Patricia Highsmith: Master of Psychological Suspense
Patricia Highsmith (January 19, 1921 – February 4, 1995) was an American novelist and short story writer. She was widely known for her psychological thrillers, particularly her five-novel series featuring the character Tom Ripley, and was dubbed “the poet of apprehension” by novelist Graham Greene.
Early Life and Education
Born Mary Patricia Plangman in Fort Worth, Texas on January 19, 1921, Highsmith was the only child of commercial artists Jay Bernard Plangman and Mary Plangman. Her parents divorced nine days before her birth. In 1927, at age six, she moved to New York City to live with her mother and stepfather, Stanley Highsmith, a commercial artist whom her mother had married in 1924.
Highsmith excelled at school and read widely from an early age, including works by Jack London, Louisa May Alcott, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Bram Stoker. At nine, she became fascinated by case histories of abnormal psychology in Karl Menninger’s The Human Mind. In the summer of 1933, she attended a girls’ camp and her letters home were published as a story in Woman’s World magazine, earning her $25. She later lived with her maternal grandmother for a year, which she described as the “saddest year” of her life. She attended Julia Richman High School and later Barnard College, where she studied English literature, playwriting, and short story composition. She graduated in 1942 and formed a lifelong friendship with fellow student Kate Kingsley Skattebol.
Career and Achievements
After graduating from Barnard in 1942, Highsmith struggled to find work at major publications such as Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, and The New Yorker. She eventually worked for FFF Publishers and later found employment with comic book publisher Sangor–Pines in December 1942, earning up to $50 per week. She wrote “Sergeant Bill King” stories, contributed to Black Terror and Fighting Yank comics, and wrote profiles for the “Real Life Comics” series. From 1943 to 1946, under editor Vincent Fago at Timely Comics, she contributed to the U.S.A. Comics wartime series. She worked freelance for comics until 1949, which allowed her flexibility for travel and serious writing.
Her literary breakthrough came with the publication of her first novel Strangers on a Train in 1950, which was adapted into a 1951 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Her second novel, The Price of Salt, published under a pseudonym in 1952, was groundbreaking for its positive depiction of lesbian relationships and optimistic ending. Her 1955 novel The Talented Mr. Ripley was well received in the United States and Europe, cementing her reputation as a major writer of psychological thrillers.
In 1963, Highsmith moved to England where her critical reputation continued to grow. Following the breakdown of a relationship with a married Englishwoman, she moved to France in 1967 to rebuild her life. Her sales were higher in Europe than in the United States, which her agent attributed to her subversion of the conventions of American crime fiction. She moved to Switzerland in 1982 where she continued to publish new work that increasingly divided critics.
Notable Events and Milestones
Highsmith’s career spanned nearly five decades and produced 22 novels and numerous short stories, leading to more than two dozen film adaptations. Her writing was influenced by existentialist literature and questioned notions of identity and popular morality. The Times said of her work: “she puts the suspense story in a toweringly high place in the hierarchy of fiction.” The Tom Ripley series, consisting of five novels, became her most celebrated work and established her as a defining voice in psychological thriller fiction.
Additional Resources
Patricia Highsmith’s legacy as one of the twentieth century’s most influential thriller writers continues to be studied and celebrated. Readers seeking deeper exploration of her life, works, and impact on crime fiction and LGBTQ+ literature will find extensive biographical materials and critical analyses available through Wikipedia and other literary archives.
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