Jean Stafford

Jean Stafford (July 1, 1915 – March 26, 1979) was an American short story writer and novelist. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford in 1970.

Her fiction is highly regarded for its elegant style and its precision in rendering the social isolation of her characters.

Stafford's short fiction is frequently anthologized.

Early life and education Jean Stafford was born in Covina, California, Stafford's second novel, The Mountain Lion (1947), draws on her childhood in Colorado. With the proceeds she was able to buy a house in Damariscotta Mills, Maine. but became better known for her short stories, many of which were published in The New Yorker.

Stafford also published many book reviews.

Honors Stafford was awarded a grant from the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1945 and was twice awarded Guggenheim Fellowships in fiction, in 1945 and 1948. A second marriage to Life magazine staff writer Oliver Jensen in 1950 also ended in divorce, in 1953.

In the summer of 1956 Stafford traveled to London in search of subject matter. There she met editor Eve Auchincloss who would become a friend and mentor. Stafford's editor at The New Yorker, Katherine S. White, introduced her to A. J. Liebling, a prominent American journalist at the periodical, who was living in England. Stafford and Leibing had long held one another's work in high esteem. The union was a happy one, but ended with his death in 1963.

Stafford continued to live in their house on Long Island, New York, and to write primarily non-fiction, including an interview-based portrait of Lee Harvey Oswald's mother, A Mother in History, published in 1966.

A novel-in-progress, The Parliament of Women, remained unfinished at the time of her death.

For much of her life she suffered from alcoholism and depression.

Legacy The Library of America republished Stafford's fiction in 2019 and 2021.

Novels Boston Adventure, 1944 The Mountain Lion, 1947 The Catherine Wheel, 1952 The Interior Castle (1953), includes Boston Adventure (1944), The Mountain Lion (1947), and the short story collection Children Are Bored on Sunday (1953)

Short story collections Children Are Bored on Sunday, 1953, includes "The Interior Castle" (1946) A Book of Stories, with John Cheever, Daniel Fuchs, and William Maxwell, 1956 (five stories) Bad Characters, 1964 Collected Stories, 1969

Juvenile books Elephi: The Cat with the High I.Q., 1962 The Lion and the Carpenter and Other Tales from the Arabian Tales Retold, 1962

Nonfiction A Mother in History, 1966, a profile of Marguerite Oswald, mother of Lee Harvey Oswald

Short stories + Title Publication Collected in "And Lots of Solid Color" American Prefaces (November 1939) Collected Stories & Other Writings "The Darkening Moon" Harper's Bazaar (January 1944) The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford "The Lippia Lawn" The Kenyon Review (Spring 1944) "A Reunion" Partisan Review (Fall 1944) Collected Stories & Other Writings "The Home Front" Partisan Review (Spring 1945) Children Are Bored on Sunday "Between the Porch and the Altar" Harper's Magazine (June 1945) "The Captain's Gift"a.k.a. "The Present" The Sewanee Review (April 1946) Bad Characters "The Interior Castle" Partisan Review (Nov-Dec 1946) Children Are Bored on Sunday "The Hope Chest" Harper's Magazine (January 1947) The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford "A Slight Maneuver" Mademoiselle (February 1947) Collected Stories & Other Writings "Children Are Bored on Sunday" The New Yorker (February 21, 1948) Children Are Bored on Sunday "The Bleeding Heart" Partisan Review (September 1948) "A Summer Day" The New Yorker (September 11, 1948) "The Cavalier" The New Yorker (February 12, 1949) The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford "A Modest Proposal"a.k.a. "Pax Vobiscum" The New Yorker (July 23, 1949) Children Are Bored on Sunday "Polite Conversation" The New Yorker (August 20, 1949) The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford "A Country Love Story" The New Yorker (May 6, 1950) Children Are Bored on Sunday "The Maiden" The New Yorker (July 29, 1950) "Old Flaming Youth" Harper's Bazaar (December 1950) Collected Stories & Other Writings "The Echo and the Nemesis"a.k.a. "The Nemesis" The New Yorker (December 16, 1950) Children Are Bored on Sunday "The Healthiest Girl in Town" The New Yorker (April 7, 1951) The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford "The Violet Rock" The New Yorker (April 26, 1952) Collected Stories & Other Writings "I Love Someone" Colorado Quarterly (Summer 1952) The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford "Life Is No Abyss" The Sewanee Review (July 1952) "The Connoisseurs" Harper's Bazaar (October 1952) Collected Stories & Other Writings "Cops and Robbers"a.k.a. "The Shorn Lamb" The New Yorker (January 24, 1953) Bad Characters "The Liberation" The New Yorker (May 30, 1953) Stories (1956)Bad Characters "In the Zoo" The New Yorker (September 19, 1953) "A Winter's Tale" New Short Novels (Ballantine, 1954) Bad Characters "Bad Characters" The New Yorker (December 4, 1954) Stories (1956)Bad Characters "Beatrice Trueblood's Story" The New Yorker (February 26, 1955) Stories (1956) "Maggie Meriwether's Rich Experience" The New Yorker (June 25, 1955) "The Warlock" The New Yorker (December 24, 1955) Collected Stories & Other Writings "The End of a Career" The New Yorker (January 21, 1956) Bad Characters "Caveat Emptor"a.k.a. "The Matchmaker" Mademoiselle (May 1956) "A Reading Problem" The New Yorker (June 30, 1956) "The Mountain Day" The New Yorker (August 18, 1956) The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford "My Blithe, Sad Bird" The New Yorker (April 6, 1957) Collected Stories & Other Writings "A Reasonable Facsimile" The New Yorker (August 3, 1957) Bad Characters "The Children's Game" The Saturday Evening Post (October 4, 1958) The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford "The Scarlet Letter" Mademoiselle (July 1959) Collected Stories & Other Writings "The Tea Time of Stouthearted Ladies" The Kenyon Review (Winter 1964) The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford "The Ordeal of Conrad Pardee" Ladies' Home Journal (July 1964) Collected Stories & Other Writings "The Philosophy Lesson" The New Yorker (November 16, 1968) The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford "An Influx of Poets" The New Yorker (November 6, 1978) The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford(not present in first edition) "Woden's Day" Shenandoah (Autumn 1979) Collected Stories & Other Writings

Uncollected short fiction

The date and journal of publication are indicated for these uncollected works of short fiction.

"And Lots of Solid Color" (American Prefaces 5, November 1939) "The Cavalier" (The New Yorker, February 12, 1949) "The Connosseurs" (Harper's Bazaar, October 1952) "An Influx of Poets" (The New Yorker, November 6, 1978) "Mountain Jim" (Boy's Life, February 1968) "My Blythe, Sad Bird" (The New Yorker, April 6, 1957) "Old Flaming Youth" (Harper's Bazaar, December 1950) "The Ordeal of Conrad Pardee" (Ladies' Home Journal, July 1964) "A Reunion" (Partisan Review 11, Autumn 1944) "The Scarlet Letter" (Mademoiselle, July 1959) "A Slight Maneuver" (Mademoiselle, February 1947) "The Violet Rock" (The New Yorker, April 16, 1952) "The Warlock" (The New Yorker, December 24, 1955) "Woden's Day" (Shenandoah, Autumn 1979)

Dramatic adaptations

"The Hope Chest" was adapted into a 30-minute TV film in 1952, starring Florence Bates. "The Scarlet Letter" was adapted into a 30-minute TV film in 1982, starring Christian Slater as Virgil Meade.

Footnotes