The life and work of Elizabeth Gilbert

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Few people heard of Elizabeth Gilbert until the release of the key work of her life "Eat, Pray, Love" in 2006. Like all writers, she began with an immense love of literature and short stories for children. Her amazing biography is so full of events that it can hardly fit even in a multi-volume edition, so it will be presented in a summary.

Childhood

Elizabeth Gilbert was born on July 18, 1969 in the small town of Waterbury (Connecticut) and spent her childhood on the family farm. The world bestselling author has always spoken fondly of her early years. She spent her free time with her sister. Interest in literature played a big role in the lives of girls, since there were no other entertainments in the house. From a young age, they both dreamed of becoming writers, so from that very time they began to create their first short works. As you know, in the future, their dreams came true.

Education and early publications

After graduating from school, Elizabeth went to study political science in New York, where in 1991year received a bachelor's degree. All these years she continued to write, and after university she decided to travel around the country to collect interesting stories for her future works. Whom only did not happen to work young Elizabeth Gilbert. She gained invaluable experience, which was useful to her in her subsequent writing activities, working as a waitress, cook and even a salesman. Her debut work was the story "Pilgrims", which was published in the world-famous Esquire magazine. In 1997, she published a collection of short stories of the same name, which can be considered the first full-fledged book of the writer. In these and subsequent years, she worked as a freelance journalist for popular American publications, and her articles and the second book "Hard People" were a great success.

Wide fame

In 2006, another novel was published under the title, which to this day remains on everyone's lips. Readers around the world were instantly captivated by Eat, Pray, Love, based on the true story of Elizabeth Gilbert. Reviews from critics were extremely favorable, and the work itself made the author a role model. The writer spent a whole year on a healing journey through Italy, India and Indonesia, which not only healed her wounds and restored her will to live, but also inspired her to share the fruits of this journey with the world. Since then, thousands of fans have followed in the footsteps of their idol in search of harmony, awareness and happiness. In subsequent yearsshe wrote 3 more books, the last of which was published in America on September 22, 2015. They were no longer able to become so successful, but they found a response in the hearts of loyal fans.

Private life

Elizabeth Gilbert's novel "Eat, Pray, Love" begins with a story about marriage, which became a heavy burden for the heroine and prevented her from moving on. Gathering all her strength, she decided to leave him and file for divorce. As is usually the case, the dissolution of the marriage was long and painful and even more unbalanced. In addition, a new romantic interest turned into failure, and a desperate Lizzy set off on the main journey of her life, the result of which was not only world fame, but also a meeting with Jose Nunes, thus Felipe from the last chapter. Since then, they managed to get married, although they vowed that they would never repeat this mistake in their lives. The reason for this was migration problems, since Jose is Brazilian and did not have American citizenship. Overcoming this difficulty resulted in another work called "Legal Marriage". In addition to describing their wanderings together and reflecting on the sacred institution of marriage, it also mentions that motherhood is a role that Elizabeth Gilbert chose not to play in her life. The photo with her husband, presented below, however, demonstrates that even despite this, her marriage can be called quite happy. The couple now live a quiet, peaceful life in a small town in New Jersey, where Liz continues to write and Felipe runs the family business.

Contribution to Literature

In her interviews, the famous writer often says that she never got used to world fame. Noisy parties, elite life and even travel no longer appeal to her. She is happy because every day she wakes up next to her loved one, continues to write and take care of her own garden and beds. However, one cannot deny the contribution that Elizabeth Gilbert made to the development of literature. Quotes from her books filled the Internet and continue to inspire new achievements of writers and ordinary people around the world. She belongs to the type of authors who in reality adhere to the ideas set forth in their works. And her life is as amazing as her books, because she found the answer to the main question: “How can you drive yourself into a tiny box of your own personality when you feel your infinity?” After all, only by giving humanity the fruits of your experience, you can become a truly happy person, which she is.