Louise Bogan

The biography of poet Louise Bogan, who died in 1971, and whose poems collected in The Blue Estuaries, were first published in the 1920s. A prolific writer in her youth, Bogan was overcome by demons she could not master, and as this book reveals, struggled with a temper, paranoia and jealousy greater than anyone might have guessed. While Frank provides insightful descriptions of Bogan's childhood and her problematic relationship with her mother, she offers clues as to why the poet was so private and why it became increasingly difficult for her to write. The book won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for biography.