The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Stafford, Jean
191579, American writer, b. Covina, Calif., grad. Univ. of Colorado, 1936. Her literary reputation rests primarily on her exquisitely wrought short stories. Both these and her novels focus on lonely, isolated characters, usually adolescents, whom she depicts with gentle irony. Her works include the novels Boston Adventure (1944), The Mountain Lion (1948), and The Catherine Wheel (1952) and her Collected Stories (1969; Pulitzer Prize). She was married to Robert Lowell.