[Patricia Highsmith] was an extremely unbalanced person, extremely hostile and misanthropic and totally incapable of any kind of relationship, not just intimate ones. I felt sorry for her, because it wasn't her fault. There was something in her early days or whatever that made her incapable. She drove everybody away and people who really wanted to be friends ended up putting the phone down on her. It seemed to me as if she had to ape feelings and behaviour, like Ripley. Of course sometimes having no sense of social behaviour can be charming, but in her case it was alarming. I remember once, when she was trying to have a dinner party with people she barely knew, she deliberately leaned towards the candle on the table and set fire to her hair. People didn't know what to do as it was a very hostile act and the smell of singeing and burning filled the room. Andrew Wilson
About This Quote

Patricia Highsmith was an exceptionally gifted author in multiple genres, especially the suspense novel. Although she was an exceptional writer, she was also a difficult person to get along with. She was very opinionated and people who wanted to be friends with her ended up putting the phone down on her. She was both hostile and misanthropic. She did not have any close friends.

Source: Patricia Highsmith, I-II Ifi"I IfioiI"IIi1

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