Diane Arbus: A Biography Study Guide & Notes

Diane Arbus: A Biography Plot Summary

Preview of Diane Arbus: A Biography Summary:

Diane Arbus was a tragic figure in the Shakespearean sense. Like Shakespeare's heroes, Diane suffered a fatal flaw—mental illness—and in the end was destroyed by it. Born to wealthy parents, Diane enjoyed a protected, cloistered childhood, attending a secularized Jewish elementary school and being attended by maids, cooks, and nannies. By the time she was in high school, however, Diane began a dual lifestyle, one of an intelligent and artistic girl of privilege, the other of a risk-taking adventurer, seeking excitement by observing and participating in "seedier" sides of New York life. Falling in love at fifteen, she married her first love, Allan Arbus, at age eighteen, and began a career partnering with him as a fashion photographer. Finding the work unfulfilling, Diane set off on her own, creating series of photographs with society's freaks and outcasts as subjects. To complete these studies, Diane often traveled to dangerous and strange...
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