May Sarton: A Biography
Margot Peters had full access toMay Sarton's letters, journals, and notes while she researched and wrote this biography, and the result is a book that charts Sarton's personal life as it explores her work as a poet, novelist, and feminist.  Peters carefully details Sarton's many love affairs (mostly with women), portraying the writer as an insensitive and self-absorbed lover who was prone to betrayal on the slightest pretext. She attributes this behavior to Sarton's precarious sense of self-worth, developed as a result of parental neglect in her early childhood. That low self-esteem resonated in Sarton's incessant fear--despite publishing 15 books of poetry, 19 novels, and 13 memoirs and journals--that her writing might not be quite up to par. Peters draws this out and, unlike many literary biographers, allows that her subject's writing could have been better.  Throughout the book, she points to Sarton's common use of cliché and her tendency toward sentimentality. She suggests that if Sarton had taken more care with her craft and had better editors to guide her, she might have evolved into a better writer. Ultimately, the blend of facts about Sarton's life and loves with the critical analysis of her writing gives readers a comprehensive view of this complex woman and artist.