Driving Miss Highsmith
June 12, 2025 4:51 AM Subscribe
I did not question her rules or the assertiveness with which she refused to let me out of her world or anyone in, insistent that nobody could interrupt her routine or distract us from her bitter wait. I was weak and submissive, both because of a lack of experience and because of the constant fear that something might happen to her while she was on my watch. I obsessed over not bothering her and shortened my walks around town, tortured by my sense of responsibility, worried that Pat was unwell and alone or needed me to fax the same page yet another time. So I adapted to her ways, becoming just as isolated, always home with her or near her, accompanied by only her novels, waiting for something to happen. I was mesmerized by the perfect crimes she had created in her books, and given how angry at life she seemed, I wondered if she had ever tried to kill someone herself.
This should be tagged for Pride! (or, given her personality, Wrath Month!)
For me, Highsmith is like one of those fictional characters where you try to imagine yourself in friendship with her, knowing in real life it would be absolutely impossible--that prickliness would eventually sting too hard. I don't think I've ever read anything by or about her that suggested any capacity for feeling joy? Although there's a certain lightness when her characters get away with something that's easy to empathize with.
While I rolled my eyes a little at the "and of COURSE she must have been in LOVE WITH ME" at the end, this was a wonderfully claustrophobic piece. I felt like I could smell the house, the cat, feel the atmosphere pressing in on my lungs.
posted by mittens at 6:18 AM on June 12 [6 favorites]
For me, Highsmith is like one of those fictional characters where you try to imagine yourself in friendship with her, knowing in real life it would be absolutely impossible--that prickliness would eventually sting too hard. I don't think I've ever read anything by or about her that suggested any capacity for feeling joy? Although there's a certain lightness when her characters get away with something that's easy to empathize with.
While I rolled my eyes a little at the "and of COURSE she must have been in LOVE WITH ME" at the end, this was a wonderfully claustrophobic piece. I felt like I could smell the house, the cat, feel the atmosphere pressing in on my lungs.
posted by mittens at 6:18 AM on June 12 [6 favorites]
Delightfully voyeuristic. A little classless for a former caregiver to write a tell-all about a famous person’s last months, but it’s hard not to be sympathetic with her anyhow — sounds like an extremely trying position.
posted by eirias at 6:23 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]
posted by eirias at 6:23 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]
Delightfully voyeuristic
Then I recommend David Plante’s Difficult Women - which administers the same treatment to Jean Rhys, Sonia Orwell, and Germaine Greer.
posted by Lemkin at 6:27 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]
Then I recommend David Plante’s Difficult Women - which administers the same treatment to Jean Rhys, Sonia Orwell, and Germaine Greer.
posted by Lemkin at 6:27 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]
Ah yes, the May December straight girl gay woman lustmord plot. Spoiler: the author wasn't murdered at all
posted by Previous username Jacen at 6:41 AM on June 12 [2 favorites]
posted by Previous username Jacen at 6:41 AM on June 12 [2 favorites]
Surprised Highsmith liked Purple Rain, given how they Hollywooded the ending. So much for French sophistication.
If you liked this article, you might enjoy Jay Parini's memoir of shepherding an elderly Borges around Scotland. Not dark.
posted by BWA at 7:20 AM on June 12 [3 favorites]
If you liked this article, you might enjoy Jay Parini's memoir of shepherding an elderly Borges around Scotland. Not dark.
posted by BWA at 7:20 AM on June 12 [3 favorites]
I didn't RTFA, nor have I read any of her books. I'm just here to tell my favorite weird Patricia Highsmith story.
The experimental musicians Matmos were giving a talk at Johns Hopkins about their work. It was mostly about their album, The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of the Beast, which they described as something like an ode to bad gay role models (the title taken from Wittgenstein).
Apparently, Highsmith was pretty antisocial. She would come to dinners and instead of interacting with the people around her, she would pull out a box of her pet snails and spend the whole evening playing with them on the table.
Their song "Snails and Lasers for Patricia Highsmith" includes sounds triggered by snails crawling through lasers. I've listened to it plenty of times, though, and have no idea what that specifically sounds like.
