The depressing effect that reading some biographies can have on impressionable readers has been mentioned in several articles, in this one about balancing the books for example.
Too much reading about people whose lives were mostly one long nightmare scenario and who seemed to be under a curse or evil spell can make us feel that we too are trapped in hell with no way out.
Carole Angier's Jean Rhys: Life and Work is the worst of the depressing biographies that I have read to date.
Something that the novelist Rebecca West said about Jean Rhys's autobiographical book After Leaving Mr Mackenzie (1931) also applies to Jean Rhys's other books and to Carole Angier's biography - not to mention many other biographies and fictional works mentioned on here:
“It is doubtful if one ought to open this volume unless one is happily married, immensely rich, and in robust health; for if one is not entirely free from misery when one opens the book one will be at the suicide point long before one closes it.”
This is exactly what I am talking about. Some books have an effect similar to that of the Dementors in Harry Potter!
In addition to being overwhelmed by a general miasma of misery, readers may find some of the material acutely distressing: the details of the suffering that Jean Rhys's actions and lack of coping ability caused to others are very painful to read. The death from pneumonia of the tiny baby she put near a balcony door in the heart of winter, her physical violence against her husbands and the neglect of her dying third husband, who went unwashed and unfed, are some of the worst examples.
An important point here is that it may be even worse for readers for whom some of it comes very close to home.
Readers who have been dependent on and/or suffered neglect and ill-treatment, emotional blackmail and exploitation, persecution even, at the hands of people who shared at least some of Jean Rhys's deficiencies and negative qualities may find the biography doubly depressing - and doubly distressing.
They know only too well how much damage such people can do; reading about her bad behaviour towards others may bring back very painful memories and trigger some very bad feelings.
Should such people follow Rebecca West's advice and avoid depressing biographies, or should they bite the bullet and persevere with them?
One reviewer of another biography of Jean Rhys said that you have to be a big fan of her work to read it.
This is not true in all cases: I am not at all a fan of Jean Rhys's books; I have been reading Carole Angier's biography primarily for information that increases my understanding of the unseen influences that are at work in people's lives. This book may have an exasperating effect in addition to a depressing one, but it has provided a great quantity of supporting material for some of my ideas.
The articles about context and the total picture show how people can benefit from reading about others who have had similar painful experiences.
The worse the effect that these doubly-depressing books have, the more important it may be to persevere and deal with whatever they bring up in order to dispel the darkness and move on - but they are best processed in small doses and with time out for recovery!
Carole Angier's biography, while definitive and comprehensive, is far from being the only source of information about Jean Rhys's background, life and works: not only are several other biographies available - including another, very short, one by Carole Angier - there are also many articles, memoirs, academic papers and book reviews to be found online.
Many of the authors of this material discuss Jean Rhys and her works in the context of a particular theme or topic, including history, politics, literature, patriarchal oppression and feminism, the demi-monde in Paris, colonialism and slavery and Caribbean writers and culture.
Not only are these topics not very relevant here, they have been covered in such depth, often by experts, specialists, literary critics and scholars, that there can be little more to say about them. I disregarded much of Carole Angier's biography for similar reasons, however there remained enough material of interest to inspire several articles, articles that highlight aspects, patterns and connections that are not too well covered elsewhere.
There is still a little more to say about Jean Rhys and her life, but not until the holiday season is over; the time has come for yet another break and yet more book balancing with uplifting material.
Jean Rhys's novel that Rebecca West said would make some readers feel suicidal:
