Caroline Knapp: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|American writer and columnist}}

(1960-June 4, 2002)

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2014}}

{{infobox writer|image = Caroline_Knapp.png |birth_date=November 8, 1959|death_date=June 3/4, 2002|notableworks=''Drinking: A Love Story''}}

'''Caroline Knapp''' (November 8, 1959 – June 3/4, 2002) was an American writer and columnist whose candid best-selling memoir ''Drinking: A Love Story'' recounted her 20-year battle with alcoholism. She was the daughter of noted psychiatrist Peter H. Knapp, who was a researcher of [[psychosomatic]] medicine.

== Life and career ==

writer and columnist whose candid best-selling memoir Drinking: A Love Story recounted her 20-year battle with alcoholism.

Knapp grew up in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Knapp|first=Caroline|title=Drinking: A Love Story|url=https://archive.org/details/drinkinglovestor1996knap|url-access=limited|year=1996|publisher=The Dial Press|isbn=0-385-31551-1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/drinkinglovestor1996knap/page/39 39]}}</ref> and graduated from [[Brown University]]. From 1988 to 1995, she was a columnist for the [[The Phoenix (newspaper)|Boston Phoenix]] where her column "Out There" often featured the fictional "Alice K." In 1994, those columns were collected in her first book, ''Alice K's Guide to Life: One Woman's Quest for Survival, Sanity, and the Perfect New Shoes''.

Knapp won wide acclaim for ''Drinking: A Love Story'' (1996) that described her life as a "high-functioning alcoholic" and remained on ''[[The New York Times Best Seller List]]'' for several weeks. She followed ''Drinking'' with ''Pack of Two'', also a best-seller, which recounted her relationship with her dog Lucille and humans' relationships with dogs in general.

She was diagnosed with lung cancer on April 2002 and was then married the first time in May 2002.

In May 2002, she married her longtime friend and companion, photographer Mark Morelli.

She died in Cambridge, Massachusettes of lung cancer on June 4, 2002. She was 42.

==Death==

Knapp died in Cambridge of lung cancer on June 3, 2002. Two books of hers were published after her death: ''Appetites: Why Women Want'', which described Knapp's experience with [[Anorexia nervosa|anorexia]] and other women's struggles with addictions, and ''The Merry Recluse'', a collection of essays.

[[Gail Caldwell]]’s ''[[Let's Take the Long Way Home]]'' (2010), is a memoir of her friendship with Knapp.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Caldwell |first=Gail |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/59756036 |title=A strong west wind: a memoir |publisher=Random House |year=2006 |isbn=1-4000-6248-9 |edition=first |___location=New York |oclc=59756036}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==

*''Alice K's Guide to Life: One Woman's Quest for Survival, Sanity, and the Perfect New Shoes'' (1994)

*''Drinking: A Love Story'' (1996)

*''Pack of Two: The Intricate Bond Between People and Dogs'' (1998)

*''Appetites: Why Women Want'' (published posthumously, 2003)

*''The Merry Recluse: A Life in Essays'' (published posthumously, 2004)

== References ==

{{reflist}}

==External links==

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20081007091221/http://www.providencephoenix.com/archive/features/02/06/06/KNAPP.html Providence Phoenix obituary, June 6, 2002]

*[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F03E0D7113AF936A35755C0A9649C8B63&scp=2&sq=caroline+knapp+obituary&st=nyt New York Times obituary, June 5, 2002]

*[https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/07/05/reviews/980705.05cheevet.html Review of ''Pack of Two''] by [[Susan Cheever]], ''The New York Times'', July 5, 1998

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110720200156/http://www.salon.com/life/feature/1998/07/cov_27feature.html Column 'The Merry Recluse']

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knapp, Caroline}}

[[Category:1959 births]]

[[Category:2002 deaths]]

[[Category:20th-century American memoirists]]

[[Category:American self-help writers]]

[[Category:Brown University alumni]]

[[Category:Writers from Cambridge, Massachusetts]]

[[Category:Deaths from lung cancer in Massachusetts]]

[[Category:Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery]]

[[Category:American columnists]]

[[Category:American women memoirists]]

[[Category:American women essayists]]

[[Category:American women columnists]]

[[Category:20th-century American essayists]]

[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]