Lives of the Wives: Five Literary Marriages by Carmela Ciuraru provides short biographies of five literary couples: 1. Una Troubridge and Radclyffe Hall, 2. Elsa Morante and Alberto Moravia, 3. Elaine Dundy and Kenneth Tynan, 4. Elizabeth Jane Howard and Kingsley Amis, and 5. Patricia Neal and Roald Dahl. I’m embarrassed to say I hadn’t heard of most of these people – and, after this, I am not sure I want to read any of their stuff.
In most of these marriages, both are writers, while in the last, Patricia Neal is an actress, a similarly consuming career. But in each case, it seems the husband’s career is helped by having a wife while the wife’s career is hampered by her husband’s demands. (The first couple are women in a lesbian relationship, but Radclyffe Hall, who went by “John,” took the role of domineering husband.)
These relationships are marred by infidelity, alcoholism, abuse, and misery. The writers are self-absorbed, egotistical, vain, and cruel – with backstories of unhappiness that didn’t excuse their awful behavior. The book’s message, for me, was: Don’t ever become involved with a writer. But since I imagine other occupations can be similarly all-encompassing, I came away feeling that a lot of people should never marry at all. And if they do, they certainly should not have children.
Still, this book is interesting for its peek into the lives of these large-than-life literary figures. Ciuraru presents the material with clarity and empathy. I learned quite a bit about people I was unfamiliar with – which makes this a winning book for me – even if I’m not inspired to go learn more about them. (They are just too awful.)
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