write each story. Now I understand how each story was created, and what was on her mind when she wrote them.
When I first read her <the Last of the Wine>, which is a remarkable book, one of her best, I couldn't understand why she didn't take more pages to write about Alkibiades and the defeat of the Athenian fleet. This is the kind of scene she normally takes time and writes in great, vivid details. It seemed so odd and out of her character that she just skimmed through it (although it still came out all right). I had to read it twice to understand what exactly happened, and even after I understood, I wasn't satisfied.
Well, the mystery was solved now that I know that the publishing company had forced her to eliminate so many pages, she had to cut out one-third of the book. That particular scene was the one that suffered. I don't blame her if she never forgave the publishing company. We the readers have been deprived a great deal. I was also tickled to read that she had to let her secretary go because the secretary wanted to improve her grammar! Her relationships with her parents, friends and her agents, editors, correspondents, and especially with her companion Julie are heart-warming. This biography brought her person alive and vivid, and now I can look at her works from another dimention.
Rating:
Summary: nice bio
Review: It is well-written, and easy to read. I especially appreciated the episodes and explanations of the circumstances, political movements, and her struggles which inspired Mary Renault to write each story. Now I understand how each story was created, and what was on her mind when she wrote them.
When I first read her , which is a remarkable book, one of her best, I couldn't understand why she didn't take more pages to write about Alkibiades and the defeat of the Athenian fleet. This is the kind of scene she normally takes time and writes in great, vivid details. It seemed so odd and out of her character that she just skimmed through it (although it still came out all right). I had to read it twice to understand what exactly happened, and even after I understood, I wasn't satisfied.
Well, the mystery was solved now that I know that the publishing company had forced her to eliminate so many pages, she had to cut out one-third of the book. That particular scene was the one that suffered. I don't blame her if she never forgave the publishing company. We the readers have been deprived a great deal.I was also tickled to read that she had to let her secretary go because the secretary wanted to improve her grammar! Her relationships with her parents, friends and her agents, editors, correspondents, and especially with her companion Julie are heart-warming. This biography brought her person alive and vivid, and now I can look at her works from another dimention.
Rating: 
Summary: Oddly unsatisfactory.
Review: Just couldn't get into this book, especially written as it is by someone who knew Renault. No one admires the author more than I, and books like THE CHARIOTEER, THE LAST OF THE WINE and THE PERSIAN BOY have been for me jewels in the crown of life. So I looked forward to this biography as a tantalising mystery finally about to be solved--Renault unmasked at last! No, sorry, it just didn't happen for me. Sweetman seems fixated on Renault's sexuality, which I don't discount or revile from, but which to me is not the essence of her books, the thing that makes them great. So what is it that makes them great? Her intelligence! Renault is the most intelligent author I've ever read; intelligence seems to stream out everywhere, along with tastefullness and a wonderful compassion for humanity. And style! What a fabulous stylist! I can read and re-read her books endlessly just for the style, not to mention the insight, the fabulous observation of detail. These are the qualities I wanted to find out about. Who was this woman? How did she become such a great person and a great author? Well, I don't know because Sweetman's biography doesn't tell me. We get the facts, yes, especially about her lesbian relationship, and we discover some of her activities while writing the books, most notably a trip to Greece. But we discover almost nothing about her general opinions, her tastes, all those things one asks about in order to uncover a person. For instance I would have liked to know her opinion of some of the fine historical films emerging at the time she was writing her historical novels, most notably Ben-Hur and Spartacus. We hear that she quite liked Quo Vadis, but little information is given. And what music did she listen to (only the Caesar Franck sonata is mentioned)? What did she like to eat? There are a million questions, few of which Sweetman answers. And I miss any decent literary criticism. At one point Sweetman remarks that a certain editor seemed insensible of Renault's literary excellence, but then so does Sweetman himself given how few words he expends on it. How for instance did Renault develop such a brilliantly unique style? I remember first reading THE LAST OF THE WINE (at 16) and being fascinated by a style unlike anything I'd ever encountered, a way of contructing sentences that seemed at once earthy and punchy and the height of elegance and sophistication. How did she come to this?
Well, no good ranting, I suppose. The book isn't bad, it just seems like a golden opportunity wasted. Obviously the definitive Renault biography has yet to be written--but I suspect it never will be simply because Renault didn't wish to be uncovered. Apparently Sweetman interviewed her in '82. I've never seen the interview, but I suspect she said very little of a personal nature. I suspect she made a point of throughout her life of saying little of a personal nature.
Rating:
Summary: An author for all time
Review: Mary Renault's wonderful novel, "The Last of the Wine," was a major influence on me as a young man. As the years went by, I read everything I could find by her, including the early novels, such as "Promise of Love" (in England, "Purposes of Love") and "Return to Night." I found that everything she had written was good. But who was Mary Renault? In the days when I worked with the Gay Academic Union in New York, I learned that she was "a lesbian whose real name was Mary Challans." This was interesting, but not nearly enough information! This well-done biography gives us a very complete portrait of Mary. She was a genius of the first water, whose parents totally failed to understand or appreciate her. ("Mary! You must dress up pretty to attract a husband" was the never-ending wail of her mother.) In fact, reading this biography provides an irony: so many parents want their children to be "gifted," to be "geniuses." And then, when they get their wish, they wind up hating the genius child, because (duh) the genius child has a mind of her own! Mary's course through life was perilous and interesting. Having sworn never to be condemned to marriage or teaching, she wound up choosing a career as a nurse. She wrote her fingers off. Finally, at the end of World War II, she got a huge, good surprise. She won the MGM Prize, at that time worth $150,000!!
