I've never been one for author interviews, but this one, with Mary Gaitskill, actually gets interesting:

One thing I'm very envious of men for is when they get married--this is less true than it was, but I still think it's true--their wife is going to help them. Look at Nabokov. He was a brilliant writer. He would have been a brilliant writer no matter what. But do you know how much his wife did for him? She did the shopping. They would drive to the store together--she would drive. She did all the dealings with the landlord, she shoveled the walk. She typed his manuscripts, she edited them. I don't think most women would go that far, but women are far more willing to do the support work, which is really, really helpful. Virginia Woolf--I'm sure she would have been a great writer, regardless, but she had a lot of help, too. Leonard was a wife. That's invaluable. Women do not have that very often.

Comments

[David]

Very interesting post. I'm aware of several writers who had very supportive wives. Aldous Huxley had Maria, who was, by all accounts, a saint; Jack kerouac's mother, when he wasn't on the road, took care of him; Dylan Thomas had his wife Caitlin; etc., etc.
But we can't forget about the writers who endured motel rooms and flop houses, or worse...Dostoyevski comes to mind; and Bukowski; and what about Tolstoy, who reportedly died at a train station from exposure after arguing with his wife.
Now you got me thinking...I'm going to have to look into this, lol!!!

[Brandon]

It IS interesting, isn't it, David? I remember posting a link in which a famous writer or critic (I don't recall who, I'd have to dig through my archives) who said that marriage drains a man's creative energy. He'd cited some examples where authors had stopped writing after getting married, only to start writing again after the divorce. Of course, a literary marriage can be destructive, as was the case with Sylvia Plath, who killed herself because she was so distraught over her breakup with Ted Hughes. Strange thing is, Hughes was a cheating, abusive bastard, so one wonders how he held such sway over her.

I've always believed that artists are more neurotic than the rest of us, and that being married to one has to be a frustrating experience. As for motel rooms and such, I recall that Capote felt he did his best work in motels.

[theorist]

I read a study years ago about happiness in terms of marriage. Married men were happiest, then single women, then single men, then married women. Or something like that. The trick seems to be for men to married to single women.

While David and Brandon are exceptions, isn't it true that MANY people know the names of the husbands of women writers, while FEW know the names of the wives? Even Mary mentions Leondard by name but not the name of Nabokov's wife.

[theorist]

Er, I mean the trick seems to be for men to be married to single women.

[Brandon]

Rachel, as for knowing or not knowing the names of spouses of public figures, isn't this usually true? We only seem to know spouses when they've done something. Then it can be a sort of lover/mentor thing, as was the case with Hemingway and Mansfield. He was a huge influence on her, and commentators have noted that her prose was sturdier and more terse during and after their affair. Or you can ask yourself how everyone knows who Stephen King's wife is. Sure, she's written a few novels (name one!), but we mostly know her because he TALKS about her. She's not just his wife, presented in the most banal circumstances (i.e. known as "the wife" in his little dust jacket bio). She's Tabby, as he calls her, she has a name and a personality, and he gives her a lot of credit. Maybe that's where the difference really is. Some authors never really mention their spouse. King seems to be an exception. He's one of those guys who loves to talk about his wife.

[Citizen Reader]

Sadly, I know very few names of spouses unless they're the spouses of British film stars. I have a real BBC addiction problem.

Anyway, trust you to find this interview and tidbit, Brandon. I laughed when I read it. (I don't know why it struck me as so funny; it's just that for someone who doesn't seem all that interested in marriage as a possibility or an institution, yours is the blog where I find the most interesting references to it).

I would guess this is probably true for all types of people, not just literary geniuses. But is it really the wife we want, per se, or just a supportive person who takes care of all the annoying day-to-day shit? Seems like this is a career opportunity that's passing us by--"daily support person," or maybe, to follow the stereotype, "wife for hire"? I can see that being a great job, actually, if you could actually get paid for it (which few wives do).

And thank you for the link to the Gaitskill interview, which I found fascinating. I normally dislike "The Believer" mag so I never would have found it otherwise. Weirdly enough, I'm also in the middle of Gaitskill's "Veronica," which I'm hating, but I can see the skill behind it, and reading the interview at the same time makes it more interesting.

Last bit on spouses; I found this in a book yesterday and it seems appropriate:
"Despite fascination for ballerinas and women's clothing, Edgar Degas never marries. ("Imagine having someone around who at the end of a grueling day in the studio said, 'that's a nice painting, dear.'")

[Citizen Reader]

Last thing, I promise: I don't know that you can put all of Plath's suicide on the breakup with Hughes, incidentally.

[Brandon]

Why'd you laugh? Because it's TRUE. Women are the devil!

Okay, they're only the devil sometimes.

I'd agree that you can't pin all the blame for Plath's suicide on Hughes. She was depressive for much of her life, but he think he was probably the linchpin.