Peter Matthiessen was born on May 22, 1927, in New York City to Elizabeth Carey and Erard Matthiessen. "I am a New Yorker by birth, not inclination; I have never remained there very long.

"My formative years left me unformed; despite kind family, superior schooling, and all the orderly advantages, I remained disorderly. By the time I was sixteen, I had determined that I would write. Strange callow pieces with my byline were already appearing in the school publications."¹

After a year in the U.S. Navy, Matthiessen attended Yale University in 1947, spending his junior year in Sorbonne, Paris. At this time, some of his short stories were published in various magazines. After earning a B.A. in English, Matthiessen taught creative writing at Yale, and in 1951 married Patsy Southgate whom he had met in Paris.

Returning to the United States with their son, Lucas Conrad, in 1953, they settled in...