She was rich! Alas, the British supertax took 80 percent of that amount, leaving her with a mere $30,000. (Hey, government bureaucrats! Do we want to encourage artists, or not?) But that "small sum" of $30,000 was enough for Mary to relocate to South Africa with her lover, a wonderful woman who had been sharing Mary's life for a decade already. They ran through the money, being duped and bled by dishonest gay men (!), until it became clear that both of them would have to go back to work. Mary produced "The Charioteer." It was the outstanding gay novel of its time, deeply imbued with Platonic philosophy. She went on to write "The Last of the Wine" and "The Persian Boy," among many other classics. Her parents never appreciated what she had done. They never understood that their baby girl was a genius, who played no small role in the sexual revolution of the twentieth century, and in the more important ongoing search for truth about human nature. Very highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: An author for all time
Review: Mary Renault's wonderful novel, "The Last of the Wine," was a major influence on me as a young man. As the years went by, I read everything I could find by her, including the early novels, such as "Promise of Love" (in England, "Purposes of Love") and "Return to Night." I found that everything she had written was good. But who was Mary Renault? In the days when I worked with the Gay Academic Union in New York, I learned that she was "a lesbian whose real name was Mary Challans." This was interesting, but not nearly enough information! This well-done biography gives us a very complete portrait of Mary. She was a genius of the first water, whose parents totally failed to understand or appreciate her. ("Mary! You must dress up pretty to attract a husband" was the never-ending wail of her mother.) In fact, reading this biography provides an irony: so many parents want their children to be "gifted," to be "geniuses." And then, when they get their wish, they wind up hating the genius child, because (duh) the genius child has a mind of her own! Mary's course through life was perilous and interesting. Having sworn never to be condemned to marriage or teaching, she wound up choosing a career as a nurse. She wrote her fingers off. Finally, at the end of World War II, she got a huge, good surprise. She won the MGM Prize, at that time worth $150,000!!
She was rich! Alas, the British supertax took 80 percent of that amount, leaving her with a mere $30,000. (Hey, government bureaucrats! Do we want to encourage artists, or not?) But that "small sum" of $30,000 was enough for Mary to relocate to South Africa with her lover, a wonderful woman who had been sharing Mary's life for a decade already. They ran through the money, being duped and bled by dishonest gay men (!), until it became clear that both of them would have to go back to work. Mary produced "The Charioteer." It was the outstanding gay novel of its time, deeply imbued with Platonic philosophy. She went on to write "The Last of the Wine" and "The Persian Boy," among many other classics. Her parents never appreciated what she had done. They never understood that their baby girl was a genius, who played no small role in the sexual revolution of the twentieth century, and in the more important ongoing search for truth about human nature. Very highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: How Molly Challans Became Mary Renault
Review: Mary Renault, with her delicate handling of alternative sexual interests, touched a chord in a lot of people, whatever their orientation. This is the story about how little Molly Challans (with her love of cowboys and books) because the best selling author of historical novels set in both Bronze age and Classical Greece, Mary Renault. One might almost have predicted the loveless marriage that produced her. Her mother's least attractive qualities seem to resonate in the character of Olympias (Alexander the Great's mother)in her later series (written after her mother's death and final betrayal). The absent or ineffective fathers in her books reflect her other father's physical and emotional distance from his family. And around her momentous events of the 20th century occur-- World War I and II, the rise of the Nationalist Party in South Africa, the liberalization of sexual mores in Britain and the United States, and the struggle against appartheid. This linear story is probably where the reader should go who wants to know more concrete facts about Mary Renault's life (she pronounced it Ren-olt not like the car). The author at times dips into analysis but doesn't linger there. His main informant seems to have been Mary's lifelong companion, Julia and at times the book seems to be as much about Julia as Mary-- he notes at one point that a friend referred to them as M & J rather than separately. I'm still waiting for the definitve evaluation of Renault's novels but until it arrives this book is well worth reading if at times a little on the thin side.
Rating:
Summary: How Molly Challans Became Mary Renault
Review: Mary Renault, with her delicate handling of alternative sexual interests, touched a chord in a lot of people, whatever their orientation. This is the story about how little Molly Challans (with her love of cowboys and books) because the best selling author of historical novels set in both Bronze age and Classical Greece, Mary Renault. One might almost have predicted the loveless marriage that produced her. Her mother's least attractive qualities seem to resonate in the character of Olympias (Alexander the Great's mother)in her later series (written after her mother's death and final betrayal). The absent or ineffective fathers in her books reflect her other father's physical and emotional distance from his family. And around her momentous events of the 20th century occur-- World War I and II, the rise of the Nationalist Party in South Africa, the liberalization of sexual mores in Britain and the United States, and the struggle against appartheid. This linear story is probably where the reader should go who wants to know more concrete facts about Mary Renault's life (she pronounced it Ren-olt not like the car). The author at times dips into analysis but doesn't linger there. His main informant seems to have been Mary's lifelong companion, Julia and at times the book seems to be as much about Julia as Mary-- he notes at one point that a friend referred to them as M & J rather than separately. I'm still waiting for the definitve evaluation of Renault's novels but until it arrives this book is well worth reading if at times a little on the thin side.
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