"Claridge is the first to bring Blanche Wolf Knopf fully out of the shadows in this meticulous, groundbreaking biography . . . Claridge illuminates a radiant facet of American publishing and women’s history as she portrays Blanche Knopf in all her brainy and aesthetic glory and elegant fortitude." —Booklist (starred review)
"[Claridge] manages to synthesize an enormous amount of research and biographical information to paint a complete picture of a complex figure. Packed with interesting literary anecdotes, this biography reveals a powerful woman who played an integral role in 20th-century publishing." —Publishers Weekly
"Claridge's lucid and sympathetic portrait of an unconventional and path-breaking woman mired in a marriage that left her emotionally bereft but professionally empowered, will resonate with any reader who, like Blanche Knopf, has ever found salvation in books." —Emily Bingham, author of Irrepressible
"At turns reviled and adored, fragile and invincible, free and shackled, Blanche Knopf was often denied credit for the success of the publishing firm she founded with her husband, and that bears his name alone. Laura Claridge’s biography of a woman and the books she loved shows in particular how much French existentialism and hard-boiled detective fiction owe to Blanche Knopf’s daring, independent vision. With a winning eye to detail, with empathy and wit, Laura Claridge gives Blanche Knopf her hard-earned seat at the high table of literary modernism." —Alice Kaplan, author of Dreaming in French
"Blanche Knopf emerges as a revelation in this first biography: Elegant, highly strung, unappreciated and lonely in her marriage, she was a brilliant editor, a writer’s best reader, and essential to the creation of the great house of Knopf. No Blanche, no Knopf." —Dorothy Gallagher, author of Lillian Hellman: An Imperious Life
"A fascinating look at Blanche Knopf . . . Filled with insights into the literary intrigues of the times and Blanche's careful handling and promotion of 'her' writers as well as the house's authors, this biography is highly recommended to readers who are interested in modernist literature, American literature, publishing, and creative writing." —Pam Kingsbury, Library Journal (starred review)
"[A] remarkable life story . . . Capacious and engaging . . . In The Lady with the Borzoi, Claridge triumphantly restores Blanche Knopf’s central place in 20th-century publishing history." —Catherine Hollins, Book Page
"If you've ever struggled with the task of composing a guest list for the ultimate fantasy dinner party, Laura Caldridge's biography of Blanche Knopf...will show you whom to put at the head of your table...[A] textured portrait" —Liesl Schillinger, New York Times Book Review
"Claridge has written a deeply researched biography of an important but often unacknowledged publisher." —Editor's Choice, New York Times Book Review
"An intimate, nuanced, and complex portrait of Blanche Knopf . . . [Claridge's research] lends the book both authority and authenticity. The writing style isaccessible, evocative, and frank, and underpinned by significant scholarship." —Linda F. Burghardt, Jewish Book Council
"In her biography, Laura Claridge builds a compelling case that it was Blanche, far more than Alfred, who was responsible for that superiority, who pursued and persuaded writers to sign on—often for low salaries and pitiful advances—for the sake of the firm’s reputation and for her own devoted personal attention." —Joanna Scutts, The New Republic
"A long-overdue acknowledgment of the pioneering role Blanche [Knopf] played at a time when women were nearly invisible in the business world." —Charles McGrath, The New Yorker
"Claridge’s biography has a clear, polemical, and sympathetic aim: to recuperate Blanche Knopf’s position as a giant in modern publishing, despite the efforts of her husband to obscure and minimize her role. This couldn’t be more timely . . . Blanche is now the subject of an admiring, dutiful, full-length biography . . . Blanche’s story, told by Claridge, astonishes."—Josh Lambert, Los Angeles Review of Books
12/21/2015
Blanche Knopf was a full partner in the esteemed publishing company Alfred A. Knopf (named for her husband) from its founding in 1915 until her death in 1966. The case made here by biographer Claridge (Emily Post) is that, of the two partners, Blanche led the more interesting life. Shortly after marrying, Blanche and Alfred settled into a somewhat distant relationship and lived apart much of the time. Their lives revolved around books, with Blanche’s many prestigious acquisitions including works by multiple Nobel Prize winners, Khalil Gibran, Dashiell Hammett, Willa Cather, Sigmund Freud, and countless other prominent authors. Claridge recounts Blanche’s struggles with depression, intense love of dogs, and affairs with other men. Blanche’s marriage was often fraught, but her friendship with writers H.L. Mencken and Carl Van Vechten helped sustain her emotionally. Claridge’s storytelling is mostly clear and linear, but she occasionally omits narrative transitions, which can cause confusion for the reader. However, she manages to synthesize an enormous amount of research and biographical information to paint a complete picture of a complex figure. Packed with interesting literary anecdotes, this biography reveals a powerful woman who played an integral role in 20th-century publishing. Agent: Carol Mann, Carol Mann Agency. (Apr.)
★ 03/15/2016
Claridge (Emily Post: Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners) presents a fascinating look at Blanche Knopf (1894–1966), an extraordinarily gifted reader, editor, and arbiter of literary taste. Married to Alfred A. Knopf (who had promised her equal treatment in the eponymous publishing house, cofounded with her in 1915), she was well known in literary and arts circles in the United States, Europe, and South America but was often overlooked in her husband and father-in-law's quest to build a publishing empire. Until now, her efforts on behalf of literature have long been ignored or relegated to Alfred's shadow. VERDICT Filled with insights into the literary intrigues of the times and Blanche's careful handling and promotion of "her" writers as well as the house's authors, this biography is highly recommended to readers who are interested in modernist literature, American literature, publishing, and creative writing.—Pam Kingsbury, Univ. of North Alabama, Florence
2015-12-10
A prestigious publishing house and the strong-willed woman who guided it. In 1911, when 17-year-old Blanche Wolf (1894-1966) met Alfred Knopf, she felt immediately "drawn to his intellectual manner and self-possession." By the time they married in 1916, they had already begun a publishing firm "devoted to high-quality fiction and nonfiction." Biographer and journalist Claridge (Emily Post: Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners, 2008, etc.) details the firm's development, unfortunately allowing chronology to dominate the narrative. In charge of fiction and poetry, Blanche amassed an estimable list of writers: within a few years, that list included T.S. Eliot, Willa Cather, Robert Graves, Elinor Wylie, Ezra Pound, H.L. Mencken (who became Blanche's confidant), and Carl Van Vechten, who became a close friend and "perfect scout." Through Van Vechten, Blanche connected with, and published, many Harlem Renaissance writers and modernists. Yet despite her ability to lure authors, she found herself "blithely dismissed" and often rudely disdained by Alfred and his overbearing father, who interfered relentlessly in the couple's personal and professional lives. Rather than standing up for his wife, Alfred always "defended to the last the father he chose to remember as always being there for him." Along with documenting Blanche's prowess as a publisher, Claridge diligently chronicles her difficult marriage. Alfred was as obstreperous at home as he was at the office—to her and their only son, Pat. She was so worried about Alfred's nastiness to Pat that she enrolled him in boarding schools, although she herself showed little maternal warmth. Pat said that earning his pilot's wings was the only time his father seemed proud of him. Blanche responded to her marital problems by taking many lovers, including Leopold Stokowski, Jascha Heifetz, and Serge Koussevitsky. A chain smoker and heavy drinker, Blanche ruined her health by dieting to alarming thinness. Nearly blind, she died of cancer in 1966. A straightforward recounting of the difficult life of a woman of discerning literary taste.
