Eleanor Clark (1913 – 1996) was an American writer and "master stylist," best known for her non-fiction accounts.

Background

Eleanor Clark was born on July 6, 1913, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

, but grew up in

Roxbury, Connecticut Roxbury is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 2,260 at the 2020 census. The town is located northeast of New York City. History Roxbury, whose Native name was ''Shepaug'', a Mahican word signifying "r ...

. She attended

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely fol ...

in the 1930s, where she met Mary McCarthy.

Career

Clark was involved with the literary magazine ''Con Spirito'' there, along with

Elizabeth Bishop Elizabeth Bishop (February 8, 1911 – October 6, 1979) was an American poet and short-story writer. She was Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1949 to 1950, the Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry in 1956, the National Book Awar ...

, Mary McCarthy, and her sister Eunice Clark. She also associated with Herbert Solow and helped translate documents for the 1937 "trial" of

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian M ...

. During World War II, Clark worked in the

Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all bran ...

(OSS) in Washington, DC. Clark wrote reviews, essays, children's books, and novels.

Personal life and death

In the late 1930s, Clark married

Jan Frankel Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article N ...

, a secretary of Trotsky; they divorced by the mid-1940s. In 1952, Clark married

Robert Penn Warren Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989) was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the lite ...

and lived in

Fairfield, Connecticut Fairfield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It borders the city of Bridgeport and towns of Trumbull, Easton, Weston, and Westport along the Gold Coast of Connecticut. Located within the New York metropolitan are ...

, with him and their two children, Rosanna and Gabriel. On February 16, 1996, Clark died age 82 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Awards

* 1953: National Book Award finalist nonfiction for ''Rome and a Villa'' * 1964:

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The N ...

in Arts and Letter for ''The Oysters of Locmariaquer''

Works

For her book ''The Oysters of Locmariaquer'' (1964), Clark received the U.S.

in category Arts and Letters. At reissue of ''Rome and the Villa'',

Anatole Broyard Anatole Paul Broyard (July 16, 1920 – October 11, 1990) was an American writer, literary critic, and editor who wrote for ''The New York Times''. In addition to his many reviews and columns, he published short stories, essays, and two books dur ...

called it "perhaps the finest book ever to be written about a city." Clark wrote about her experiences with the

CPUSA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

and

Trotskyites Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a re ...

in at least two fictionalized accounts, ''Bitter Box'' (1946) and ''Gloria Mundi'' (1979). Novels: * ''Bitter Box'' (1946) * ''Baldur's Gate'' (1970) * ''Song of Roland'' (1960) * ''Dr. Heart: A Novella and Other Stories'' (1974) * ''Gloria Mundi: A Novel'' (1979) Nonfiction: * ''Rome and a Villa'' (1952) * ''Oysters of Locmariaquer'' (1964) * '' Eyes, Etc.: A Memoir'' (1977) * ''Tamrart: 13 Days in the Sahara'' (1984) * ''Camping Out'' (1986) Translations: * ''Dark Wedding'' (1943), translation of ''Epitalamio del Prieto Trinidad'' by

Ramón José Sender Ramón or Ramon may refer to: People Given name *Ramon (footballer, born 1998), Brazilian footballer *Ramón (footballer, born 1990), Brazilian footballer *Ramón (singer), Spanish singer who represented Spain in the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest * ...

References

External links

* * Eleanor Clark Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Eleanor 1913 births 1996 deaths 20th-century American novelists National Book Award winners Vassar College alumni Writers from Los Angeles American women novelists 20th-century American women writers American women non-fiction writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters