Portrait of Carson McCullers

Birthday profile

Carson McCullers

Carson McCullers, American novelist, short story writer, playwright, and essayist (died 1967)

Born
February 19, 1917
Died
September 29, 1967
Zodiac sign
Pisces
Birth year
1917

About Carson McCullers

Carson McCullers (February 19, 1917 – September 29, 1967) was an American novelist, short-story writer, playwright, essayist, and poet. Her first novel, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940), explores the spiritual isolation of misfits and outcasts in a small town of the Southern United States. Her other novels have similar themes. Most are set in the Deep South. McCullers's work is often described as Southern Gothic and indicative of her Southern roots. Critics also describe her writing and eccentric characters as universal in scope. Her stories have been adapted to stage and film. A stage adaptation of her novel The Member of the Wedding (1946), which captures a young girl's feelings at her brother's wedding, made a successful Broadway run in 1950–51. In 1940, at the age of 23, writing in the Southern Gothic or perhaps Southern realist traditions, McCullers completed her first novel, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. In 1936, she published her first work, "Wunderkind", an autobiographical piece that Bates admired, depicting a music prodigy's adolescent insecurity and losses.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Carson McCullers timeline

  1. In 1936, she published her first work, "Wunderkind", an autobiographical piece that Bates admired, depicting a music prodigy's adolescent insecurity and losses.
  2. In 1940, at the age of 23, writing in the Southern Gothic or perhaps Southern realist traditions, McCullers completed her first novel, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.

The world when Carson McCullers was born

Carson McCullers was born in 1917. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1917

  • Best-selling book"Mr. Britling Sees It Through" – H.G. Wells

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentProfessional sports curtailed as America enters World War I
  • Top headlineUS enters World War I
  • Technology milestoneFirst practical military use of sonar
  • World population~1.77B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderWoodrow Wilson
  • U.S. population100.8M

1917 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Carson McCullers's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19172026
Gas$0.25$3.45/gal
Population100.8M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.