May Sarton : Biography

Rating:
Summary: Peters' biography reveals truth behind "Myth of May"
Review: For fans who have been drawn to the healing balm of May Sarton's novels, poetry and journals, this biography may be hard to take. Many readers of Sarton, myself included, had fallen deeply for the world May had constructed for the reader. One feels turmoil bubbling under the surface of workds like "Journal of a Solitute" but it never surfaces. Through her writing, Sarton had created her own "private mythology" while "keeping the hell out of her work" (to quote her friend and critic, Louise Bogan). Margot Peters captures the hell for her in this meticulously researched biography. It is a compelling read that, if closely analyzed, does not betray May Sarton and her works;it illuminates the woman, making her life story what Sarton's writing should have been - raw and intense.

Rating:
Summary: Highly worth reading!
Review: I gave this a '4' (rather than a 5) because, like so many contemporary biographies, Margot Peters shows us many sides of May that those who have had their lives saved by her work would rather ignore. Do I want to know that my icon was sexually, emotionally and financially abusive her friends . . . probably overly arrogant . . . often bitter . . . Probably not. Do I need to know this fully to appreciate her work and fully to assess her import in my life? YES . . . "Without darkness nothing comes to birth as without light nothing flowers." Without fully embracing the shadow -- my own and those of my mentors -- I can never come to wholeness. After reading Peters' book I have found much more depth and vision in my re-encounter with Sarton's poetry and novels . . . the journals, on the other hand, can never for me be the same again. Caveat emptor.

Rating:
Summary: A clear-eyed biography of a complex woman
Review: I think the reviewers of this book who pat themselves on the back for not being taken in by the "persona" of May Sarton should go back to her journals again -- especially "Journal of a Solitude." It seems to me that Sarton was very much aware of the unpleasant aspects of her own nature, the twists and turns of mood, the antisocial tendencies, the destructive effect of anger. Should she be condemned because she allowed the persona of "sister, mother, lover, mentor, friend" to take on a life of its own, to the point that millions of fans can still see her no other way? The persona itself has the power to heal -- even if the real woman was faced, as we all are, with sorting out the mess of her life. The fact that Sarton knew this biography would be published showing her "warts and all" was telling -- certainly not the final act of a hypocrite.
This is not an easy biography, and fans of Sarton may be put off for awhile after reading it, but I found that after time I was able to go back to her books with more understanding, and more appreciation, for the writer and person of May Sarton. Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: A mess
Review: Margot Peters' biography of May Sarton is a mess of facile psycho-babble and Harlequin romance narration. She reduces the details of this very complex life to pat conclusions ("May compulsively punished those who dared love her.") and achingly bad narrative ("Secretly, like a primrose opening in her heart, there was the thought that if she got abroad, Grace must join her."). Read this book to get a basic sense of the chronology of May Sarton's life, if you must, but do not let Peters' neat conclusions stand as the last word on the subject. Sarton's life and work, troubled as they both were, deserve more careful attention. She did herself a disservice (when she was quite old and ill) by choosing Peters as her "official" biographer.

Rating:
Summary: A mess
Review: Margot Peters' biography of May Sarton is a mess of facile psycho-babble and Harlequin romance narration. She reduces the details of this very complex life to pat conclusions ("May compulsively punished those who dared love her.") and achingly bad narrative ("Secretly, like a primrose opening in her heart, there was the thought that if she got abroad, Grace must join her."). Read this book to get a basic sense of the chronology of May Sarton's life, if you must, but do not let Peters' neat conclusions stand as the last word on the subject. Sarton's life and work, troubled as they both were, deserve more careful attention. She did herself a disservice (when she was quite old and ill) by choosing Peters as her "official" biographer.