The Letters of Jean Rhys

In her will, Jean Rhys expressed a wish that no biography should be written unless authorized during her lifetime. Following her death, her literary executor was approached frequently with requests for permission to write “an official life”. Finally he decided that, by compiling a volume of letters, authentic biographical information would be provided. But as the collection grew, the biographical aspect took on a secondary importance as the self-portrait began to reveal the turbulent process of literary creation. The final result is a portrait spanning the years 1931 (taking up the story roughly where it was left in “Smile Please”) to 1966, when the long struggle to finish “Wide Sargasso Sea” was over.