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=(Lula)Carson(Smith)McCullers by Dane Nathan Anderson=

Originally named Lula Carson Smith, Carson McCullers was born on February 19, 1917 in Columbus, Georgia. While she was young, she aspired to be a concert pianist and practiced five hours a day to achieve her goal. When she graduated from high school, she moved to New York to attend Julliard's School of Music in New York. Carson lost too much money and was unable to pay her tuition at Julliard's and came to the conclusion that she would never become the pianist that she wanted to become. She then turned to writing, taking nightly writing courses and working part-time. It is then that she creates her first famous work in 1936 at the age of 19, called "Wunderkind." In this short story, Carson writes about her own life happenings. The story is about a teenage girl named Frances who is considered a prodigy pianist. Frances suffered an emotional break from her precious piano teacher and finds she is unable to play with the confidence and musicality that she once had. The following year, Carson married a man named, Reeves McCullers and moved with him to Charlotte, North Carolina. They lived there for two very happy years while she wrote her first novel; __The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.__ Her first novel was very successful; she earned the Houghton Mifflin Fiction Fellowship along with a book contract, achieving all this at the age of twenty-two. After the book gained its fame, the author and her husband moved to New York and was declared the literary discovery of the year, and later invited to be a Fellow at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference in Vermont. Her second novel, published in 1941, also was not as popular as her first; it was called, __Reflections in a Golden Eye__. Though it contained the attributes that came with her title as a southern gothic fictionist, such as infidelity and murder, readers were let down by the lack of sympathy that was given to the characters. This failing novel seemed to have stirred up trouble at home because Carson and Reeves suffered through a divorce. This created a large amount of instability in Carson's life. For the next five years she lived between Saratoga, New York and Columbus, Georgia, moving back and forth periodically. The bad reaction to her second novel seems to have infected her life with stroke. After recovering from her first of many strokes, she seems to find a light. She was selected for the anthology O. Henry Prize Stories of 1942 and was given Guggenheim Fellowship because of her story "A Tree, a Rock, a Cloud." Her career seemed to have reached a peak when she wrote, __The Member of the Wedding__. This story was later created into a Broadway production, and then even further to a movie. Upon reaching her career high, she immediately came crashing down a very steep slope. She attempted to write another play, called __The Square Root of Wonderful__, closed after only forty-five productions compared to her previous 501 in __The member of the Wedding__. Writing was not her only problems at this point, she endured several surgeries in her later years ranging from breast cancer, atrophies hand muscle, hip surgery, followed by a critical illness that resulted in her death in the year of 1967.


 * __Annotated Bibliography__**

Carpenter, David. "Wunderkind The Story." __Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition__ (2004). Ebscoe. <[|http://web.ebscohost.com/> 

This essay by David Carpenter gives a description of one of Carson McCullers' most famous short stories called "Wunderkind." David goes in depth with his description and how it relates to Carson's own life. The essay also digs in to the meanings and themes shown throughout McCullers' many novels. This essay evaluates McCullers work and I would recommend this source to anyone that wanted to discover her literature, but it would not be a place for someone that was looking for her pictures because there are not any there making it seem very dull. Henry, John. "Wunderkind."__Short Stories For Students__. 5th ed. 2002.

The reference book, __Short Stories for Students,__ has several analyzations of famous short stories. The book pulls together many different essays on various authors and short stories. This essay also depicts the meaning and reveals the the story behind Carson McCullers' story "Wunderkind." I would recommend this reference book to anyone who may be looking for a review on short stories. Moe, Christian H. "Carson McCullers." __Salem Press inc.__ (1999). Ebscoe. < [|http://search.ebscohost.com/>.]

Christian Moe gives a very elaborate overview of Carson's entire life, starting from when she was young all the way till her death. It talks about the awards she won, the books she has written and the plays that she has made. This article would be great for anyone looking for the events that took place in the life of Carson McCullers.

Palmer III, Louis H. “The Member Of The Wedding.” __American Writers, The Classics v.2__. Eds. Jay Parini, Alja Kooistra Collar, and Mark Drouillard. New York: Thomson Gale, 2004. pgs

This reference book gives analyzations of literature written by American authors. Specifically to "The Member of the Wedding," Palmer explains the importance of this novel in McCullers' life along with a summary of the entire novel. It also gives a timeline of Carson's entire life. This book would be good for someone looking to research on the various American Writers of our country.