A Splendid Intelligence: The Life of Elizabeth Hardwick

In this entertaining biography, Curtis (Alive Still: Nell Blaine, American Painter) charts how writer and critic Elizabeth Hardwick (1916–2007) became a prominent figure among the New York literati. Hardwick, a Kentuckian who grew up in a financially strapped family, graduated from college in the late 1930s, headed to Columbia to pursue a PhD in literature, then abandoned that pursuit to become a writer and “became a fixture of the literary scene.” Curtis covers Hardwick’s marriage to Robert Lowell, which was strained by his recurrent bouts of mania. After their divorce and his explosive publication of The Dolphin, a book of poems about their breakup, which both Adrienne Rich and Elizabeth Bishop called “cruel,” Hardwick came into her own with the publication of her “brilliant novel” Sleepless Nights. Curtis does an admirable job of weaving together her sources, but Hardwick herself can get lost amid the many famous figures she rubbed shoulders with (and who feature prominently here). Still, fans of Hardwick will find this a good place to start, and it doubles as a satisfying look at the writer’s milieu. (Nov.)