The Talented Miss Highsmith

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The Talented Miss Highsmith Page 93

by Joan Schenkar


  Shamir, Yitzhak

  “shattering,” PH’s frequent use of word

  Shawn, William

  “Sheila” (photographer, lover)

  Shepard, Sam

  Sherlock Holmes stories

  shoes, PH’s fascination with

  short-story collections, PH’s, chronological list of

  Show Spot restaurant, New York City

  Shuster, Joe

  Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia

  Siegel, Jerry

  Signoret, Simone

  Silver Dagger Award

  “Silver Horn of Plenty, The” (PH story)

  Simon, Joe

  Simone, Dr. Barbara

  Simon & Schuster

  Simpson, Babs

  Simpson, Sloan

  Simpson’s-in-the-Strand, London

  Sims, Agnes

  Singin’ in the Rain (musical)

  Sinnott, Joe

  Sitwell, Edith

  Sixth Ward grade school, Fort Worth, Texas

  Skattebol, Kate. See Kingsley, Kate

  Skattebol, Lars

  Skelton, Barbara

  Sklarew, Myra

  sleep, having enough

  Sleepless Night, The. See Traffic of Jacob’s Ladder, The

  Slowly, Slowly in the Wind (PH short-story collection)

  Small g: A Summer Idyll (PH novel)

  published posthumously

  Smart Set magazine

  Smith, Ann

  Smith, Liz

  Smith, Margerita

  Smith, Oliver

  smoking, PH’s

  snails

  copulating

  smuggled into France

  stories about

  “Snails, The” (PH story)

  “Snail-Watcher, The” (PH story)

  Snail-Watcher and Other Stories, The (PH short-story collection)

  Snake Pit, The (film)

  Snedens Landing, Palisades, N.Y.

  Soho, London

  “Some Christmases—Mine or Anybody’s” (PH article)

  Sommer, Frieda

  Sontag, Susan

  South Bank Show, The (TV program)

  Spain

  Spanish Civil War

  Spark, Muriel

  Sparkill, N.Y.

  Spectator

  Sperber, Manès

  Spewack, Samuel and Bella

  Spider Highsmith (cat)

  Spider-Man (comic book character)

  Spillane, Mickey

  I, the Jury

  Spirit, The (graphic novel)

  Spivy’s bar

  Sprague, Chloe

  Spratling, William

  Sprüngli sweet shop, Zurich

  Spy Smasher (comic book)

  Stalin

  Standard Publications

  Stanislavsky, Konstantin

  Stauffer, Teddy

  Stein, Gertrude

  Stéphane, Nicole

  Stevenson, Robert Louis

  Stewart, Gen. A. P. (PH relation)

  Stewart, Charles (PH ancestor)

  Stewart, Leonidas

  Stewart, Martha (PH’s great-aunt)

  Stewart, Ninion (PH’s ancestor)

  Stewart, Oscar Wilkinson (PH’s paternal grandfather)

  Stewart, Samuel Smith

  Stewart, William (PH’s great-grandfather)

  Stewart family

  “Still Point of the Turning World, The” (PH story)

  Stockbridge, Mass.

  Stockholm

  Storchen Hotel, Zurich

  Stories (unfinished play)

  Story-Teller, The (A Suspension of Mercy) (PH novel)

  Straightforward Lie, The (PH satire)

  Strangers on a Train (Hitchcock film)

  Strangers on a Train (PH novel)

  Auden reads, not entirely favorably

  first idea for

  plot

  published

  signed copy of

  started at Yaddo

  writing of

  Straus, Roger

  Streiff, David

  Streitfeld, David

  Struldbruggs

  student revolution of 1968 in Paris

  Studio One (TV show)

  Sturtevant, Ethel

  Südwestrundfunk radio station

  suicide, PH’s thoughts on

  “Suicide of the Moth” (unused title)

  Sullivan, Mary

  Sunday Times (London)

  Sundell, Mike

  Sundell, Nina

  Sunset Blvd. (film)

  Superheroes (comic book characters)

  Superior Selves (comic book characters)

  Superman (comic book character)

  suspense writers, PH on merits of

  Suspension of Mercy, A (PH novel)

  Suter, Anne-Elizabeth

  Sutherlands (characters). See Jack and Natalia Sutherland

  Sutton Place, New York City

  Swaim, Donald

  Swift, Jonathan, Gulliver’s Travels

  Swiss Association of Teachers of English

  Swiss Literary Archives, Bern, Switzerland

  Switzerland

  banking system

  estate taxes

  origin of comic books in

  PH move to

  in PH’s imagination

  PH’s life in

  PH’s self-exile in

  reasons why PH liked it

  Sylvia (lover)

  Symons, A. J. A.

  Symons, Julian

  Szogyi, Alex

  Talented Mr. Ripley, The (PH novel)

  Talented Mr. Ripley (continued)

  award to

  French film of

  PH begins

  plot

  preparation for writing

  published

  TV script by Marc Brandel

  Tales of Natural and Unnatural Catastrophes (PH short-story collection)

  Tangier

  Immeuble Itesa

  Tarrytown Castle, Tarrytown, N.Y.

