Edgar Saltus: The Man

A personal biography tracing the life, personality, and eccentricities of a complex literary figure. The author, intimately acquainted with her subject, combines anecdote, correspondence, and illustrative facsimiles to dispel myths and present contradictions: refined intellect alongside social aversion, a vivid imaginative inner life, difficulty with domestic conventions and intimate relationships, and a penchant for aesthetic solitude. The narrative balances affectionate recollection with candid appraisal, recounting public misrepresentations, private habits, friendships, marriages, and the creative milieu that shaped his work, while probing psychological nuances and the attendant difficulty of rendering such an elusive temperament on the page.