Savage Beauty

The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay

By: Nancy Milford

Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne

Length: 24 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Savage Beauty is the portrait of a passionate, fearless woman who obsessed America even as she tormented herself.

If F. Scott Fitzgerald was the hero of the Jazz Age, Edna St. Vincent Millay, as flamboyant in her love affairs as she was in her art, was its heroine. A winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Millay was dazzling in the performance of herself. Her voice was likened to an instrument of seduction, and her impact on crowds and on men was legendary. Yet beneath her studied act, all was not well.

Milford calls her book “a family romance" - for the love between the three Millay sisters and their mother was so deep as to be dangerous. As a family, they were like real-life Little Women, with a touch of Mommie Dearest.

Nancy Milford was given exclusive access to Millay’s papers, and what she found was an extraordinary treasure. Boxes and boxes of letters flew back and forth among the three sisters and their mother - and Millay kept the most intimate diary, one whose ruthless honesty brings to mind Sylvia Plath.

Written with passion and flair, Savage Beauty is an iconic portrait of a woman’s life.

©2001 Nancy Winston Milford (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

A vivid story from another century

The author includes a lot of poetry in the text, so that you can understand how very beautiful Millay’s work continues to be. We also get substantial quotes from her correspondence, which funny, emotional, and sharp. It brings you close to the subject, as you can hear her own voice. Another component is the ongoing conversation between the author and Millay’s youngest sister, which bridges past and present. A very satisfying narrative.

Fascinating life

I have enjoyed Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poetry for many years, but knew little of her life. During her lifetime, however, it appears the reverse was true for her contemporary audience. The biography is an excellent portrait of a woman who lived by her own rules at a time when this was simply not done. Her story is ultimately tragic, as is true for so many artists. It is well written and researched. My only criticism is that it is too long.

Maine Author

I haven't been drawn into a story like this in so long. It saddens me that it's over.

Exquisitely revealing

A wonderful book read with great care and feeling. After listening to this book I feel I really know Edna St. Vincent Millay. I recommend it highly.

Tragic, Intimate Glimpse of Genius

Coming from a brutally poor but extremely close family of women (father wandered off and only turned up much later to ask for help before dying) who valued learning and literature, Edna St. Vincent Millay used every scrap of her talent and intellect to rise to the top of the field and become the voice of her generation.

Free spirited, passionate and bisexual, Millay pushed the boundaries of what women should and could do in society. She conquered America, famous for her elfin looks and impassioned readings, and went on to conquer Europe as well.

Edna was devoted to her mother and sisters, helping them to raise their circumstances as soon as she started to make a living.

As passionate and outspoken as she was, she would inevitably attract the attention of influential people everywhere she went. She was fiercely loyal and ethical except when it came to liaisons with married men (or women) with whom she had an inordinate number of affairs.

She finally married a Dutch businessman who became her devoted partner for decades. They died only a year apart after struggling together through financial difficulties, drug and alcohol addiction, world wars and loss of youth, health and beauty.

Her story is tragic but I hope that her example of using her sexuality, intellect, charm and wit to win her independence and fame will speak to generations of women. Also that her tragic battles with addiction are a cautionary tale, she fought, she nearly won and she left a priceless legacy.

Fascinating Woman

Edna St Vincent Millay was a fascinating woman of exceptional intelligence and talent. It's impossible to imagine a poet achieving her level of fame today. Her life was wildly interesting--from her poverty-stricken childhood to her intense relationship with her mother (a character worthy of her own biography) to her marriage and many affairs with men and women to, finally, her slide into alcoholism and addiction.

Milford's biography is detailed and unusual. She includes testy conversations she had with Millay's elderly sister, the gatekeeper of Millay's literary estate, and exhaustive records of Millay's own notes on her use of morphine. I was never bored, but I ended the book feeling as if Milford hadn't quite brought to life Millay's personality and psychology as she did with Zelda Fitzgerald. Especially in the book's second half, she seems to be assembling and printing up her massive research materials rather than interpreting them. The first half seems more fully digested.

Even so, I was VERY happy to have listened to this. I was captivated and haunted. I found the reader easy to listen to and appropriately expressive. (It would be odd to be too dramatic in reading a serious biography.)