Reappraisal …

… ‘A Splendid Intelligence’ Review: The Incisive, Elusive Elizabeth Hardwick. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Hardwick’s famous marriage to the poet Robert Lowell, in all its ups and downs, has threatened to overshadow her own literary achievement to such an extent that Cathy Curtis takes care to warn us that “A Splendid Intelligence: The Life of Elizabeth Hardwick” includes “only as much information about her famous husband . . . as is necessary to tell the story of her life.” The author of three studies of somewhat critically neglected women artists, Ms. Curtis is aware that her subject is in danger of subordination to Lowell, an especially glamorous figure who has been treated in more than one biography.