Calisher, Hortense

Related Category: American Literature: Biographies

(kăl´ĭshər), 1911–, American author, b. New York City, grad. Barnard College, 1932. Her novels are difficult to categorize, blending deft character analysis with complex story lines. Written in careful yet constantly fresh prose, they have been compared to works by Dickens and James. Among her novels are False Entry (1961), Textures of Life (1963), The New Yorkers (1969), Queenie (1971), and Standard Dreaming (1972). Her collected novellas were published in 1997.

See her autobiographical Herself (1972).