PAT R I C I A HIGHSMITH
Patricia Highsmith Facts 5 Facts 1. Patricia Highsmith had an unhappy childhood. Her parents separated several months before her birth, and she spent six years with her maternal grandmother, before moving back in with her mother in New York. Her mother and stepfather frequently argued, and Highsmith disliked both of them. 2. Highsmith began writing chilling stories in high school: One story, about a murderous nanny, was rejected by her high school’s literary magazine. 3. Highsmith's fist published novel was Strangers on a Train, in 1950, which was, later made into a film, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Several other novels have also been adapted as films including Carol in 2015. 4. She found the public passion for justice "boring and artificial" and was not interested in her characters being punished for their crimes. 5. The protagonists of her books are mostly male, women in her books tend to be background characters, or bland antagonists to the men. Carol (The Price of Salt) is a rare exception.
Patricia Highsmith Quotes 5 Quotes 1. "For neither life nor nature cares if justice is ever done or not." 2. "Honesty, for me, is usually the worst policy imaginable� 3. "Honestly, I don't understand why people get so worked up about a little murder!� 4. "My imagination functions much better when I don't have to speak to people." I think these quotes say a lot about Highsmith as a person. I think she comes across as a strong willed and opinionated person. Also especially later in her life, she became increasingly isolated and introverted.
'He liked the fact that Venice had no cars. It made the city human. The streets were like veins, he thought, and the people were the blood, circulating everywhere.' - The Talented Mr Ripley, p173
’Chania was where he had existed for three days like a hunted dog.' - The Two Faces of January, p135
Patricia Highsmith Places 5 Places: - Two Faces of January 1. Athens 2. Iraklion - Crete 3. Chania - Crete 4. Palace of Knossos - Crete
- Talented Mr Ripley 1. Mongibello 2. Venice
Highsmith travelled through Europe during the early 1950s, and a few of her books focus on Americans travelling through luxurious European destinations. Its like there is a contrast between the dark and troubled characters, the crimes they commit juxtaposed with beautiful sunny Mediterranean landscapes.
Patricia Highsmith Characters 5 Characters: - Two Faces of January 1. Chester MacFarland 2. Colette MacFarland 3. Rydal Keener
- Talented Mr Ripley 1. Tom Ripley 2. Richard 'Dickie' Greenleaf
Highsmith usually focuses her stories around male protagonists (apart from ‘the price of salt’ – ‘Carol’). She seems to pit two male characters again each other, usually ending in disastrous circumstances. The female characters seem to be there as decoration or a plot device. It’s the intense psychological struggle between the men that Highsmith devotes the juicy parts of the plot to. In ‘The Talented Mr Ripley' Tom Ripley envies Dickies lifestyle, and idolises Dickie to the point of obsession – ultimately impersonating Dickie to the point where Ripley becomes Dickie Greenleaf, In ‘the two faces of January’ the connection between the two male leads is less intense but there is a suggestion that Chester is in a way a future projection of what Rydal may become.
Patricia Highsmith Themes/Motifs Highsmith’s books focus around the psychology of her characters - normally mysterious , dark, isolated and troubled. I'd say the recurring themes in the work I've looked at so far are: 1. Murder, or man-slaughter/ accidental or spur of the moment murder 2. sexuality - there is debate over Tom Ripley's sexuality and there is an undercurrent of sexual tension throughout both books that I’ve read. 3. Guilt or lack of guilt and how the characters cope with their actions. The psychological fluctuation and struggle of the characters is a key part of the storyline. 4. Impersonation and con-men, both in two faces of January with Chester Macfarlane's many faces, and In The talented Mr Ripley - Tom Ripley's impersonation of Dickie Greenleaf 5. Evading the law 6. unresolved, uncomfortable feeling of a lack of justice.