Anya Seton: A Writing Life

MacKethan (The Dream of Arcady), an English professor emeritus at North Carolina State University, offers a decent, if not revelatory, first book-length biography of mid-century historical fiction writer Anya Seton (1904–1990).MacKethan offers background on Seton’s parents, especially her father, prominent nature writer Ernest Thompson Seton, then traces how Seton, an only child, grew up in privileged circumstances in Greenwich, Conn. In 1941, Seton rose to prominence with the release of her debut, My Theodosia, and remained a bestselling author for the rest of her working life, up until the mid-1970s. The biography notes Seton’s strong reliance on research in her 10 novels and her dedication to her work, while also chronicling her slow decline into alcoholism and barbiturate dependency. MacKethan, though heavily reliant on Seton’s extensive journals, seems detached from her subject. She concentrates on summarizing life events and plots of novels, and does attempt some analysis of Seton and her work through the lens of her troubled relationship with her father. However, the author’s personality remains opaque, to the extent that it is a revelation at the end to hear editor Paul Brooks refer to this self-doubting figure as a “prima donna.” Nonetheless, MacKethan has performed a valuable service in this take on a once-popular, and now comparatively little-read, author. The author’s fans will appreciate this workmanlike volume as a worthwhile attempt at illuminating an underrated writer’s life and career. (Aug.)