Carson McCullers, nee Lula Carson Smith, was born in Columbus, Georgia on February 19, 1917. Her father worked as a jeweler and allowed her to attend college at Columbia University in New York City. In 1937, she married fellow Georgian Reeves McCullers, also a writer. They divorced in 1940. Thereafter, Carson McCullers's life was driven in large part by pain and unhappiness. She suffered several strokes and had at least two failed relationships with women, who did not love her, and one affair with a man, which also failed. Her strokes blighted her life, leaving her partially paralyzed and very ill for long periods.
McCullers was a successful novelist. Her first book, The Heart is a...