| Mary Renault: A Biography (A Harvest Book) | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 6 reviews)
Sales Rank: 740261
Category: Book
Author: David Sweetman
Publisher: Harvest Books
Studio: Harvest Books
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
Label: Harvest Books
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.9
ISBN: 0156000601
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.912
EAN: 9780156000604
ASIN: 0156000601
Publication Date: July 15, 1994
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The author of The Charioteer and The King Must Die, Renault studied at Oxford but eventually abandoned the academic world and England for South Africa, where she and her companion, Julie Mullard, remained. "A superb biography of an exceptional novelist" (New Yorker). Named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times. Index; photographs.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
a little disillusioned after the read February 14, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have loved Mary Renault's historical novels about the ancient world since I was a pre-teen and read them today decades later. I was intrigued to see this biography on Amazon and ordered it....must say it was a bittersweet experience to find that a writer I have admired I cannot think of with the same level of admiration...
Sweetman's biography was insightful and gave the knowledge to flesh out what was only a vague skeleton of what I knew about Renault. Her early life was sad and corrosive and could have destroyed someone without her inner drive to be a writer...the fact that she was a lesbian was neither here nor there to me except that it too was a factor in her development as a person and writer...
What was certainly dismaying to me was her apparently inability or lack of desire to be very perceptive about the South Africa where she made her home for decades...Sweetman's explanation for her choices regarding which professional groups to belong to and her method of protest regarding the government's policy regarding the races might be truthful--that she had a distinct aversion to overt conflict and confrontation because of her parents' hostile marriage and the continual criticism her mother gave Renault from her birth onward. But for someone to be so alive and connect to the ancient world of Greece and so oblivious to the ancient worth of South Africa and its tribal cultures, is just a terrible and wasted irony.
If Renault had chosen to become involved and write with the same skill about African values and ancient culture that she chose to enliven her historical novels of ancient Greece, I imagine she could have been a significant factor in a struggle that is still taking place.
Sweetman attempts to deflect the bigoted and racist views that have perhaps attached themselves to Renault's lack of antipathy to the South African government, but to me it seems that she has a double standard of behavior--as most people do--and that she holds her characters to a higher standard than herself. While she could be very charitable and stauch supporter of those she genuinely cared about, her small inner circle was small for a reason. She did not go out of her way to develop or support a native South African voice and seemed to related everything through the eyes of her own European point of view....While she could enjoy the relatively rustic life style of Greece in the 40s, she never made the same attempt to get to know the people of South Africa in their own locals---not always because the govt prevented it either...
I was just disappointed to find her less than I hoped...although I don't imagine it will prevent me from enjoying her novels as much as I always have...
 Oddly unsatisfactory. August 15, 2004
12 out of 15 found this review helpful
Just couldn't get into this book, especially written as it is by someone who knew Renault. No one admires the author more than I, and books like THE CHARIOTEER, THE LAST OF THE WINE and THE PERSIAN BOY have been for me jewels in the crown of life. So I looked forward to this biography as a tantalising mystery finally about to be solved--Renault unmasked at last! No, sorry, it just didn't happen for me. Sweetman seems fixated on Renault's sexuality, which I don't discount or revile from, but which to me is not the essence of her books, the thing that makes them great. So what is it that makes them great? Her intelligence! Renault is the most intelligent author I've ever read; intelligence seems to stream out everywhere, along with tastefullness and a wonderful compassion for humanity. And style! What a fabulous stylist! I can read and re-read her books endlessly just for the style, not to mention the insight, the fabulous observation of detail. These are the qualities I wanted to find out about. Who was this woman? How did she become such a great person and a great author? Well, I don't know because Sweetman's biography doesn't tell me. We get the facts, yes, especially about her lesbian relationship, and we discover some of her activities while writing the books, most notably a trip to Greece. But we discover almost nothing about her general opinions, her tastes, all those things one asks about in order to uncover a person. For instance I would have liked to know her opinion of some of the fine historical films emerging at the time she was writing her historical novels, most notably Ben-Hur and Spartacus. We hear that she quite liked Quo Vadis, but little information is given. And what music did she listen to (only the Caesar Franck sonata is mentioned)? What did she like to eat? There are a million questions, few of which Sweetman answers. And I miss any decent literary criticism. At one point Sweetman remarks that a certain editor seemed insensible of Renault's literary excellence, but then so does Sweetman himself given how few words he expends on it. How for instance did Renault develop such a brilliantly unique style? I remember first reading THE LAST OF THE WINE (at 16) and being fascinated by a style unlike anything I'd ever encountered, a way of contructing sentences that seemed at once earthy and punchy and the height of elegance and sophistication. How did she come to this?