OK, I didn't read the article but I did CTRL+F for "snails".
posted by pinothefrog at 7:31 AM on June 12 [8 favorites]
The experimental musicians Matmos were giving a talk at Johns Hopkins about their work. It was mostly about their album, The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of the Beast, which they described as something like an ode to bad gay role models (the title taken from Wittgenstein).
Apparently, Highsmith was pretty antisocial. She would come to dinners and instead of interacting with the people around her, she would pull out a box of her pet snails and spend the whole evening playing with them on the table.
Their song "Snails and Lasers for Patricia Highsmith" includes sounds triggered by snails crawling through lasers. I've listened to it plenty of times, though, and have no idea what that specifically sounds like.
OK, I didn't read the article but I did CTRL+F for "snails".
posted by pinothefrog at 7:31 AM on June 12 [8 favorites]
The fabulous biography, The Talented Ms Highsmith, has many memorable stories, many quotable sections, but the two parts I often trot out are her love of snails (she seemed to genuinely like them), and an anecdote by her last American publisher. During a visit to the US, her young American editor swanned her around town. The only positive thing Highsmith said the entire trip (the rest were complaints) was "I like beer."
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 7:40 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 7:40 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]
I now read the article, and liked it a lot. And I recognised the house and the village immediately, because they appeared exactly as they did in the biography Loving Highsmith, which I would recommend to anyone who loves her writings.
posted by growabrain at 7:41 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]
posted by growabrain at 7:41 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]
While I rolled my eyes a little at the "and of COURSE she must have been in LOVE WITH ME"
this isn’t entirely fair—someone else suggested it to her!
posted by sickos haha yes dot jpg at 8:21 AM on June 12 [4 favorites]
this isn’t entirely fair—someone else suggested it to her!
posted by sickos haha yes dot jpg at 8:21 AM on June 12 [4 favorites]
...which I would recommend...
Interview with the director.
See also, a shortish British doco and interview
posted by BWA at 9:14 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]
Interview with the director.
See also, a shortish British doco and interview
posted by BWA at 9:14 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]
And let's not forget Ms. Highsmith's day job as a comic book writer, a topic that has been discussed more often recently.
posted by the sobsister at 9:16 AM on June 12 [2 favorites]
posted by the sobsister at 9:16 AM on June 12 [2 favorites]
And she later comes to the conclusion that it wasn't the truth anyway.
I'm fascinated by Highsmith without having actually read most of her books.
posted by PussKillian at 9:16 AM on June 12 [2 favorites]
I'm fascinated by Highsmith without having actually read most of her books.
posted by PussKillian at 9:16 AM on June 12 [2 favorites]
MetaFilter: I didn't read the article but I did CTRL+F for "snails".
posted by Horace Rumpole at 9:43 AM on June 12 [8 favorites]
posted by Horace Rumpole at 9:43 AM on June 12 [8 favorites]
The Criterion Channel rolled out a streaming collection of the four good Ripley movies (sorry, Barry Pepper) this month; yet another good reason to at least take advantage of the free trial!
posted by Bryant at 12:10 PM on June 12 [1 favorite]
posted by Bryant at 12:10 PM on June 12 [1 favorite]
I like the feeling that Highsmith was trying to inculcate in her assistant the same sort of claustrophobic living that she had slid into herself. Like a cult leader who didn’t want a cult, she seemed determined to monopolize the young woman’s life but not actually occupy it.
I am a little worried for Charlotte; I hope she got to go to a family that would up her rations from cow lung…
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:32 PM on June 12 [3 favorites]
I am a little worried for Charlotte; I hope she got to go to a family that would up her rations from cow lung…
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:32 PM on June 12 [3 favorites]
I don't think I've ever read anything by or about her that suggested any capacity for feeling joy?
A terrible anti-Semite, if a decent writer. Not the best of our community or exemplary of Pride month, in my humble opinion, but Bad Gays can be complicated, while talented, I guess.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 1:41 PM on June 12 [2 favorites]
A terrible anti-Semite, if a decent writer. Not the best of our community or exemplary of Pride month, in my humble opinion, but Bad Gays can be complicated, while talented, I guess.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 1:41 PM on June 12 [2 favorites]
« Older "this joyous and challenging writer" | The hunt for Marie Curie's radioactive... Newer »
that's a nice line
posted by chavenet at 5:44 AM on June 12 [8 favorites]