Elinor Wylie
A Life Apart : a Biography
Description:... Elinor Wylie (September 7, 1885 – December 16, 1928) was a popular American poet and novelist of the 1920s. Miss Elinor Hoyt, commuting between Mainline Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., led an outwardly conventional social life which concealed a disastrous domestic life. She became notorious, during her lifetime, for her multiple affairs and marriages, which often made its way into her writings. She was a beautiful though glacial and formal woman—highly erotic, savoring the pursuit more than the consummation. Most women instinctively sensed that—like Byron—she was mad, bad, and dangerous to know—particularly if they had husbands at risk of succumbing. During her short span of eight years as a writer, Elinor published four volumes of poetry and four novels, all garnering praise. Many of her works offered insight into the difficulties of marriage and the impossible expectations that come with womanhood. Wylie was lauded for her passionate writing, fueled by ethereal descriptors, historical references, and feminist undertones.
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