Evelyn Scott was among the early experimenters in imagism, expressionism, stream-of-consciousness, and the "psychological" novel. An innovator in form and technique--having early developed simultaneously with James Joyce and others the poetic prose of intense inner realism, and later, along with John Dos Passos, the panoramic novel--she was widely acclaimed one of America's most important and intellectual literary, figures during the 1920s and 1930s.

Until the age of twenty, Evelyn Scott was Elsie Dunn, born to Maude and Seeley Dunn, into a Clarksville, Tennessee, family with wealth and aristocratic, artistic inclinations--and a superb Greek-revival mansion. With her social background and striking physical beauty--fine bone structure, a sensuous mouth, haunting gray eyes, and a wreath of brown-gold hair--she was abundantly equipped to play the expected role of Southern belle. She revolted. Her precocious nature, exceptional intelligence, and above all the strict emotional and intellectual honesty which was to mark her...