Carson McCullers Biography

Carson McCullers, the author of the celebrated piece of fiction ‘The Heart is a Lonely Hunter’ was born as Lula Carson Smith. The author is notable for writing several novels, plays, and short stories which are known for their high literary standards. As a young girl, Lula wanted to become a musician and received piano lessons from the age of ten. She also had plans to enroll at the prestigious Juilliard School of Music in New York City. However a bout of rheumatic fever while she was a teenager forced her to rethink her career options. Her father bought her a typewriter and the youngster started writing stories to pass time during her recovery. She later attended creative writing classes and started writing seriously by the time she was in her late teens. Unfortunately, she was always plagued by health problems from an early age. Long periods of convalescence, however, proved to be the inspiration behind her writing—she began writing her first novel ‘The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter’ while she was recovering from a respiratory illness. The novel which explores the story of a deaf man was a literary sensation and a best seller. The book was also adapted into a film of the same name later on.