The Cramoisy Queen : A Life of Caresse Crosby

Caresse Crosby rejected the culturally prescribed roles of women of her era and background in search of an independent, creative, and socially responsible life. Poet, memoirist, advocate of women’s rights and the peace movement, Crosby published and promoted modern writers and artists such as Hart Crane, Dorothy Parker, Salvador Dali, and Romare Bearden. She also earned a place in the world of fashion by patenting one of the earliest versions of the brassiere. Behind her public success was a chaotic life: three marriages, two divorces, the suicide of Harry Crosby, strained relationships with her children, and legal confrontations over efforts to establish a center for world peace. As the first biographer to consider both the literary and social contexts of Crosby’s life, Linda Hamalian details Crosby’s professional accomplishments and her personal struggles. The Cramoisy Queen: A Life of Caresse Crosby also measures the impact of small presses on modernist literature and draws connections between key writers and artists of the era. In addition to securing a place for Crosby in modern literary and cultural history, The Cramoisy Queen: A Life of Caresse Crosby contributes to the field of textual studies, specifically the complexities of integrating autobiography and correspondence into biography. Enhanced by thirty-two illustrations, the volume appeals to a wide range of readers, including literary critics, cultural historians, biographers, and gender studies specialists. The Literary Review — Paul Schlueter "An American debutante turned expatriate writer and literary benefactor, Caresse Crosby rejected the culturally prescribed roles of women of her era and background in search of an independent, creative, and socially responsible life. Poet, memoirist, advocate of women's rights and the peace movement, Crosby published and promoted modern writers and artists such as Hart Crane, Dorothy Parker, Salvador Dali, and Romare Bearden. She also earned a place in the world of fashion by patenting one of the earliest versions of the brassiere.". "Behind her public success was a chaotic life: three marriages, two divorces, the suicide of Harry Crosby, strained relationships with her children, and legal confrontations over efforts to establish a center for world peace. As the first biographer to consider both the literary and social contexts of Crosby's life, Linda Hamalian details Crosby's professional accomplishments and her personal struggles. The Cramoisy Queen: A Life of Caresse Crosby also measures the impact of small presses on modernist literature and draws connections between key writers and artists of the era.". "Born Mary Phelps Jacob in 1892 to aristocratic parents in New York City, Crosby acquired additional wealth and prestige when she married into the Peabody family in 1915. But she rebuffed her comfortable class affiliations and scandalized Boston society when she left Richard Peabody to marry Harry Crosby in 1922. It was Harry who convinced her to change her name to Caresse and who later called her his Cramoisy Queen. The couple moved to Paris, where Harry was a writer and Caresse took art classes. Together, they founded Black Sun Press, which published such influential figures as D. H. Lawrence, Kay Boyle, Ernest Hemingway, and James Joyce and also reprinted classic texts in letterpress editions. Arguing that Caresse was the driving force behind Black Sun Press, Hamalian outlines how she far surpassed her programmed role as the mirror-companion of her husband in this literary endeavor. In fact, Caresse published five volumes of poetry, among them Graven Images with Houghton Mifflin in 1926." "After Harry's suicide in 1929, Crosby directed the press for the next thirty years. She returned to the United States, where she associated with such figures as Henry Miller and Anais Nin, publicized the work of Salvador Dali, opened an art gallery in Washington, D.C., and published the cross-disciplinary journal Portfolio."--BOOK JACKET. Annotation Caresse Crosby rejected the culturally prescribed roles for women of her era and background in search of an independent, creative, and socially responsible life. Poet, memoirist, advocate of women's rights and the peace movement, Crosby published and promoted modern writers and artists such as Hart Crane, Dorothy Parker, Salvador Dalí, and Romare Bearden. She also earned a place in the world of fashion by patenting one of the earliest versions of the brassiere. Behind her public success was a chaotic life: three marriages, two divorces, the suicide of her husband Harry Crosby, strained relationships with her children, and legal confrontations over efforts to establish a center for world peace. As the first biographer to consider both the literary and social contexts of Crosby's life, Linda Hamalian details Crosby's professional accomplishments and her personal struggles. The Cramoisy Queen: A Life of Caresse Crosby also measures the impact of small presses on modernist literature and draws connections between key writers and artists of the era. In addition to securing a place for Crosby in modern literary and cultural history, The Cramoisy Queen: A Life of Caresse Crosby contributes to the field of textual studies, specifically the complexities of integrating autobiography and correspondence into biography. Enhanced by thirty-two illustrations, the volume appeals to a wide range of readers, including literary critics, cultural historians, biographers, and gender studies specialists. Illustrations 10 Preface 12 1. Spunky Little Rich Girl 18 2. Polly Meets Harry 30 3. How Polly Became Caresse 44 4. A Woman of Many Trades 55 5. Treasures for the Black Sun Press 67 6. The Death of Harry Crosby 83 7. Business or Pleasure 99 Gallery 118 8. Atlantic Crossings 146 9. Mind Over Matter 153 10. Old Friends, New Friends 166 11. A Woman of Influence 177 12. Back in the Avant-Garde 188 13. Mondialization 203 14. Fame 215 15. A Thirty-Year Plan 226 16. How to Run a Castle 236 17. Keeping the Faith 245 Notes 258 Bibliography 280 Index 284 Author Bio 294