May Sarton's eagerly awaited journals have recorded her life as a single, woman writer and, in later years, as a woman confronting old age. She completed this pilgrimage through her eighty-second year a few months before she died in 1995.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Since Journal of a Solitude, May Sarton's musings on books, poetry, friendship and the pleasures of everyday life have grown richer with each new installment. In this, her last journal, Sarton continues to adjust to the feeling that she is a stranger in the land of old age. And though her struggles and daily setbacks continue, there is an optimistic, musing tone as she contemplates this unique time in a person's life. May Sarton died in July 1995, not long after completing this volume.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Poet, novelist, survivor and writer of journals, Sarton is back with a chronicle of 1993-1994, the year she turned 82. Newcomers to this series will be hypnotized by the progression of days as Sarton struggles to cope with life in a large Maine house. The winter is unusually harsh, the roof leaks, the garage door jams, the stairs are tiring. And if all that were not enough, she has a minor stroke. Lightening these burdens for a frail, ill woman are the friends, the frequently delivered flowers, the mail and not least Pierrot, the crotchety but so comforting cat. Sarton feels with keen despair the lack of recognition for her poetry by the literary establishment?a major anthology of 20th-century female poets published this year failed to include her?but she takes solace in affectionate letters from her readers all over the world. This journal takes us from the highs to the lows of old age: a visit from Susan Sherman, close friend and editor, is a joy; a session with biographer Margot Peters gives Sarton the chilling feeling that she is losing control of her own life. Finally, the discursive narrative comes together as a poignantly intimate portrait of a literary life.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
May Sarton is the pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton (May 3, 1912 - July 16, 1995), an American poet, novelist, and memoirist. Her parents were science historian George Sarton and his wife, the English artist Mabel Eleanor Elwes. In 1915, her family moved to Boston, Massachusetts. She went to school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and started theatre lessons in her late teens. In 1945 she met her partner for the next thirteen years, Judy Matlack, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They separated in 1956, when Sarton's father died and Sarton moved to Nelson, New Hampshire. Honey in the Hive (1988) is about their relationship. Sarton later moved to York, Maine. She died of breast cancer on July 16, 1995. She is buried in Nelson, New Hampshire.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Closing Chapter of a Stellar Life,
By
This review is from: At Eighty-Two: A Journal (Paperback)
At Eighty-Two is an incredible though painful final journal from Sarton. If you are reading Sarton for the first time, read Journal of a Solitude or (my favorite) Recovering first, and then turn to this one. Sarton deals in this journal primarily with the diminishment of old age. Being quite ill at the time, she occassionally comes accross quite bitter, but perhaps this is what makes this journal so poignant and so important for a society that either forgets about or romantizes old age.
5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Much-diminished Sarton,
By Her Dotness (St. Louis, Missouri USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: At Eighty-Two: A Journal (Paperback)
Sarton's last several journals are, in my opinion, not worth the money. That she attempted to continue writing when she had to dictate her thoughts put much too much of a strain upon her, I feel. Sarton was a competent, sometimes excellent, writer in her earlier years, but these final few journals are more painful to read than illuminating. House By the Sea began the decline of quality of her journals, it seemed to me, perhaps due to my frustration with Sarton's apparent inability to comprehend how dangerous allowing Judy Matlack, her longtime lover and companion, to wander about unsupervised was when it was clear to any reasonably perceptive reader that Matlack was so senile that she needed near-constant supervision. Sarton, however, clearly alternated between concern for Matlack and frustration with her that arose from denial of the seriousness of Matlack's condition. In the end, it was quite sad to witness such clear evidence of Sarton's inability to consider realistically the needs of others, which ultimately foreshadowed her eventual inability to stop trying to write when doing so was clearly beyond her sadly diminished capabilities.
The succeeding journals, chronicling Sarton's gradual deterioration and accompanying fury and frustration at her decline, are wrenching and not particularly enlightening unless witnessing a once-effective writer's diminishment intrigues you for some perverse reason. Stick with Sarton's earlier works, Plant Dreaming Deep or Journal Of a Solitude.
0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
At 82: A Journal,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: At Eighty-Two: A Journal (Paperback)
I did not buy this book for myself. I was told it was a very good book and easy to read. Arrived in good condition and was packaged well. Recommend the seller for promptness.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
First Sentence:
I AM MORE and more aware of how important the framework is, what holds life together in a workable whole as one enters real old age, as I am doing. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
music box bird, fur person, usual days Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, May Sarton, The Women's Press, Collected Poems, Doris Grumbach, All Things Considered, Elizabeth Bowen, Faithful Are the Wounds, Polly Starr, Carol Heilbrun, George Sarton, Margot Peters, Bill Ewert, Dorothy Wallace, Extra Innings, Frances Partridge, Martha Wheelock, Shady Hill, Tom Jones, Carol Houck Smith, Deborah Pease, Edythe Haddaway, History of Science, Lewis Pyensen, Maggie Vaughan New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
I AM MORE and more aware of how important the framework is, what holds life together in a workable whole as one enters real old age, as I am doing. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
music box bird, fur person, usual days Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, May Sarton, The Women's Press, Collected Poems, Doris Grumbach, All Things Considered, Elizabeth Bowen, Faithful Are the Wounds, Polly Starr, Carol Heilbrun, George Sarton, Margot Peters, Bill Ewert, Dorothy Wallace, Extra Innings, Frances Partridge, Martha Wheelock, Shady Hill, Tom Jones, Carol Houck Smith, Deborah Pease, Edythe Haddaway, History of Science, Lewis Pyensen, Maggie Vaughan New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 89
books:
See all 89 books this book cites
7
books
cite this book:
See all 7 books citing this book
- May Sarton Among the Usual Days by May Sarton on 5 pages
- Other People: Diaries, 1963-66 by Frances Partridge on page 110, page 116, and page 119
- Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton in Front Matter, page 98, and page 239
- Taking Light from Each Other (Contemporary Poetry Series) by Jean P. Burden on page 128, and Back Matter
- Writings on Writing by May Sarton in Front Matter, and page 269
See all 89 books this book cites
- Researching Ageing And Later Life by Anne Jamieson on page 85, and page 94
- The Art of Growing Old by Carroll Saussy in Back Matter
- The Retirement Sourcebook (Roxbury Park Books) by Shuford Smith on page 114
- Who's Who in Lesbian and Gay Writing by Gabriele Griffin on page 177
- Encyclopedia of Lesbian Histories and Cultures: Volume 1 (Special - Reference) by Bonnie Zimmerman on page 673
See all 7 books citing this book
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
