Carson McCullers
Born
in Columbus, Georgia, The United States
February 19, 1917
Died
September 29, 1967
Genre
Influences
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
151 editions
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published
1940
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The Ballad of the Sad Café and Other Stories
8 editions
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published
1951
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The Member of the Wedding
192 editions
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published
1946
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Reflections in a Golden Eye
64 editions
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published
1941
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Clock Without Hands
6 editions
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published
1961
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Collected Stories
23 editions
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published
1987
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Complete Novels: The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter / Reflections in a Golden Eye / The Ballad of the Sad Cafe / The Member of the Wedding / Clock Without Hands
9 editions
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published
2001
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The Haunted Boy
2 editions
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published
1979
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The Member of the Wedding: The Play (New Directions Paperbook)
by
5 editions
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published
1951
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The Mortgaged Heart
by
47 editions
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published
1970
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“First of all, love is a joint experience between two persons — but the fact that it is a joint experience does not mean that it is a similar experience to the two people involved. There are the lover and the beloved, but these two come from different countries. Often the beloved is only a stimulus for all the stored-up love which had lain quiet within the lover for a long time hitherto. And somehow every lover knows this. He feels in his soul that his love is a solitary thing. He comes to know a new, strange loneliness and it is this knowledge which makes him suffer. So there is only one thing for the lover to do. He must house his love within himself as best he can; he must create for himself a whole new inward world — a world intense and strange, complete in himself. Let it be added here that this lover about whom we speak need not necessarily be a young man saving for a wedding ring — this lover can be man, woman, child, or indeed any human creature on this earth.
Now, the beloved can also be of any description. The most outlandish people can be the stimulus for love. A man may be a doddering great-grandfather and still love only a strange girl he saw in the streets of Cheehaw one afternoon two decades past. The preacher may love a fallen woman. The beloved may be treacherous, greasy-headed, and given to evil habits. Yes, and the lover may see this as clearly as anyone else — but that does not affect the evolution of his love one whit. A most mediocre person can be the object of a love which is wild, extravagant, and beautiful as the poison lilies of the swamp. A good man may be the stimulus for a love both violent and debased, or a jabbering madman may bring about in the soul of someone a tender and simple idyll. Therefore, the value and quality of any love is determined solely by the lover himself.
It is for this reason that most of us would rather love than be loved. Almost everyone wants to be the lover. And the curt truth is that, in a deep secret way, the state of being beloved is intolerable to many. The beloved fears and hates the lover, and with the best of reasons. For the lover is forever trying to strip bare his beloved. The lover craves any possible relation with the beloved, even if this experience can cause him only pain.”
― The Ballad of the Sad Café and Other Stories
Now, the beloved can also be of any description. The most outlandish people can be the stimulus for love. A man may be a doddering great-grandfather and still love only a strange girl he saw in the streets of Cheehaw one afternoon two decades past. The preacher may love a fallen woman. The beloved may be treacherous, greasy-headed, and given to evil habits. Yes, and the lover may see this as clearly as anyone else — but that does not affect the evolution of his love one whit. A most mediocre person can be the object of a love which is wild, extravagant, and beautiful as the poison lilies of the swamp. A good man may be the stimulus for a love both violent and debased, or a jabbering madman may bring about in the soul of someone a tender and simple idyll. Therefore, the value and quality of any love is determined solely by the lover himself.
It is for this reason that most of us would rather love than be loved. Almost everyone wants to be the lover. And the curt truth is that, in a deep secret way, the state of being beloved is intolerable to many. The beloved fears and hates the lover, and with the best of reasons. For the lover is forever trying to strip bare his beloved. The lover craves any possible relation with the beloved, even if this experience can cause him only pain.”
― The Ballad of the Sad Café and Other Stories
Polls
July 2017 New School Classic Poll
My Cousin RachelbyDaphne du Maurier,1951, 352 pgs
46 votes,
13.3%
The Heart is a Lonely HunterbyCarson McCullers,368 pgs, 1940
35 votes,
10.1%
Midnight's ChildrenbySalman Rushdie,647 pgs, 1981
33 votes,
9.5%
The OutsidersbyS.E. Hinton,1967, 192 pgs
28 votes,
8.1%
The Wind-Up Bird ChroniclebyHaruki Murakami,1994, 607 pgs
27 votes,
7.8%
Cannery RowbyJohn Steinbeck,1945, 185 pgs
26 votes,
7.5%
The GodfatherbyMario Puzo,448 pgs, 1969
25 votes,
7.2%
As I Lay DyingbyWilliam Faulkner,1930, 267 pgs
23 votes,
6.6%
A Confederacy of DuncesbyJohn Kennedy Toole,1980, 416 pgs
22 votes,
6.4%
Alias GracebyMargaret Atwood,1996, 636 pgs
17 votes,
4.9%
The English PatientbyMichael Ondaatje,1992, 320
14 votes,
4.0%
The Master of GobyYasunari Kawabata,1954, 189 pgs
13 votes,
3.8%
Zorba the GreekbyNikos Kazantzakis,1946, 335 pgs
11 votes,
3.2%
The Sea WolfbyJack London,1904, 425 pgs
10 votes,
2.9%
Main StreetbySinclair Lewis,1920, 454 pgs
9 votes,
2.6%
Independent PeoplebyHalldór Laxness,482 pgs, 1934
4 votes,
1.2%
CreationbyGore Vidal,1981, 574 pgs
3 votes,
0.9%
The StreetbyAnn Petry,1946, 435
0 votes,
0.0%
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