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Diane Wood Middlebrook's Controversial Biography of Anne Sexton.

Biographer Diane Wood Middlebrook. She's written a controversial new book about the troubled writer Anne Sexton. The controversy surrounds Middlebrook's source material: she had access to transcripts of Sexton's psychiatric sessions with the approval of Sexton's daughter and psychiatrist. Sexton killed herself in 1974. She began writing poetry in 1956 following a suicidal breakdown and after her therapist suggested she try writing poetry. ("Anne Sexton: A Biography," published by Houghton Mifflin).

22:22

Other segments from the episode on August 30, 1991

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, August 30, 1991: Interview with Diane Wood Middlebrook; Interview with Carole Ione; Commentary on "show bands."

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