Mary Poppins, She Wrote: The Life of P. L. Travers

This biography is well-researched. For someone who didn't want her life to be written about after her death, P. L. Travers certainly left extensive notes in a public library and the author not only used those notes, but was able to briefly contact Travers shortly before her death, though as fate would have it, their meeting never took place. From this rich source of material, author Valerie Lawson wrote a detailed and fascinating biography of the creator of "Mary Poppins."Despite having read all the Poppins books as a child, I knew nothing about P. L. Travers. She changed her name, she was Australian, though she comes across as British as a cup of strong tea, she had been an actress on the stage and she followed mystic Gurdjieff, among other odd facts. The book is detailed, especially about Travers' parents. This is slow going at first, but provides valuable background into her childhood, not a happy childhood but one that created vast sources to draw from to create the world of Mary Poppins. It was fascinating to learn who was the real life Mrs. Corry and her gigantic daughters who ran a candy shop. Was her domineering and inflexible great-aunt the source of the more rigid and snappish side of Mary Poppins?I couldn't put this book down. You have to like biographies, with lots of detail, because Lawson is a journalist and really goes into journalistic detail. This book was actually originally published in Australia in 1999, but due to the recent film "The Real Mr. Banks", it has gotten attention. I couldn't put it down--I love biographies, especially of authors and I was amazed at what I didn't know about the life of P. L. Travers. Highly recommended, with the caution that you have to like a lot of factual stuff because this is a biography and not a novel.

Valerie Lawson has done something P. L. Travers claimed she didn't want anyone to do: write her biography. It's a very good book. Travers discouraged personal questions in interviews, and preferred to discuss her work and, in later years, her philosophy of life -- the essence of experience as opposed to the mundane details of living. Lawson makes the case that if Travers had been serious about this she would have destroyed her papers -- which she decidedly did not do. Whatever her true feelings on the matter, this is a fascinating book, filled with insights into Travers' life and work, and with a respectable amount of attention to the work itself, especially the meanings and importance of the Mary Poppins books.I think Lawson gives somewhat short shrift to Travers work with Parabola magazine, which is some of her most brilliant writing -- inspiring to thousands of her readers, and collected in the now out of print "What the Bee Knows." (Note to publishers: bring it back!) You may also find out more than you want to known about her endless toing and froing with Disney, and the ways in which the movie deal echoed through the last thirty years of her life.But Lawson also gives the first comprehensive account of Travers' private life, her involvement AE and Gurdieff, her adoption of one twin, her son Camillus, and her early career as an actress. Her love affairs are touched on.I'm not sure, in the end, if all the private matters, interesting as they may be, really add to our understanding of Travers' work, though Lawson makes some persuasive connections between the fantasy and the reality. Mary Poppins herself, the Great Exception, survives the biography with her mystery intact, and in spite of Lawson's sympathetic and thorough craftsmanship, so does Travers. For those of us lucky ones who count Travers as a touchstone in our lives, that's just fine. Questions without answers can often be more satisfying than the other kind.

I gave this book 4 stars only because it is not for everyone...I really feel it is a 5-star book due to the amount of research and effort the author put into it...it is a very in depth-read for those who are fans of the movie "Saving Mr. Banks"...I saw the movie 3 times simply because I would forget parts of it and I did not want to forget any of it!...this is a slightly thick book requiring dedicated reading time to plow thru it...the author goes into every detail (including statements in personal correspondence) and description of all of P.L. Travers friends, mentors, and travels in her young adult years and relates all of this information as to how it affected her development of the Mary Poppins stories...the book contains photographs also including one of P.L. at 20 months!...the latter half of the book deals with her motherhood and the Disney years...I am still reading in the first half so that is what I am commenting on but, based on what I have read so far, the 2nd half is bound to be as good as or better than the first half and I can't wait to read more!...I would recommend this book for serious fans of Ms Travers and her work.

