Anita Brookner, the British novelist and art historian known for her introspective and often melancholic characters, is the subject of a new biography by Hermione Lee. The book, titled *Anita Brookner: Art & Life*, offers a comprehensive portrait of a complex figure whose personal and professional life was marked by contradictions and resilience.
Born in 1928 to a Polish Jewish family, Brookner grew up amid familial tensions, including a domineering grandmother, a bullying uncle, and an unloving mother who made harsh remarks about her appearance. Although her Jewish heritage informed her upbringing, Brookner distanced herself from religious belief, describing it in unflattering terms.
From an early age, Brookner was a voracious reader and found solace in art, eventually leading her to a career at The Courtauld Institute of Art, where she taught art history from 1964 to 1988. It was later in life, in her mid-50s, that she gained widespread literary acclaim with the publication of *The Hotel du Lac* in 1984, which won the Booker Prize. The novel’s success was met with some antagonism in literary circles, exemplified by an incident in which fellow author J.G. Ballard accused Brookner of having "stolen" the prize from him.
Over the course of her career, Brookner authored 25 novels alongside works of art criticism and literary reviews. Despite her late start as a novelist, she built a significant body of work characterized by nuanced explorations of loneliness, social constraint, and the complexities of human relationships. Brookner’s characters were often criticized for their passivity, yet Lee’s biography challenges this interpretation by highlighting the author’s wit, decisiveness, and underlying strength.
The biography also sheds light on Brookner’s private nature. She avoided marriage and kept her romantic life largely out of the public eye, though she did share candid observations about her relationships with close family members. Her reluctance to engage in psychotherapy stemmed in part from skepticism about the process, an anecdote Lee recounts with characteristic dry humor.
Lee, who has previously written acclaimed biographies of Virginia Woolf and Edith Wharton, approaches Brookner with sensitivity and rigor, navigating the contradictions of a figure described as both generous and aloof. Brookner’s death was marked by solitude, with only two people present at her cremation, as per her wishes.
*Anita Brookner: Art & Life* is scheduled for publication on September 10 and aims to rekindle interest in an author whose understated portrayal of life’s complexities continues to resonate.