Significant Others

What happens when one writer marries another writer? As far as we can tell, the same things that happen to all of us: some stay married (happily or unhappily), some split up, some lose spouses to suicide or early tragedy, some lead meaningful, and perhaps uneventful, lives.

What does separate writers from the rest of us is their tendency to go public with their private lives, whether in memoir or autobiographical fiction. A marital spat for most folks begins and ends with the two involved-when the two involved are writers, it is likely to end up, at some point, in print and in the hands of thousands of readers. Philip Roth is a good example. He has made a career out of producing lightly fictionalized accounts of his own life (and fooling no one in the process. See Deception). Actress Claire Bloom finally took a rather ill-conceived swing back at Roth, but you know the rest of that story. The point is, writers forego (voluntarily of course) that measure of comfortable anonymity that most enjoy. Is that good or bad? Neither, but it can be fascinating and, in some cases, even lead to true art.

We at the Book Café thought it would be interesting to start a list of contemporary (and not-so-contemporary) writing couples. The only rule is that the two had to be married, hence no Henry Miller and Anais Nin or Tennessee Williams and YOUR CHOICE HERE. Some are well known, even notorious (Plath and Hughes, Scott and Zelda). Others, like Iris Murdoch and John Bayley seem to float along, year after year, attracting virtually no attention and much the better for it. It is obviously not necessary to know that Paul Auster is married to Siri Hustvedt or that Mary McCarthy and Bunny Wilson once took the stroll, to enjoy all of their books. This knowledge, however, does add a new element to the (if you'll forgive the term) metatext which can only make us more thoughtful readers. Plus, it makes for good gossip.

Please e-mail us if you think of couples that we have failed to include.

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last updated: January 1, 1998