The Lady with the Borzoi

Blanche Knopf, Literary Tastemaker Extraordinaire

Biography & Memoir, Literary
Cover of the book The Lady with the Borzoi by Laura Claridge, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Laura Claridge ISBN: 9780374709730
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publication: April 12, 2016
Imprint: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Language: English
Author: Laura Claridge
ISBN: 9780374709730
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication: April 12, 2016
Imprint: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Language: English

The untold story of Blanche Knopf, the singular woman who helped define American literature

Left off her company’s fifth anniversary tribute but described by Thomas Mann as “the soul of the firm,” Blanche Knopf began her career when she founded Alfred A. Knopf with her husband in 1915. With her finger on the pulse of a rapidly changing culture, Blanche quickly became a driving force behind the firm.

A conduit to the literature of Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance, Blanche also legitimized the hard-boiled detective fiction of writers such as Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, and Raymond Chandler; signed and nurtured literary authors like Willa Cather, Elizabeth Bowen, and Muriel Spark; acquired momentous works of journalism by John Hersey and William Shirer; and introduced American readers to Albert Camus, André Gide, and Simone de Beauvoir, giving these French writers the benefit of her consummate editorial taste.

As Knopf celebrates its centennial, Laura Claridge looks back at the firm’s beginnings and the dynamic woman who helped to define American letters for the twentieth century. Drawing on a vast cache of papers, Claridge also captures Blanche’s “witty, loyal, and amusing” personality, and her charged yet oddly loving relationship with her husband. An intimate and often surprising biography, The Lady with the Borzoi is the story of an ambitious, seductive, and impossibly hardworking woman who was determined not to be overlooked or easily categorized.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The untold story of Blanche Knopf, the singular woman who helped define American literature

Left off her company’s fifth anniversary tribute but described by Thomas Mann as “the soul of the firm,” Blanche Knopf began her career when she founded Alfred A. Knopf with her husband in 1915. With her finger on the pulse of a rapidly changing culture, Blanche quickly became a driving force behind the firm.

A conduit to the literature of Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance, Blanche also legitimized the hard-boiled detective fiction of writers such as Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, and Raymond Chandler; signed and nurtured literary authors like Willa Cather, Elizabeth Bowen, and Muriel Spark; acquired momentous works of journalism by John Hersey and William Shirer; and introduced American readers to Albert Camus, André Gide, and Simone de Beauvoir, giving these French writers the benefit of her consummate editorial taste.

As Knopf celebrates its centennial, Laura Claridge looks back at the firm’s beginnings and the dynamic woman who helped to define American letters for the twentieth century. Drawing on a vast cache of papers, Claridge also captures Blanche’s “witty, loyal, and amusing” personality, and her charged yet oddly loving relationship with her husband. An intimate and often surprising biography, The Lady with the Borzoi is the story of an ambitious, seductive, and impossibly hardworking woman who was determined not to be overlooked or easily categorized.

More books from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Cover of the book Panic at the Pump by Laura Claridge
Cover of the book The Boxer Rebellion and the Great Game in China by Laura Claridge
Cover of the book Fourmile by Laura Claridge
Cover of the book Identity by Laura Claridge
Cover of the book Miss Subways by Laura Claridge
Cover of the book The School of Charity by Laura Claridge
Cover of the book A Whole Life by Laura Claridge
Cover of the book Seeing Things by Laura Claridge
Cover of the book On the Road to Find Out by Laura Claridge
Cover of the book Heart: A History by Laura Claridge
Cover of the book Terra by Laura Claridge
Cover of the book Before Our Eyes by Laura Claridge
Cover of the book Jasmine Toguchi, Mochi Queen by Laura Claridge
Cover of the book The Eight Limbs of Yoga by Laura Claridge
Cover of the book Headscarves and Hymens by Laura Claridge
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy