Diane Middlebrook
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Diane Helen Middlebrook ( Wood; April 16, 1939 – December 15, 2007)
Cynthia Haven Cynthia L. Haven is an American literary scholar, author, critic, Slavicist, and journalist. Her books includ''Evolution of Desire: A Life of René Girard'' which the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' named one of the top books of 2018, and Czesław Mi ...

"Diane Middlebrook, professor emeritus and legendary biographer, dies at 68"
''Stanford Report'', December 15, 2007.
was an American
biographer Biographers are authors who write an account of another person's life, while autobiographers are authors who write their own biography. Biographers Countries of working life: Ab=Arabia, AG=Ancient Greece, Al=Australia, Am=Armenian, AR=Ancient Rome ...
,
poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
, and teacher. She taught feminist studies for many years at
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
. She wrote critically acclaimed biographies of poets
Anne Sexton Anne Sexton (born Anne Gray Harvey; November 9, 1928 – October 4, 1974) was an American poet known for her highly personal, confessional verse. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967 for her book '' Live or Die''. Her poetry details ...
and
Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for two of her published collections, ''The ...
(along with Plath's husband
Ted Hughes Edward James "Ted" Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest wri ...
), and jazz musician
Billy Tipton Billy Tipton (December 29, 1914 – January 21, 1989) was an American jazz musician, bandleader, and talent broker. Tipton lived and identified as a man for most of his adult life; after his death, friends and family were surprised to learn that ...
.


Early life

Middlebrook was born Diane Helen Wood in
Pocatello, Idaho Pocatello () is the county seat of and largest city in Bannock County, with a small portion on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in neighboring Power County, in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. It is the principal city of the ...
, the oldest of three daughters. Her parents were teenagers when she was born. In 1945, when Diane was five, the family moved to
Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...
. She graduated from North Central High School in 1957.


Education and teaching career

Middlebrook expressed her desire to become a published poet and writer, but received no encouragement from her family. She paid her own way through college. She entered
Whitman College Whitman College is a private liberal arts college in Walla Walla, Washington. The school offers 53 majors and 33 minors in the liberal arts and sciences, and it has a student-to-faculty ratio of 9:1. Whitman was the first college in the Pacifi ...
in
Walla Walla, Washington Walla Walla is a city in Walla Walla County, Washington, where it is the largest city and county seat. It had a population of 34,060 at the 2020 census, estimated to have decreased to 33,927 as of 2021. The population of the city and its two su ...
, then transferred to the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...
in
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
. She received a
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
degree in 1961. She entered
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
as an assistant professor of English in 1966, then obtained a
Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
from
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
in 1969. Her doctoral dissertation was a combined study of American poet
Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...
and American poet/philosopher/essayist
Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among t ...
; her doctoral advisor was the American writer and literary critic
Harold Bloom Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was described as "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking wor ...
. Middlebrook began her teaching career at Stanford as an assistant professor in 1966 and gradually worked her way up to university professor and associate dean positions. She won a number of fellowships, grants, and awards along the way. She had not focused on feminist studies before she was tapped for Stanford's new Center for Research on Women (eventually to become the
Clayman Institute for Gender Research Stanford University has many centers and institutes dedicated to the study of various specific topics. These centers and institutes may be within a department, within a school but across departments, an independent laboratory, institute or center ...
), one of the first such centers in the nation in the 1970s. She once stated that her chief qualifications were her sex and her availability. She directed the Center from 1977 to 1979. She was chair of Stanford's Feminist Studies Program from 1985 to 1988. She embraced diverse curricula: one syllabus from that era lists both
Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
and
Queen Latifah Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally as Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, actress, and singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1989 and released her debut album ''All Hail the Que ...
. Middlebrook received fellowships from the
National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
,
Bunting Institute The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University—also known as the Harvard Radcliffe Institute—is a part of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts, a ...
at Radcliffe College, the Stanford Humanities Center, the
John Simon Guggenheim Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim John Simon Guggenheim (December 30, 1867 – November 2, 1941) was an American businessman, politician and philanthropist. Life Born in Philadelphi ...
, and the Rockefeller Study Center of
Bellagio Bellagio may refer to: * Bellagio, Lombardy, an Italian town * Bellagio (resort), a luxury resort and casino in Las Vegas * Bellagio (Hong Kong), a private housing building * Bellagio declaration, an intellectual copyright resolution * 79271 Bellag ...
. She was a founding trustee of the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, an interdisciplinary arts center in the
Santa Cruz Mountains The Santa Cruz Mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are a mountain range in central and Northern California, United States. They form a ridge down the San Francisco Peninsula, south of San Francisco. They separate the Pacific Ocean from ...
. Middlebrook received two honors from Stanford for her teaching effort. In 1977 she was given The Dean's Award; in 1987 she was given the Walter J. Gores Award. She also received the Richard W. Lyman service award. She resigned from Stanford in 2002 to concentrate fully on her writing. By this time, she was a
professor emerita ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
.


