Hermione Lee's biography sheds new light on elusive author Anita Brookner
The review discusses Hermione Lee's biography of Anita Brookner, which challenges the stereotype of the author as a lonely, cardiganed figure. It reveals Brookner's hidden early years and her work as an art critic and lecturer. The biography aims to give Brookner her due as a significant literary figure.
Brookner published her first novel at age 53, after a lengthy career as an art critic and lecturer at the Courtauld Institute. Her mentor there, Anthony Blunt, was exposed as a Soviet spy in 1979, a betrayal that shook her deeply and contributed to her turn toward fiction. Each of her 24 novels was written in roughly three months, with sentences formed during long walks through London.
The biography counters the reductive image of Brookner as a lonely spinster, noting that only her first four novels fit that mold. Her later work explored family, exile, trauma, and aging. Lee's research reveals contradictions: a woman who shaved a decade off her age in Who's Who, yet described herself as the loneliest woman in London while maintaining many friendships.
This biography could reshape how readers and critics understand Brookner's literary legacy, potentially prompting renewed academic interest and new editions of her work. It may also influence how female authors are remembered and evaluated, challenging the tendency to reduce complex writers to caricatures. For general readers, the book offers a window into mid-century intellectual life and the hidden costs of caregiving, which could resonate with contemporary conversations about women's careers and family obligations.