"Its revelations, its tender frankness, its acutely sensitive observations recommend [this book] to Sarton's growing legion of readers." —Choice
May Sarton's celebrations in this book center around the friendships that flowered in her life from age twenty-six to age forty-five—between the end of I Knew a Phoenix and the beginning of Plant Dreaming Deep. Her subjects include her father, the noted science historian George Sarton; people in the arts—Elizabeth Bowen, Louise Brogan, Jean Dominique; and people who lived lives remote from the center—Marc, the vigneron of Satigny, in the foothills of the Jura mountains, and Quig, the painter of Nelson, New Hampshire.
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Book Description
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Editorial Reviews
Review
Buy this book and enjoy one by one and at leisure Sarton's sensual evocations of person and place, lit by occasional tantalizing flashes of the author herself, in and out of love, up and down the world from Belgium to Maine. (Library Journal )
About the Author
May Sarton (1912-1995) was an acclaimed poet, novelist, and memoirist.
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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.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Joyful recollections,
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This review is from: A World of Light: Portraits and Celebrations (Hardcover)
May Sarton was an only child. The family lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her father was absorbed in his work. The author's father, George Sarton, wrote a history of science. He spent his Saturday afternoons at the Museum of Fine Arts. He founded and edited a scholarly journal, ISIS, for forty years. He had a poor relationship with Harvard University, he had been unpaid or ill-paid for years, but a good relationship with the staff of Widener Library. He read THE NEW YORKER with intense interest. His first ambition had been to become a poet and novelist.Mabel Sarton, the author's mother, was an early-morning person. In essence she was an artist. She ws born near London. Her father worked as an engineer in India. After her father died she worked as a designer at an interior decorating firm, La Maison Dangotte. The city of Ghent was a ferment of political and artistic life. When May Sarton's mother was over thirty, the couple moved to the United States. The life-giving group she had found in Belgium was never replaced. The family, now three, settled in Cambridge in 1918. May attended the Shady Hill School there. Elizabeth Bowen entered fully into relationships with others. She seemed to be more absent-minded at Bowen Court in Ireland than she was in England. Edith Forbes Kennedy did some work at Shady Hill in order to gain tuition breaks for her sons' schooling. Conversation for her was important, really rising to the level of art. S.S. Koteliansky was responsible for the publication of May Sarton's first book. He told the Huxleys she had some glimmerings of talent. Louise Bogan was a true poet. She lived with a minimum of comfort. Other portraits include a Swiss winemaker and the granddaughter of a Harvard President. Love and respect are conveyed. One discerns in these pieces some of the models for Sarton's fictional creations.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Learning more about May,
By Barbara Rose (central Ohio) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: A World of Light: Portraits and Celebrations (Hardcover)
I became a big May Sarton fan last fall, after a total knee replacement, when I had lots of time to read.Someone had given me "Journal of a Solitude", which is generally thought to be May's best book ~ the one that made her "famous", altho' she'd been around a pretty long time. If you like May, one book leads to another. I've gotten all her journals (here on Amazon, "used" for about a dollar or two apiece ~ wonderful)and thought I knew her. But then I ordered Margot Peters biography of May, and found out there is a lot that is not in her journals, plus a whole earlier life that is only referred to in the journals. Supremely interesting. So I ordered "A World of Light" and also "I Knew a Phoenix", both by May herself, and very informative regarding her early life. And just about all of the people referred to in the journals are "explained" ~ how May met them and how they became entwined in her life. With each book I've read either by her, or that other people have written about her, the more I understand. I really identify with May, and love all her work. I still have some novels and books of poetry to buy, but within the year, I should have almost all her works. It goes without saying, I enjoy them all and recommend them all....May was very unique.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A World of Light,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: A World of Light: Portraits and Celebrations (Paperback)
Good book, interesting author. Book in very good shape and arrived sooner then expected. Would recommend seller. Thank you.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
MANY YEARS AFTER my father's death I received a letter from a stranger who had just discovered George Sarton, one of those moving readers who comes upon a classic work, ignorant, as it were, and under his own steam, with the freshness of personal adventure: "I can only say that your father's great work moves me just as does the final fugue in The Art of the Fugue where Bach sums up all musical knowledge in a quadruple-and also unfinished-fugue." Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
unerring eye Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
George Sarton, Bowen's Court, Mabel Elwes, Louise Bogan, New York, World War, Haniel Long, Katherine Mansfield, Pignon Rouge, Virginia Woolf, Clarence Terrace, Elizabeth Bowen, Mademoiselle Penautot, Petit Coq, Mabel Sarton, Madame Maillet, New Hampshire, Acacia Road, Channing Place, Leonard Woolf, Madame Javarry, San Felipe, Shady Hill, United States, Gervase Elwes New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
MANY YEARS AFTER my father's death I received a letter from a stranger who had just discovered George Sarton, one of those moving readers who comes upon a classic work, ignorant, as it were, and under his own steam, with the freshness of personal adventure: "I can only say that your father's great work moves me just as does the final fugue in The Art of the Fugue where Bach sums up all musical knowledge in a quadruple-and also unfinished-fugue." Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
unerring eye Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
George Sarton, Bowen's Court, Mabel Elwes, Louise Bogan, New York, World War, Haniel Long, Katherine Mansfield, Pignon Rouge, Virginia Woolf, Clarence Terrace, Elizabeth Bowen, Mademoiselle Penautot, Petit Coq, Mabel Sarton, Madame Maillet, New Hampshire, Acacia Road, Channing Place, Leonard Woolf, Madame Javarry, San Felipe, Shady Hill, United States, Gervase Elwes New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 35
books:
See all 35 books this book cites
6
books
cite this book:
See all 6 books citing this book
- The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen on page 201, page 206, and page 212
- The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen on page 206, and page 212
- The Blue Estuaries: Poems: 1923-1968 by Louise Bogan on page 220, and page 232
- The Small Room (Norton Library) by May Sarton in Front Matter
- Collected poems (1930-1973) by May Sarton in Front Matter
See all 35 books this book cites
- Women Confronting Retirement: A Nontraditional Guide by Nan Bauer-Maglin on page 34
- Understanding May Sarton by Mark K. Fulk in Back Matter
- Eminent Georgians: The Lives of King George V, Elizabeth Bowen, St. John Philby, and Lady Astor by John Halperin in Back Matter
- Translate This Darkness : The Life of Christiana Morgan by Claire Douglas in Back Matter
- Dear Juliette: Letters of May Sarton to Juliette Huxley by SUSAN SHERMAN in Front Matter
See all 6 books citing this book
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