Writing career

Middlebrook once stated why she preferred preparing biographic work to other fields of study: "One of the reasons I like working on biographies is that it takes a long time, you don’t have to work quickly. People are going to stay dead." When asked why she had picked
Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
as a subject for a biography, she said: "No estates, no psychotherapy, no interviews, no history—I just make it up." In 1981 Middlebrook was asked by the Sexton estate to write a biography of the poet
Anne Sexton Anne Sexton (born Anne Gray Harvey; November 9, 1928 – October 4, 1974) was an American poet known for her highly personal, confessional verse. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967 for her book '' Live or Die''. Her poetry details ...
, and she began working on the book in 1982. The resulting book, ''Anne Sexton: A Biography'', spent eight weeks on
The New York Times Best Seller list ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...
.
Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction. Her novels '' Bla ...
called the book "sympathetic but resolutely unsentimental ... intelligent, sensitive, at times harrowing." The book was controversial, as Middlebrook was given access to and used some 300 hours of Sexton's sessions with
psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...
s. Middlebrook's book about Sexton's friend and fellow-suicide,
Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for two of her published collections, ''The ...
, was published as ''Her Husband: Ted Hughes & Sylvia Plath, a Marriage'' in 2003. ''
Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...
'' called it the "gold standard" of the many books published about the couple, and it became a ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' bestseller. She published many articles on Sexton, Plath, Hughes, and other writers, such as
Robert Lowell Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (; March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet. He was born into a Boston Brahmin family that could trace its origins back to the ''Mayflower''. His family, past and present, were important subjects i ...
and
Philip Larkin Philip Arthur Larkin (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, '' The North Ship'', was published in 1945, followed by two novels, '' Jill'' (1946) and '' A Girl in Winter'' (1 ...
. She also reviewed a wide variety of books on subjects ranging from Helen Keller to the development of modern
clothing Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural ...
. At the time of her death, Middlebrook was preparing a biography of the Roman poet
Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
, to be published in 2008. Middlebrook was noted for her openness and honest, sometimes "brutal" biographical writing.


Books


Biographies

* ''Anne Sexton, A Biography'' (1991),
Houghton Mifflin Company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers and adults. The company is based in the Boston Financ ...
* ''Suits Me: The Double Life of
Billy Tipton Billy Tipton (December 29, 1914 – January 21, 1989) was an American jazz musician, bandleader, and talent broker. Tipton lived and identified as a man for most of his adult life; after his death, friends and family were surprised to learn that ...
'' (1998) * ''Her Husband: Ted Hughes & Sylvia Plath, a Marriage'' (2003),
Viking Adult Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquire ...


Poetry

* ''Worlds Into Words: Understanding Modern Poems'' (1980) * ''Coming to Light: American Women Poets in the 20th Century'' (1985) * ''Selected Poems of Anne Sexton'' (1988) * ''Gin Considered as a Demon'' (1983)


Awards

''Anne Sexton: A Biography'', was a finalist for the
National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...
and for the
National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English". It was awarded a gold medal in nonfiction from the
Commonwealth Club of California The Commonwealth Club of California is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization based in Northern California. Founded in 1903, it is the oldest and largest public affairs forum in the United States. Membership is open to everyone. Act ...
. ''Suits Me'' won a
Lambda Foundation The Lambda Foundation (french: Fondation lambda), officially the Lambda Scholarship Foundation Canada, is a registered Canadian charity with the mission of creating scholarships, awards, and bursaries in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgen ...
Literary Award. The ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'' wrote: "Tipton may have spent his life fearing exposure, but he/she could not have wished for a more perceptive or sympathetic biographer than Middlebrook." ''Her Husband'' was a 2004 finalist for the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award in non-fiction. In 2006 the French translation won the Prix Du Meilleur Livre Etranger. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' called the book "inspiring", "attentive and clear-eyed".


Personal life and death

Middlebrook was married three times. Her first two marriages, to Michael Shough and Jonathan Middlebrook, were annulled, though she kept the surname "Middlebrook" professionally. She had one daughter, Leah Middlebrook, born 1966, who also became a university professor and taught Comparative Literature and Romance Languages at the
University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...
. In 1977, she began a relationship with pharmaceutical chemist
Carl Djerassi Carl Djerassi (October 29, 1923 – January 30, 2015) was an Austrian-born Bulgarian-American pharmaceutical chemist, novelist, playwright and co-founder of Djerassi Resident Artists Program with Diane Middlebrook, Diane Wood Middlebrook. He is b ...
, and the two married in 1985. Middlebrook retired in 2002 and persuaded Djerassi to retire from chemistry that year, although he continued to write fiction and drama. She concentrated more fully on her research, and she and Djerassi divided their time between their residences in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
and
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. She underwent surgery for cancer in July 2001 and again in February 2004. Her death in
San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
on December 15, 2007 at the age of 68 was attributed to retroperitoneal liposarcoma. Djerassi stated that she continued working until the month before her death.


Reference


External links


DianeMiddlebrook.com
the author's personal website *Mark Thwaite
Interview with Diane Middlebrook
ReadySteadyBook, September 19, 2004 *Cynthia Haven

''Stanford Report'', January 9, 2008.
Diane Middlebrook Papers
Pembroke Center Archives, Brown University {{DEFAULTSORT:Middlebrook, Diane 1939 births 2007 deaths Deaths from cancer in California People from Pocatello, Idaho Stanford University Department of English faculty University of Washington alumni Yale University alumni Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature American women poets 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American biographers American women biographers 21st-century American women