Margot Peters (born May 13, 1933, died June 18, 2022) was an American novelist and biographer, including of

Charlotte Brontë Charlotte Brontë (, commonly ; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature. She enlisted i ...

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

, Mrs. Patrick Campbell, the Drews and Barrymores,

May Sarton May Sarton was the pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton (May 3, 1912 – July 16, 1995), a Belgian-American poet, novelist and memoirist. Although her best work is strongly personalised with erotic female imagery, she resisted the label of ‘lesbi ...

Alfred Lunt Alfred David Lunt (August 12, 1892 – August 3, 1977) was an American actor and director, best known for his long stage partnership with his wife, Lynn Fontanne, from the 1920s to 1960, co-starring in Broadway theatre, Broadway and West End thea ...

and

Lynn Fontanne Lynn Fontanne (; 6 December 1887 – 30 July 1983) was an English actress. After early success in supporting roles in the West End, she met the American actor Alfred Lunt, whom she married in 1922 and with whom she co-starred in Broadway and We ...

. She was a recipient of the Ambassador Book Award.

Early life and education

Peters was born in

Wausau, Wisconsin Wausau ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marathon County, Wisconsin, United States. The Wisconsin River divides the city into east and west. The city's suburbs include Schofield, Weston, Mosinee, Maine, Rib Mountain, Kronenwetter, and ...

, and earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from the

University of Wisconsin at Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

.1988 Notable Authors: Margot Peters
Literary Awards Committee, Wisconsin Library Association, retrieved January 27, 2016.

Career

Peters taught at Northland College in

Ashland, Wisconsin Ashland is a city in Ashland and Bayfield counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the county seat of Ashland County. The city is a port on Lake Superior, near the head of Chequamegon Bay. The population was 7,908 at the 2020 census, al ...

and held the Kathe Tappe Vemon Chair in Biography at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

. In 1963 she became a faculty member in English literature at the

University of Wisconsin, Whitewater A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, where she rose to full professor. She also taught women's studies, and since retiring in 1991 is now professor emerita. Her first book, ''Charlotte Bronte: Style in the Novel'', was based on her PhD dissertation.

Awards

She won the Friends of American Writers award for best work of prose in 1975 for ''Unquiet Soul: A Biography of Charlotte Bronte'' and Banta Awards in 1981 and 1985, for ''Bernard Shaw and the Actresses'' and for ''Mrs. Pat: The Life of Mrs. Patrick Campbell'', respectively.

Selected works

Biographies

* ''Charlotte Brontë: Style in the Novel''. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1973. * ''Unquiet Soul: A Biography of Charlotte Brontë'' New York: Doubleday, 1975. (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1975. Paris: Editions Stock, 1979. Reprint New York & London, 1986, 1987.) * ''Bernard Shaw and the Actresses''. New York: Doubleday, 1980. * ''Mrs. Pat: The Biography of Mrs. Patrick Campbell''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984; London: The Bodley Head, 1984; Hamish Hamilton, 1985. * ''The House of Barrymore''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990. * ''May Sarton: A Biography''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997; Ballentine, 1998. * ''Design for Living: Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne''. New York: Knopf, 2003. * ''Lorine Niedecker: A Poet's Life''. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2011.

Other Works

* ''Wild Justice''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995. Published in paperback as ''Most Wanted'', 1996. * ''Summers: A True Love Story''. Xlibris, 2011.Jim Higgins
"Margot Peters gives youthful love letters a dramatic touch"
''

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper. It is also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely distributed. It is currently o ...

'' blogs, August 23, 2011.

References

External links

Works by Margot Peters
at

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...

Official blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peters, Margot 1933 births Living people People from Wausau, Wisconsin Novelists from Wisconsin American biographers American women novelists American women biographers 21st-century American women