NYC Neighborhoods

Is Private Life Relevant? May Sarton in the Village

May Sarton, Digital ID 2007913, New York Public LibraryMay Sarton lived a little bit out of Hudson Park's area at 42 E. 11th Street, but still, close enough. She was a poet, novelist and memoirist. May 3rd is her birthday.

She is credited with saying "the deeper you go, the more universal you become," but I can't confirm that she actually said that. These, however, are true quotes:

"May we agree that private life is irrelevant? Multiple, mixed, ambiguous at best - out of it we try to fashion the crystal clear, the singular, the absolute, and that is what is relevant; that is what matters."

"The fear of homosexuality is so great that it took courage to write Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing [published 1965], to write a novel about a woman homosexual who is not a sex maniac, a drunkard, a drug-taker, or in any way repulsive, to portray a homosexual who is neither pitiable nor disgusting, without sentimentality..."Journal of a Solitude,

See also: Happy 100th, May Sarton!