Florence King (1936–2016)
Author of Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady
About the Author
Florence Virginia King was born in Washington, D. C. on January 5, 1936. She received a bachelor's degree in history from American University. After college, she trained briefly for the Marines before entering graduate school at the University of Mississippi. She left graduate school after she show more discovered she could earn $250 an article writing first-person stories for pulp magazines like Uncensored Confessions. She wrote more than 100 articles. When the pulps became less popular, she started writing erotic novels under a series of pseudonyms including The Barbarian Princess by Laura Buchanan. In the 1960s, she was a feature writer for The Raleigh News and Observer in North Carolina. Her first book under her own name was the nonfiction title Southern Ladies and Gentlemen, which was published in 1975. Her other nonfiction books include He: An Irreverent Look at the American Male, Reflections in a Jaundiced Eye, Lump It or Leave It, and With Charity Toward None: A Fond Look at Misanthropy. She also wrote a memoir entitled Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady and an anthology entitled The Florence King Reader. She wrote two columns for the National Review entitled Misanthrope's Corner and The Bent Pin. She also wrote book criticism for Newsday and The New York Times. She died on January 6, 2015 at the age of 80. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Florence King
Associated Works
Take My Advice: Letters to the Next Generation from People Who Know a Thing or Two (2002) — Contributor — 44 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- King, Florence Virginia
- Birthdate
- 1936-01-05
- Date of death
- 2016-01-06
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Washington, D.C., USA
- Place of death
- Fredericksburg, Virginia, USA
- Cause of death
- heart and pulmonary ailments
- Places of residence
- Washington, DC, USA
- Education
- American University (BA|History|1957)
University of Mississippi - Occupations
- writer
- Organizations
- National Review
Members
Discussions
Quotes That Helped You Know Yourself in A Pearl of Wisdom and Enlightenment (January 2016)
Reviews
Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady: A Memoir by Florence King
I read such great reviews on this book, I was really looking forward to reading it...but it was a huge disappointment. I kept reading the book waiting for something to happen, but it never did. I also didn't like the way the author misspelled words to make it look like a southern conversation...very hard to figure out at times what the characters were even trying to say.
100/2020. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll kiss Florence King's ass, goodbye! And if that's your type of humour then you'll enjoy this witty confessional memoir (although how much is strict historical truth is open to question):
"No matter which sex I went to bed with, I never smoked on the street."
(If you have the Virago edition then I recommend skipping the intro by Sandi Toksvig as it's an unedifying performance of trying to position a fave as The First Woman Who Did X by erasing all the other women who also did X, in this case apparently neither Dorothy Parker nor Mae West, for example, were ever truly funny writers. Sigh.)… (more)
"No matter which sex I went to bed with, I never smoked on the street."
(If you have the Virago edition then I recommend skipping the intro by Sandi Toksvig as it's an unedifying performance of trying to position a fave as The First Woman Who Did X by erasing all the other women who also did X, in this case apparently neither Dorothy Parker nor Mae West, for example, were ever truly funny writers. Sigh.)… (more)
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Statistics
- Works
- 14
- Also by
- 3
- Members
- 1,632
- Popularity
- #15,744
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 30
- ISBNs
- 39
- Favorited
- 20