Delmarva Today: 6-19-20
Those of you who enjoy a good murder mystery will enjoy hearing my guest Karen Karydes to discuss her new book, complete but not yet published, Witches Who Wrote Novels.
Karen talks about the life and work of three pioneer women writers of the 1940’s and 50’s: Shirley Jackson, Margaret Millar (the wife of Ross Macdonald), and Patricia Highsmith. All three of these women were prolific writers. Jackson wrote 6 novels and many short stories. Most of you will remember “The Lottery.” Highsmith wrote 22 novels, and Millar 27. These women moved beyond the literature of the hard boiled, good versus evil of the male writers to a more nuanced genre where there are no immoral people, just immoral acts. It was called Domestic Noir where murder moved from the dark lonely streets of the city to the bedroom, living room, or other familiar insular places. Karydes argues that the work of these authors is experiencing somewhat of a comeback in today’s lockdown environment.
After a long and distinguished career in literary research, teaching, and library science, at the age of 60 Karen enrolled in the PhD program in English at the University of Maryland. Her dissertation became her first book, Hard Boiled Anxiety published in 2016. The book analyses the Freudian underlayment of the work of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross Macdonald. In 2017 Karen retired from her position as acquisitions librarian at the Talbot County Library in Easton, Maryland to write her new book on Jackson, Millar, and Highsmith.
Domestic Noir is an awesome genre that reveals the jarring world view of these three women. Tune in and listen to Karen talk about their work and how it was influenced by their lives.