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In September 2001 Modern Library published a book of my collected short fiction, including novellas as well as short stories, called The Southern Woman: New and Selected Fiction. I was pleased with the selection which I made in cooperation with the Random House editor David Ebershoff. Inevitably some stories had to be dropped, but several new stories published but not yet collected, were included. A wonderful lead review by Molly Haskell promptly appeared in the New York Times Sunday Book Review. Though I thought of myself as a novelist, I began publishing short fiction when The New Yorker accepted a story in 1957. Others followed in that magazine and in 1960 they also published the entire text of The Light in the Piazza. See works for more details. In 1998 a young composer, Adam Guettel, optioned the work for a musical version. He later engaged Craig Lucas, a prominent playwright, to write the script. The production was launched first in Seattle in 2003, and subsequently played in Chicago in 2004 and finally appeared in New York at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont theatre in 2005. It ran for over a year, receiving abundant favorable reviews, and six Tony Awards in 2006. The cast was headed by the wonderful Victoria Clark, whose portrayal of Margaret Johnson won one of the awards, and Adam Guettel’s musical score and lyrics was another. A national tour with a different cast traveled until July 2007. Since my husband’s death in 1998 it has been difficult to find a steady focus for my writing. I have done a number of short stories which have sold to various magazines and am working on a short novel I hope to complete some day soon. I regularly attend the American Academy meetings in New York and the Fellowship of Southern Writers in Chattanooga. Recently I was awarded the PEN/Malamud Award for Short Fiction and will go to Washington in December to receive it. Nearly all my novels are in print. Louisiana State University Press has re-issued This Crooked Way, The Voice at the Back Door, The Salt Line, and The Night Travellers. Also my memoir, Landscapes of the Heart, has been re-issued by LSU Press. The University Press of Mississippi has The Snare in print, along with a collection of Italian tales, including the novella Knights and Dragons.
—Elizabeth Spencer |
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