Mary McCarthy American writer, critic, political activist Date of Birth: 21.06.1912 Country: USA

1. Mary McCarthy - American Writer, Critic, and Political Activist
2. Early Literary Career and Marriage
3. Political Activism and Later Works
4. Personal Life and Legacy

Mary McCarthy - American Writer, Critic, and Political Activist

Mary Therese McCarthy was born in 1912 in Seattle, Washington to Roy Winfield McCarthy and Therese Preston. At the age of six, Mary became an orphan when her parents died during the 1918 influenza epidemic. She spent her childhood living with various relatives, who subjected her and her brothers Kevin, Preston, and Sheridan to endless religious conflicts. This challenging experience later became the basis for her autobiography, "Memories of a Catholic Girlhood" (1957). Interestingly, the despotic and unattractive nature of her Catholic upbringing turned Mary into a convinced atheist.

After graduating from a Catholic school, Mary enrolled in Vassar College, which she completed in 1933. By this time, she had already been published in "The Nation," "The New Republic," "Harper's Magazine," and "The New York Review of Books," where she wrote theater columns. These articles eventually became her book "Theatre Chronicles, 1937-1962" (1963).

Early Literary Career and Marriage

In 1933, Mary McCarthy got married, but her marriage to actor and playwright Harald Johnsrud ended soon. In 1938, she remarried critic Edmund Wilson, who encouraged her to try her hand at fiction writing. In 1942, McCarthy published her first book, "The Company She Keeps." The novel's protagonist is a young intellectual woman dissatisfied with her life and the so-called New York bohemian scene. The book achieved some scandalous success, as its frank portrayal of the social environment displeased many of its representatives. Furthermore, McCarthy demonstrated herself as a sharp and merciless satirist.

After her debut, she released several more books, including "The Oasis" in 1949, "The Groves of Academe" in 1952, "A Charmed Life" in 1955, and her aforementioned autobiography in 1957. Mary McCarthy gained significant recognition with the release of her book "The Group" in 1962. The novel quickly became a bestseller and was adapted into a film in 1966. McCarthy's characters, college graduates like herself, lead dull and banal lives despite their excellent education. According to McCarthy, no amount of education can fill the inner imperfections of a person. She portrayed the world of women as empty and meager, often bordering on caricature.

Political Activism and Later Works

Mary McCarthy was a well-known supporter of liberals and vehemently criticized authorities, particularly opposing the Vietnam War. She even visited Vietnam herself on several occasions. Over time, McCarthy earned a reputation as an uncompromising critic and political activist. Since the late 1930s, she had been involved in a long-standing feud with writer and playwright Lillian Hellman, which even went to court and only ended in 1984 with Hellman's death.

In the 1970s, McCarthy published "Medina," "The Mask of State: Watergate Portraits," and "Cannibals and Missionaries." Among her most famous novels during this period was "Birds of America," released in 1971. In 1980, she published "Ideas and the Novel," followed by "How I Grew" in 1987 after a significant hiatus.

Personal Life and Legacy

It is known that Mary McCarthy divorced her second husband, Edmund Wilson, and remarried in 1948 to Bowden Broadwater. However, this marriage was not her last as she married James West in 1961, her fourth and final husband. Mary McCarthy passed away from lung cancer on October 25, 1989, at the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. She was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters and was awarded the National Medal for Literature and the Edward MacDowell Medal for her literary achievements.

"We are all characters in our own novels," McCarthy once said, and among her popular and insightful aphorisms is the following: "Many of the problems women face, which even the best psychiatrists falter before, are often solved by a second-rate hairdresser."