THE LIFE SHE WISHED TO LIVE

An affectionate biography of the beloved author.

Former editor of the American Literary Review, McCutchan’s goal in chronicling the life of Rawlings (1896-1953), who put north-central Florida “on the national literary map,” was to “illuminate” her “humanity…and mind,” not to indulge in “literary criticism.” At a time when women were not offered many opportunities outside the home, Rawlings was an ambitious girl who strove to succeed to spite her overbearing, manipulative mother. She demonstrated her writing talent during her teen years, and at the University of Wisconsin, she immersed herself in its intellectual environment and learned to avoid too many adjectives and adverbs and embrace the power of nouns and verbs. Though slow to start, the biography picks up steam when McCutchan describes Marjorie’s move with her husband to a citrus farm in Cross Creek, Florida; she wrote to a friend that the “beauty of the place is a perpetual treat.” Work by work, McCutchan carefully details Rawlings’ gradual development as a professional writer who keenly absorbed this beautiful area’s history, culture, and dialects. Her “first long Florida story” was “Jacob’s Ladder,” which famed editor Maxwell Perkins accepted for Scribner’s Magazine in 1930. Thus began their lengthy, “extraordinary relationship.” Rawlings’ first published novel, South Moon Under (1933), was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection and a Pulitzer finalist. Now divorced, she was achieving her longtime dream of literary acceptance. Rawlings established friendships with Robert Frost, Ernest Hemingway, and Zora Neale Hurston, who called Marjorie “my sister” and loved her portrayal of the “Negro characters” in Cross Creek. When Perkins received her “boy’s book,” The Yearling, he “offered only minor quibbles.” It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1939. When the Whippoorwill (1940) got her on the cover of the Christian Science Monitor’s “Today’s Woman” issue. In addition to her thorough biographical portrait, McCutchan also chronicles the protracted libel suit over her description of a local woman in Cross Creek.

An all-inclusive and intimate assessment that could help Rawlings attract a new generation of readers.