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Carson McCullers was born in Columbus, Georgia, on February 19, 1917. She died at age fifty in Nyack, New York, on September 29, 1967. A promising pianist, she had hoped to enroll at the Juilliard School of Music when she was seventeen, but when she arrived in New York, she attended writing classes at Columbia University instead. In December 1936 her first story, "Wunderkind," was published in "Story" magazine. That winter she began work on "The Mute," which would become her enduring masterpiece, "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter." (Publisher Provided) Carson McCullers was born Lula Carson Smith on February 19, 1917 in Columbus, Georgia. At the age of seventeen, desiring to become a famous concert pianist, she went to New York City to attend the Julliard School of Music. Her family sacrificed and raised money for her tuition to go to Julliard, but she lost all of her money when she left her pocketbook on the subway. Unable to tell her family what had happened, she took writing classes at Columbia University and New York University from 1935-1936. Her first novel, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, was published in 1940. Her other novels included Reflections in a Golden Eye, The Ballad of the Sad Café, The Member of the Wedding, and Clock Without Hands. With the help of Tennessee Williams, The Member of the Wedding was adapted into a play, which won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award in 1950. She died from a stroke and subsequent brain hemorrhage on September 29, 1967at the age of 50. (Bowker Author Biography) — biography from The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter… (more)
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter 10,440 copies, 237 reviews
The Member of the Wedding 2,769 copies, 63 reviews
Reflections in a Golden Eye 995 copies, 35 reviews
Clock Without Hands 653 copies, 13 reviews
The Mortgaged Heart 237 copies, 3 reviews
The Member of the Wedding: A Play 176 copies, 3 reviews
Wunderkind 41 copies
Romans et nouvelles 11 copies, 1 review
Sucker 7 copies
The Jockey 4 copies, 2 reviews
The March 2 copies
The Sojourner 2 copies
The pestle 1 copy
50 Great Short Stories (Contributor) 1,194 copies, 7 reviews
Short Story Masterpieces (Contributor) 651 copies, 3 reviews
As I Lay Dying [Norton Critical Edition] (Contributor) 534 copies, 6 reviews
Fifty Great American Short Stories (Contributor) 414 copies, 3 reviews
Women & Fiction: Short Stories By and About Women (Contributor) 358 copies, 7 reviews
Diane Goode's American Christmas (Contributor) 275 copies, 3 reviews
The Treasury of American Short Stories (Contributor) 262 copies, 1 review
The 40s: The Story of a Decade (Contributor) 262 copies, 4 reviews
Famous American Plays of the 1940s (Contributor) 219 copies, 1 review
The Signet Classic Book of Southern Short Stories (Contributor) 120 copies, 1 review
200 Years of Great American Short Stories (Contributor) 64 copies, 1 review
Art of Fiction (Contributor) 50 copies
The Seasons of Women: An Anthology (Contributor) 46 copies
Point of Departure (Contributor) 45 copies, 1 review
Mothers and Daughters: An Anthology (Contributor) 31 copies, 1 review
Hey-How for Halloween! (Contributor) 29 copies, 2 reviews
Vogue's First Reader (Contributor) 27 copies
Reflections in a Golden Eye [1967 film] (Original novel) 23 copies
Great Short Stories of the World (Contributor) 23 copies
The Best American Short Stories 1964 (Contributor) 23 copies
Studies in Fiction (Contributor) 22 copies, 1 review
Eight Short Novels (Contributor) 22 copies
The Best American Short Stories 1944 (Contributor) 18 copies
Story to Anti-Story (Contributor) 13 copies
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter [1968 film] (Original book) 10 copies, 1 review
Great Tales of City Dwellers (Contributor) 8 copies
Best modern short stories (Contributor) 8 copies
The Short Story & You (Contributor) 7 copies
20th Century American Short Stories, Volume 2 (Contributor) 3 copies, 1 review
Twelve short novels (Contributor) 3 copies
Enjoying Stories (Contributor) 2 copies

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Short biography
Carson McCullers reinvented herself after leaving home at age 17 to study at the Juilliard School of Music in Manhattan. Something happened to make her lose the money and she never attended the school.  Instead, she worked and took night classes at university.  Her published writing began to appear in 1936.  She suffered throughout her life from serious illness, including rheumatic fever and several strokes. By the age of 31, her left side was completely paralyzed.  Her work, usually set in the South of her birth, often focused on people seen as misfits and outcasts.
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Legacy Library: Carson McCullers

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