Most Popular Books by Carson McCullers

A collection of twenty-one stories by Carson McCullers, including The member of the wedding and The ballad of the sad cafe.

Carson McCullers'' seminal work, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, unfolds in a decaying Southern town during the Great Depression, serving as a poignant exploration of human isolation and the profound longing for connection. Utilizing a lyrical and deeply introspective narrative style, McCullers interweaves the lives of various characters, each seeking solace in the deaf-mute John Singer, a figure who embodies both hope and despair. The novel''s vivid imagery and rich character development offer a lens into the complexities of loneliness, race, and the quest for identity, reflecting the broader societal struggles of America in the 1940s. Born in 1917 in Columbus, Georgia, Carson McCullers was intimately familiar with the themes of isolation and the search for understanding that permeate her writing. Her Southern upbringing and personal experiences, including battles with illness, certainly influenced her portrayal of marginalized voices. McCullers'' keen observation of human emotion and her profound empathy for her characters stem from a life spent navigating her own feelings of alienation and longing, providing a rich backdrop for this powerful narrative. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is a must-read for anyone interested in the intricacies of human relationships and the struggle for belonging. McCullers'' poignant prose invites readers to reflect on their own lives and the universal truths of love and loneliness, making it a timeless masterpiece in American literature.

A novel commenting on race, class, and individual responibility intertwines the stories of a dying middle-aged druggist, a corrupt old judge who cherishes his grand Southern lifestyle, the judge''s orphaned grandson, and an angry Black youth in search of h

This is a book about Frankie Adams, a twelve year old girl coming of age in the South during World War II. Within the span of a few hours, the irresistible, hoydenish Frankie passionately plays out her fantasies at her elder brother''s wedding. Through a perilous skylight we look into the mind of a child torn between her yearning to belong and the urge to run away.

A Southern woman is undone by love and gossip in the classic novella, one of seven stories in this "brilliant . . . panorama of remarkable talent" ( The New York Times). One of the most celebrated and enduringly popular works in Southern literature, this collection assembles Carson McCullers''s best stories, including her beloved novella "The Ballad of the Sad Café." A haunting tale of love and violence in a small Southern town, the novella introduces readers to Miss Amelia, a formidable woman whose home serves as the town''s gathering place. Among other fine works, the collection also includes McCullers''s first published story, "Wunderkind," about a musical prodigy who suddenly realizes she will not go on to become a great pianist. First published in 1951, The Ballad of the Sad Café was adapted for the stage by the Edward Albee and later made into a film starring Vanessa Redgrave and Keith Carradine. "McCullers''s finest stories." — The New York Times

"Essential reading for any serious beginning writer . . . illuminating." — San Francisco Chronicle Carson McCullers is renowned for her Southern Gothic fiction and for such modern classics as The Member of the Wedding. This collection includes an assortment of her earliest work, written mostly before she was nineteen. Included are stories, essays, articles, poems, and writing about writing—including the working outline of "The Mute," which would become her bestselling novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter—as well as an introduction by Joyce Carol Oates. As new generations continue to discover the work of Carson McCullers, this volume provides both an enjoyable read and an inspiring look at the beginning of a brilliant literary career.

A landmark gathering of McCullers’ shorter works, including all her published stories, plays, essays, poems, and an unfinished autobiography Celebrated worldwide for her masterly novels, Carson McCullers was equally accomplished, and equally moving, when writing in shorter forms. This Library of America volume brings together for the first time her twenty extraordinary stories, along with plays, essays, memoirs, and poems. Here are the indelible tales “Madame Zilensky and the King of Finland” and “A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud.” as well as her previously uncollected story about the civil rights movement, “The March”; her award- winning Broadway play The Member of the Wedding and the unpublished teleplay The Sojourner; twenty-two essays; and the revealing unfinished memoir Illumination and Night Glare. This wide-ranging gathering of shorter works reveals new depths and dimensions of the writer whom V. S. Pritchett praised for her “courageous imagination—one that is bold enough to consider the terrible in human nature without loss of nerve, calm, dignity, or love.” LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Reflections in a Golden Eye" by Carson McCullers. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

"This particular hell is an Army post in the South. Its inhabitants: a sexually disturbed author; his sensual animal of a wife; his fellow-officer and wife''s lover; a delicate, sensitive woman who must live with her husband''s infidelity; and the driven young Private who brings the searing drama to a head. From these elements, one of America''s superlative writers has produced a vision of existance as terrible as it is real-- a shattering voyage into the depths of human hatred and desire." -- Back cover.

More than 30 years after it was written, the autobiography of Carson McCullers finally will be published. From a precocious childhood to her painful decline from crippling strokes, McCullers offers poignant, unabashed remembrances of early writing successes, family and intense relationships. 21 photos.