  Taxco

  Tchaikovsky, P. I.

  Tchelitchew, Pavel

  Tegna, Switzerland

  Catholic church in

  PH’s house in (Casa Highsmith)

  televangelists (theme)

  Tennyson, Alfred

  “Terrapin, The” (PH story)

  play made from

  “Terrors of Basket-Weaving, The” (PH story)

  Terry, Megan

  Tessa (German lover)

  Tex (Allela Cornell’s lover)

  Texas

  Tey, Josephine

  Thatcher, Margaret

  Théâtre de l’Épicerie, Paris

  Theatre de Lys, New York City

  Therese (character)

  “These Sad Pillars” (PH story)

  Thévenet, Virginie

  thin ice

  This Sweet Sickness (PH novel)

  film made from

  teleplay made from

  Thomas, Dylan

  Thompson, Marjorie

  Thompson, Philip

  Thompson, Virgil

  Thoreau, Henry David

  “Those Awful Dawns” (PH story)

  Those Who Walk Away (PH novel)

  “Three, The” (PH story)

  “Three Days with Patricia Highsmith” (article)

  Three Steps Down bar

  Thrill Boys, The (unused title)

  “Thrill Seeker, The” (PH story)

  Ticino canton, Switzerland

  Tickner, Martin

  Tietgens, Rolf

  Timely comics

  Time magazine

  Time Out (London publication)

  Times Square, New York City

  Tina (poodle)

  Tity (friend in Florence)

  Tocqueville, Alexis de

  Democracy in America

  Toklas, Alice B.

  Tolstoy, Leo

  Tomes Ltd.

  Tom Ripley (character)

  film rights for

  origin of namer />
  wants only “the best”

  Töpffer, Rodolph

  Topor, Roland

  Toronto, Ontario

  Torres, Tereska, Women’s Barracks

  touching, PH’s aversion to

  Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri de

  Traffic of Jacob’s Ladder, The (The Sleepless Night) (PH unfinished “lost” novel)

  transformations, PH obsession with

  transgressive acts, in PH plots

  transvestites

  Trask, Katrina

  Trask, Spencer

  Tremor of Forgery, The (PH novel)

  film adaptation project

  TV film of

  Trieste

  Trudeau, Gary

  Truffaut, François

  “Tube, The” (unused title for unwritten story)

  Tune, Tommy

  Tunis

  Tunisia

  Tuvim, Helen

  Tuvim, Judy (Judy Holliday)

  Twain, Mark

  “Twenty Things I Do Not Like” (PH list)

  “Twenty Things I Like” (PH list)

  “Two Disagreeable Pigeons” (PH story)

  Two Faces of January, The (PH novel)

  two men psychologically bound together (theme)

  Tynan, Kenneth

  typewriter, PH’s

  typing style, PH’s

  Uhde, Anne

  “Uncertain Treasure” (PH story)

  “Under a Dark Angel’s Eye” (PH story)

  United States

  no publisher in, when PH died

  PH publicity tour of

  University in Exile

  University of Texas, Austin

  Upper East Side, New York City

  Ursula (princess lover)

  Ustinov, Peter

  Vail, Lawrence

  Vail, Sinbad

  Val (fan of PH)

  Valerie (lover)

  Vanderbilt, Anne

  Van Gogh, Vincent

  van Meegeren, Hans

  Velázquez, Diego

  Venice

  Pensione Seguso

  Vera Cruz

  Vermeer, Johannes

  Vertigo (film)

  Vic Van Allen (character)

  Vidal, Gore

  View magazine

  Village Vanguard

  Village Voice (newspaper)

  Virginias, the

  Vogel, Cosette

  Vogel, Lucien

  Vogt, Maria

  Vogue, German

  Vogue magazine

  Volcker, Paul

  von Hoershelman, Natasha

  von Planta, Anna

  VU magazine

  Walker, Robert

  Wallace, Edgar

  wallet, lost, return of (theme)

  Walser, Robert

  Walter, Eugene

  Walter Stackhouse (character)

  Wards Island

  Wards Island mental hospital

  Washington Post

  wasting time, PH refusal to do

  Waterbury, Natica

  Waugh, Evelyn

  Weatherford, Texas

  Webber, Andrew Lloyd, Phantom of the Opera

  Weird Tales

  Wells, H. G.

  Weltons, the (of Taxco)

  Wenders, Wim

  Wertham, Dr. Frederic

  Seduction of the Innocent

  Wescott, Glenway

  Wescott, Lloyd

  Wesley, John

  West Point, N.Y.

  “When the Fleet Was In at Mobile” (PH story)

  play made from

  When the Sleep Ends (PH play, not produced)

  Whip, the (comic book character)

  “Whip, The” (PH story)

  White, Edmund

  White, Sam

  Who’s Who

  Who’s Who of American Comic Books

  Wilde, Dolly

  Wilde, Oscar

  “The Ballad of Reading Gaol,”

  grave and monument of

  Wilder, Billy

  William Bradley Agency

  Williams, Kenneth

  Williams, Tennessee

  A Streetcar Named Desire,

  William Wilson (Poe character)

  Wills, Nini

  wills, PH’s

  first change of

  “Will the Lesbian’s Soul Sleep in Peace?” (PH sermon)

  Willy Loman (character)

  Wilson, Colin, The Outsider

  Windham, Donald

  Wing Wang (dog)

  Winnicott, D. W.

  Winston, Daisy

  “Winter in the Ticino” (PH article)

  Wolf, M.

  Woman’s Home Companion

  Woman’s World

  women

  PH’s dislike of

  PH’s misunderstanding of, because “they have no jobs,” xv

  Women’s Wear Daily

  Women’s World Magazine

  Women Who Remind Her of Her

  Mother

  Wonder Woman (comic book)

  Wood, Mrs. Richardson

  “Woodrow Wilson’s Necktie” (PH story)

  Woolf, Virginia

  The Waves, xiv

  Woolfolk, William

  “World’s Champion Ball-Bouncer” (PH story)

  World War II

  comic books in the fighting

  in comics

  Writer magazine

  “Writer’s Block, Failure, and Depression” (PH article)

  writing, PH’s opinions about

  Wyndham, Francis

  Wynyard, Diana

  Yaddo

  assets and royalties left to

  PH spent two months there, writing Strangers on a Train

  proposed bequest to

  Yiddish journals

  Yorke, Ruth

  Young, Marguerite

  Young Communist League

  “Yuma Baby, The” (PH story)

  Yves St-Laurent

  Zionism

  Zsa Zsa (dog)

  Zurich

  THE TALENTED MISS HIGHSMITH. Copyright © 2009 by Joan Schenkar. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  FRONTISPIECE: Patricia Highsmith, portrait by Ruth Bernhard, 1948 (Collection Ruth Bernhard)

  www.stmartins.com

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

  Schenkar, Joan.

  The talented Miss Highsmith: the secret life and serious art of Patricia Highsmith / Joan Schenkar.—1st ed.

  p. cm.

  Includes bibliographical references.

  ISBN: 978-0-312-30375-4

  1. Highsmith, Patricia, 1921–1995. 2. Authors, American—20th century—Biography. 3. Bisexuals—United States—Biography. I. Title.

  PS3558.I366Z87 2009

  813'.54—dc22

  [B]

  2009018363

  * Of the expatriate American writer Julien Green, whose roots were also Southern and whose religious and sexual preoccupations were as guilty as hers, Pat wrote: “I feel a rare friendship with J. Green…. I recognize my own thoughts [in his].” In The Counterfeiters of André Gide she saw her own transgressive fascination with the young—along with new ways to represent it. Oscar Wilde’s mannered dialogues and capsizing paradoxes were little mirrors for the girl who thought the “words ‘average’ and ‘normal’…the most ridiculous of the English language.” Henry James gave her the opportunity of a lifetime: she turned his central premise in The Ambassadors upside down (the only way she could imagine it) and smuggled it into The Talented Mr. Ripley. And in Marcel Proust’s resplendent monologues and shimmering sense-memories (she understood just enough of Proust to quote him appropriately) Pat found the explanation for her love life.

  * Pat often recorded events days and weeks after they had passed, pretending in her diaries and cahiers that her entries were “current.” They weren’t. She forged her chronologies to give order to
her life, altering the record of her life and the purport of her writing by doing so.

  * A single example: One of my play agents now deceased—a brilliant, elderly, dignified woman when I knew her in the 1980s—had been, unknown to me, a lover of Patricia Highsmith four decades before she became my agent. And one sunny afternoon in the Swiss Literary Archives in Bern, I opened a Highsmith diary at random and found the richly explicit physical details of their torrid love affair. It’s a description I still look forward to forgetting.

  * Previously unseen and unpublished material from friends, family, lovers, photographers, and filmmakers allows us to join Patricia Highsmith in this chapter in both the physical act of writing and in language which reflects some of the secrets of her style: her coroner’s eye for detail, her hyperconsciousness of the ways human activity can be enumerated, and the high optical refractions she was able to scan into her mostly plain prose.

  At twenty, while Pat was still passionate about other people’s writing—and still mixing her metaphors the way a novice bartender might mix her liquors—she dreamt of doing the same thing: “If we were permitted one quarter hour in Shakespeare’s study in 1605, how we should watch his every movement, how hungrily we should notice the lift of his head, the touch of his hand on the edge of his paper…the angle of his back as he writes…. How little we know of history. Time is a column of carbon monoxide fraying into oblivion at its far end like the tail of an old rope” (Cahier 6, 12/12/41).

  * The other figure born on 19 January—Pat later named him as her favorite historical character—was the Confederacy’s great hero: General Robert E. Lee.

  * From the 1930 American’s children’s classic The Little Engine That Could by the pseudonymous Watty Piper (a “house-name” used by Platt & Munk Publishers), illustrated by Lois Lenski. The Little Blue Engine (characterized as a female) pulls a trainload of Christmas toys over an impassable mountain by repeating to herself the uplifting phrase “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.” Read by every schoolchild in America and still in print today, The Little Engine That Could is among the best self-help books ever written.

  * Caroline Besterman is a pseudonym.

 

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