Australian, Pamela Lyndon Travers, the author of the Mary Poppins books, worked as an actress in Australia and New Zealand while at the same time writing articles for various publications. She left Australia in 1924 to seek her literary fortune in London/ Because of her obsessions with all things Irish and the concept of the Celtic Twilight, she made her way to Dublin, Ireland where she was befriended by A.E. Russell and his circle. Her friendship with Russell endured until he died. Valerie Lawson covers all of this and more n this fascinating biography

A fascinating read

Mary Poppins war eine geliebte Begleiterin meiner Kindheit. Auch später habe ich die Bücher immer wieder gelesen, bis heute. Das Filmusical mit Julie Andrews ist ganz nett, wird aber dem Charakter der Bücher nicht gerecht, weil doch etwas zu süßlich, zu nett. Insbesondere die Zeichentrickelemente waren mir immer zu sehr Walt Disney und hatten mit den Zeichnungen in den Erzählungen nichts gemein, die den oft skurrilen und schrägen Charakteren der Figuren viel näher kamen. Die phantastische, oft melancholische und geheimnisvolle Welt der Mary Poppins ist viel tiefer als die Hollywood-sterile Weihnachtswunderwelt Walt Disneys ermessen können.Da über Pamela Travers so gut wie nichts bekannt war und ich mich immer gefragt habe, wer und was diese Autorin sein könnte, war ich erfreut, die Biographie von Valerie Lawson zu finden. Ich hatte mit Interesse und Anteilnahme den Film "Saving Mr. Banks" gesehen (mit einer wundervollen Emma Thompson als Pamela Travers), der auf dieser Biographie basiert..Das Buch ist informativ und gut zu lesen (wenn man Englisch kann). Es zeigt eine Menge an wissenswerten Einzelheiten über die Kindheit und Jugend, über ihren familiären Hintergrund (insbesondere die überforderte Mutter und den Vater, der ein Alkoholiker war). P.T. lebenslange Sehnsucht und Suche nach einer Vaterfigut wird ebenso thematisiert wie ihre durchaus egoistischen Züge und Neigungen zu spirituellen Führern wie dem griechisch-armenischen Esoteriker Georges I. Gurdjieff oder dem irischen George William Russelll (nannte sich A.E. - eine Abkürzung für eine bestimmte esoterische Ideen).Viele Personen aus Travers Umkreis tauchen in den Büchern wieder auf, die Herkunft vieler märchenhaften Elemente wird deutlich, ihre spirituellen Interessen sowie die durchaus schwierige Beziehung zu Kindern und ihrem Adoptivsohn. Gerade diese zeigt, wie egoistisch und uneinsichtig Travers sein konnte. Ich fand sehr wichtig die Kapitel, in denen Lawson die Transformation von Helen Goff in Pamela L. Travers beschreibt. Travers war einer der Vornamen ihres Vaters. Dies wirft ein bezeichnendes Licht auf die Person und den Charakter der Schriftstellerin.Valerie Lawson bemüht sich, Travers weder zu idealisieren noch zu demontieren. Sie hat viele Zeugnisse zusammengetragen, sagt aber auch an vielen Stellen, dass die Faktenlage nicht so klar ist, weil Travers ihr Privatleben immer unter Verschluss hielt. Da, wo es in den Bereicht der Spekulation geht, sagt sie das auch und ist entsprechend vorsichtig. Mit dem Adptivsohn hat sie selbst sprechen können und er hat ihr auch Zugang zu Informationen gewährt, die von Bedeutung für das Buch sind.Wie immer bei bewunderten Figuren stellt sich die Frage, ob man ihnen im Leben wirklich begegnen wollte oder sollte. Diese Frage muss natürlich jeder für sich beantworten. Für mich tut der problematische Charakter der Autorin aber meiner Freude an ihren Büchern keinen Abbruch. Er zeigt nur, dass wir es mit Menschen zu tun haben.Also: Wer wirklich etwas über Pamela Travers erfahren möchte, ist mit diesem Buch gut beraten, zumal es meines Wissens die einzige Biographie über Pamela L. Travers ist..

Ein sehr angenehm zu lesendes Buch, auch wenn Englisch nicht die Muttersprache ist. Die Informationen über die Autorin P.L.Travers sind super aufbereitet und man versteht nach dem Lesen des Buches viel mehr Hintergründe und Aspekte zur Konzipierung der Filme Mary Poppins und Saving Mr. Banks. Für Fans der beiden Filme ein ganz klares Muss!

This is an in depth history of a woman who was very complex. The writer delves into her past and tries to work out just who this woman really was. A great read and much better than the recent movie.