Jean Stafford

Jean Stafford 1915-79, American writer, b. Covina, Calif., grad. Univ. of Colorado, 1936. Her literary reputation rests primarily on her exquisitely wrought short stories. Both these and her novels focus on lonely, isolated characters, usually adolescents, whom she depicts with gentle irony. Her works include the novels Boston Adventure (1944), The Mountain Lion (1948), and The Catherine Wheel (1952) and her Collected Stories (1969; Pulitzer Prize). She was married to Robert Lowell .

Stafford, Jean (1915–79),California‐born novelist reared in Colorado, after graduation from the University of Colorado and further study there and in Germany began the writing of fiction noted for sensitive interpretations of adult isolation and the problems of adolescence. Boston Adventure (1944) presents the character of a foreign girl working as secretary to a wealthy Boston spinster; her second novel, The Mountain Lion (1947), depicts the unhappy youth of a brother and sister and their escape on a Colorado ranch. Later novels include The Catherine Wheel (1952) and A Winter's Tale (1954). Children Are Bored on Sunday (1953) and Bad Characters (1964) collect stories, definitively assembled in Collected Stories (1969, Pulitzer Prize). Her only work of nonfiction was A Mother in History (1966), about Lee Harvey Oswald's mother. She was married to Robert Lowell (1940–48) and A.J. Leibling (1959–63).