Well, no good ranting, I suppose. The book isn't bad, it just seems like a golden opportunity wasted. Obviously the definitive Renault biography has yet to be written--but I suspect it never will be simply because Renault didn't wish to be uncovered. Apparently Sweetman interviewed her in '82. I've never seen the interview, but I suspect she said very little of a personal nature. I suspect she made a point of throughout her life of saying little of a personal nature.
 nice bio August 27, 2003
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
It is well-written, and easy to read. I especially appreciated the episodes and explanations of the circumstances, political movements, and her struggles which inspired Mary Renault to write each story. Now I understand how each story was created, and what was on her mind when she wrote them.
When I first read her , which is a remarkable book, one of her best, I couldn't understand why she didn't take more pages to write about Alkibiades and the defeat of the Athenian fleet. This is the kind of scene she normally takes time and writes in great, vivid details. It seemed so odd and out of her character that she just skimmed through it (although it still came out all right). I had to read it twice to understand what exactly happened, and even after I understood, I wasn't satisfied.
Well, the mystery was solved now that I know that the publishing company had forced her to eliminate so many pages, she had to cut out one-third of the book. That particular scene was the one that suffered. I don't blame her if she never forgave the publishing company. We the readers have been deprived a great deal.I was also tickled to read that she had to let her secretary go because the secretary wanted to improve her grammar! Her relationships with her parents, friends and her agents, editors, correspondents, and especially with her companion Julie are heart-warming. This biography brought her person alive and vivid, and now I can look at her works from another dimention.
How Molly Challans Became Mary Renault June 30, 2003
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Mary Renault, with her delicate handling of alternative sexual interests, touched a chord in a lot of people, whatever their orientation. This is the story about how little Molly Challans (with her love of cowboys and books) because the best selling author of historical novels set in both Bronze age and Classical Greece, Mary Renault.One might almost have predicted the loveless marriage that produced her. Her mother's least attractive qualities seem to resonate in the character of Olympias (Alexander the Great's mother)in her later series (written after her mother's death and final betrayal). The absent or ineffective fathers in her books reflect her other father's physical and emotional distance from his family. And around her momentous events of the 20th century occur-- World War I and II, the rise of the Nationalist Party in South Africa, the liberalization of sexual mores in Britain and the United States, and the struggle against appartheid. This linear story is probably where the reader should go who wants to know more concrete facts about Mary Renault's life (she pronounced it Ren-olt not like the car). The author at times dips into analysis but doesn't linger there. His main informant seems to have been Mary's lifelong companion, Julia and at times the book seems to be as much about Julia as Mary-- he notes at one point that a friend referred to them as M & J rather than separately. I'm still waiting for the definitve evaluation of Renault's novels but until it arrives this book is well worth reading if at times a little on the thin side.
wonderful biography August 9, 2000
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I've long been an admirer of Renault's novels; her muscular prose, idealistic philosphies, model heroes, and her affection for gay male characters have struck a very resonant chord in me. After reading Sweetman's biography, I am now very much an admirer of Renault herself: intelligent, talented, courageous and strong. Once she wrote to a friend, speaking about feminists and women in general [she had a lifelong distaste for women, a point on which I now find myself differing]: "..the truth obviously is that [they] do seem to have, as men, some extra reserve of neural strength, some capacity for sustained intensity and inner drive, which women do not possess. I will believe otherwise when given evidence," rather selling herself short, I think, by not recognizing that very intensity and drive in herself.Highly recommended for any fan of Renault's.
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