Posted Tue Nov 11 18:14:00 UTC 2008

„My mother became married to Highsmith, when I was three years old and missed to correct my certificate of birth. My real name is Plangman.” Three months before Patricia’s delivery her mother got divorced with her husband, a German emigrant by the name of Plangman. Years later Patricia’s stepfather hat to adopt her. She absolved English literature studies. Highsmith started as a comic artist and writer of short stories. She gained fame by her psychological detective stories; sympathy for the committer and the contention with guilt and moral became her signature feature. In 5 of her 22 novels Tom Ripley was the main figure. Countless of her novels have been filmed. 1963 she moved to Europe and lived in Italy, England, France and settled down in 1981finally in Tegna, a beautiful and quite remote area in one of Ticino’s valleys with many charming little houses. She was believed to be as a reserved and lonesome person. During her life she had various relationships with women who were dominant personalities; this became official by her last will. Suffering from cancer she died in the hospital of Locarno. Her tomb is on the cemetery of Tegna.

Source: http://www.si-su.ch

Posted By: Claudia Starck