Alexandra Ripley
Alexandra Ripley
Best known for her book “Scarlett” as the chosen author to complete “Gone With the Wind,” Ripley reached the top of the New York Times Bestseller List despite poor reviews of the book. In this article, learn how Alexandra felt about the character Scarlett, learn about other books she’s written and how they were received, and read her New York Times obituary. Scroll down to watch clips from the film.
There’s a shortage of interviews with Ripley and she’s passed away, which is a darned pity because I have a question I’d like to ask her. “Why?”
“Why did you of all people get chosen to write a sequel to the most successful book of all time?”
“Why did you feel the need to use cliches instead of original language?”
“Why did you twist Scarlett and Rhett’s relationship into trash?”
“Why did you write the book about Scarlett when you didn’t even like or admire her?”
I think an author simply must feel an affinity with the main character or readers certainly won’t. Just as actors must learn to identify with the characters that they play, an author who cannot see why a character acts the way he or she does will never offer true insight into the human condition–one of the most important reasons we read novels.
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Alexandra Ripley
Source: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/tag/alexandra+ripley
In 1972, Ripley published her first book, “Who’s That Lady in the President’s Bed?” under the pseudonym B.K. Ripley, and followed it up with half a dozen historical novels, including “Charleston,” “The Time Returns” and “A Love Divine.”
In the early 1990 the estate of Margaret Mitchell selected her to pick up the stories of Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler where Mitchell left them in 1936, the year her saga of the Civil War was published.
”There are two reasons why I’m doing this book,” she said in an interview in the reference work Contemporary Authors. ”I can’t resist it, and as soon as this is done I will be able to write anything I want to. I really don’t know why Scarlett has such appeal. When I began writing the sequel, I had a lot of trouble because Scarlett is not my kind of person. She’s virtually illiterate, has no taste, never learns from her mistakes.”
Alexandra Ripley on readable books:
There are two books that I ran out and paid for the other day because I couldn’t wait for the publishers to send them to me. One is Elizabeth Peters’ Night Train to Memphis. She is one of my favorite writers, wonderfully funny with great plots. The hero is an elegant, titled Englishman and a thief of rare jewels and artifacts. I’d love to be a rare-jewel thief, although in a way I am, since I made enough money with Scarlett to buy a few. In nonfiction, to improve my mind, I’m reading Irving Howe’s A Critic’s Notebook. It takes you back to a time when critics thought they were supposed to talk about the book and not themselves. I’m also reading a gardening book, Climbing Roses, by Christopher Warner.
Source: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,295787,00.html
Alexandra Ripley, ‘Scarlett’ Author, Dies at 70
Alexandra Ripley, a writer of historical fiction who was best known for ”Scarlett,” the officially sanctioned sequel to ”Gone With the Wind,” died on Jan. 10 at her home in Richmond, Va. She was 70.
Her daughter, Elizabeth Lyon Ripley, told The Associated Press that death resulted from unspecified natural causes.
Ms. Ripley had written five novels before the estate of Margaret Mitchell selected her in the early 1990’s to pick up the stories of Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler where Mitchell left them in 1936, the year her saga of the Civil War was published. Mitchell died in 1949.
The selection of Ms. Ripley was mired in controversy from the beginning, in part because it was less than clear that Mitchell, who refused to write a sequel herself, would have wanted anyone else to try.
Ms. Ripley made no bones about why she wanted the assignment.
”There are two reasons why I’m doing this book,” she said in an interview in the reference work Contemporary Authors. ”I can’t resist it, and as soon as this is done I will be able to write anything I want to.”
”Scarlett,” which was universally panned by critics, was a considerable commercial success.
In her review for The New York Times in September 1991, Janet Maslin characterized the book as a ‘’stunningly uneventful 823-page holding action.”
The Ripley version takes the story from Atlanta to Tara to Charleston to Savannah to Ireland, where Scarlett remarks, ”My stars, this country’s positively peppered with castles.”
It engineers at least a temporary reconciliation with Rhett, with Scarlett even cooking breakfast for him, but such touches led many reviewers to say the characters seemed to have mellowed in ways never suggested by the original book.
After a bidding war, Warner Books won the rights to publish the novel for $4.94 million.
Despite the poor reviews, ”Scarlett” catapulted to the top of the best-seller list.
Over the years, sales have remained steady, according to Warner Books, with millions of copies in print in both hardcover and paperback.
CBS bought the television rights to ”Scarlett,” which was presented as an eight-hour mini-series in 1994.
”Thanks to Miss Mitchell and ‘Scarlett,’ right now I can say any damn thing I want to, and people will listen,” Ms. Ripley told those attending the 1991 Southeastern Booksellers Association convention.
Alexandra Ripley was born Jan. 8, 1934, in Charleston, S.C., the only child of Alexander and Elizabeth Braid. She attended the Ashley Hall School in Charleston and graduated from Vassar College in 1955, majoring in Russian.
Although she had always aspired to be a writer, Ms. Ripley did not work up the courage to become a novelist until she had tried a number of other jobs, including manuscript reader and publicity director.
Her first novel, ”Who’s That Lady in the President’s Bed?,” was published by Dodd/Mead in 1972 under the pseudonym B. K. Ripley.
After the publication of ”Scarlett,” Ms. Ripley wrote other novels that drew better reviews, including ”From Fields of Gold,” published by Warner Books in 1994, and ”A Love Divine,” a novel about Joseph of Arimathea, published by Warner Books in 1996.
Ms. Ripley was legally separated from John Graham of Charlottesville, Va. She is survived by her daughter Elizabeth, another daughter, Merrill Ripley Geier, and a granddaughter, all of Richmond.
Watch clips from the film with Timothy Dalton as Rhett:
