Louise Fitzhugh
Louise Fitzhugh | |
---|---|
Born | Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. | October 5, 1928
Died | November 19, 1974 New Milford, Connecticut, U.S. | (aged 46)
Occupation | Writer, illustrator |
Period | 1959–1974 |
Genre | Children's and young adult fiction |
Notable works | Harriet the Spy |
Louise Fitzhugh (October 5, 1928 – November 19, 1974) was an American writer and illustrator of children's books, known best for the novel Harriet the Spy. Her other novels were two Harriet sequels, The Long Secret and Sport, and Nobody's Family is Going to Change.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Fitzhugh was born in Memphis, Tennessee, to wealthy parents in 1928. Her parents divorced when she was an infant and her father, Millsaps Fitzhugh, gained custody; she lived with him in the South. She attended Miss Hutchison's School and three different universities. She lived in Washington, D.C., France, and Italy.[1]
She attended Bard College where she became involved in politics and anti-racism. She studied art in Italy and France, and continued her studies at the Art Students League and the Cooper Union. She lived most of her adult life in New York City and had houses in both Long Island and Bridgewater, Connecticut.[1]
Career[]
Fitzhugh was the illustrator of the 1961 children's book Suzuki Beane, a parody of Eloise; while Eloise lived in the Plaza, Suzuki was the daughter of beatnik parents and slept on a mattress on the floor of a Bleecker Street pad in Greenwich Village. Fitzhugh worked closely with author Sandra Scoppettone to produce Suzuki Beane, which incorporated typewriter font and line drawings in an original way. Although a parody of both Eloise and beatnik conceit, the book sprang to life as a genuine work of literature. Today, it is much sought after on used-book websites.
Fitzhugh's best-known book was Harriet the Spy, published in 1964 to some controversy since so many characters were far from admirable. It has since become a classic. According to her New York Times obituary, published November 19, 1974: "The book helped introduce a new realism to children's fiction and has been widely imitated". Harriet is the daughter of affluent New Yorkers who leave her in the care of her nanny, Ole Golly, in their Manhattan townhouse. Hardly the feminine girl heroine typical of the early 1960s, Harriet is a writer who notes everything about everybody in her world in a notebook which ultimately falls into the wrong hands. Ole Golly gives Harriet the unlikely but practical advice that: "Sometimes you have to lie. But to yourself you must always tell the truth". By and large, Harriet the Spy was well-received—it was named to the New York Times Outstanding Book Award list in 1964—and it has sold 4 million copies since publication. It was very popular among young girls, particularly non-conforming girls who lacked representation in fiction.
Fitzhugh, like many of Harriet's fans, was a lesbian. "Although Harriet's sexuality is never touched on in the book, her boy's clothes and bravado sent a message to some kids who felt different and didn't know why."[2]
Two characters from the book, Beth Ellen and Sport, were featured in two of Fitzhugh's later books, The Long Secret and Sport. The Long Secret deals fairly honestly with female puberty; the main characters are pre-teen girls who discuss how their changing bodies feel.
Another young adult manuscript, Amelia, concerned two girls falling in love. This manuscript was not published and was later lost.[3]
Fitzhugh illustrated many of her books and had works exhibited in Banfer Gallery, New York, in 1963, among many other galleries.
Death[]
Fitzhugh died in 1974 of a brain aneurysm, eight days before the publication of her third novel, Nobody's Family Is Going To Change. Her obituary was published in The New York Times.[4]
Works[]
Novels[]
- Harriet the Spy (Harper & Row, 1964)
- The Long Secret (Harper & Row, 1965) – sequel to Harriet the Spy
- Nobody's Family Is Going to Change (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1974), LCCN 74-19152
- Sport (Delacorte, 1979) – posthumously published quasi-sequel to Harriet, LCCN 78-72861
Children's books[]
- Bang, Bang, You're Dead, (co-written with Sandra Scoppettone), illus. Fitzhugh (Harper & Row, 1969), LCCN 69-14440
- I Am Five, written and illus. by Fitzhugh (Delacorte Press, 1978), LCCN 78-50404
- I Am Four, illus. Susan Bonners (Delacorte, 1982), LCCN 82-70309
- I Am Three, illus. Susanna Natti (Delacorte, 1982), LCCN 81-15218
As illustrator only[]
- Suzuki Beane, written by Sandra Scoppettone, (Doubleday, 1961), LCCN 61-7513
Awards[]
- New York Times Outstanding Books of the Year citation, 1964
- Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Award, 1967 (Harriet the Spy)
- Posthumous
- Children's Book Bulletin, 1976 (Nobody's Family is Going to Change)
- Children's Workshop Other Award, 1976 (Nobody's Family is Going to Change)
- Emmy Award for children's entertainment special (The Tap Dance Kid, based on Nobody's Family is Going to Change).
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b Nodelman, Perry. "Louise Fitzhugh (5 October 1928-19 November 1974)." American Writers for Children Since 1960: Fiction. Ed. Glenn E. Estes. Vol. 52. Detroit: Gale, 1986. 133-142. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 52. Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.
- ^ Grant, Neva (March 3, 2008). "Unapologetically Harriet, the Misfit Spy". NPR.
- ^ Horning, Kathleen T. (April 18, 2014), Spying on Louise Fitzhugh, Horn Book
- ^ "Louise Fitzhugh Is Dead at 46; 'Harriet the Spy' Author-Artist". The New York Times. November 21, 1974. p. 50.
Further reading[]
- Brody, Leslie (December 1, 2020). Sometimes You Have to Lie: The Life and Times of Louise Fitzhugh, Renegade Author of Harriet the Spy. Seal Press. ISBN 978-1-58005-769-1. OCLC 1150927952.
- Stahl, J. D. (1990). "Satire and the Evolution of Perspective in Children's Literature: Mark Twain, E. B. White, and Louise Fitzhugh". Children's Literature Association Quarterly. 15 (3): 119–122. doi:10.1353/chq.0.0723.
- Stahl, J. D. (1999). "Louise Fitzhugh, Marisol, and the Realm of Art". Children's Literature Association Quarterly. 24 (4): 159–165. doi:10.1353/chq.0.1156. hdl:10919/25448.
- Wolf, Virginia (1991). Louise Fitzhugh. New York: Twayne Publishers. ISBN 0805776141.
External links[]
- "Purple Socks: A Louise Fitzhugh Fan Site." at the Wayback Machine (archived February 6, 2012)
- Grant, Neva. "Unapologetically Harriet, the Misfit Spy." NPR, March 3, 2008.
- Bard College. "Women Arrive." (Photograph 5 shows Fitzhugh as a model for a painting c.1949.)
- Louise Fitzhugh at Library of Congress Authorities, with 16 catalog records
- 1928 births
- 1974 deaths
- American children's writers
- American women illustrators
- American illustrators
- 20th-century American novelists
- Lesbian writers
- LGBT writers from the United States
- Writers from Memphis, Tennessee
- Novelists from Tennessee
- Writers from New York City
- American young adult novelists
- American women novelists
- LGBT novelists
- LGBT people from Tennessee
- American women children's writers
- 20th-century American women writers
- 20th-century American women artists
- Women writers of young adult literature
- Deaths from intracranial aneurysm
- Novelists from New York (state)
- Writers who illustrated their own writing