“Impromptu Journal of My Heart”: Carson McCullers’ Therapeutic Recordings, April–May 1958

Abstract

This essay provides the first scholarly consideration of the transcripts of Carson McCullers’ therapy sessions with Dr. Mary Mercer, first recorded in 1958, but only made available to scholars in 2014. In addition to a consideration of implications for further biographical studies, the essay also considers the insight into her work provided by these intimate reflections, and the ethical issues raised by the scholarly use of materials originally intended for private purposes. In addition to detailing McCullers’ relationships with individuals such as Tennessee Williams, her childhood piano teacher Mary Tucker, her husband Reeves, and Annemarie Clarac Schwarzenbach, these transcripts also provide insight into several texts, including two autobiographical pieces written during the final decade of her life (Illumination and Night Glare and “The Flowering Dream”).