Theodora Keogh
Encyclopedia
Theodora Roosevelt Keogh O'Toole Rauchfuss (June 30, 1919 – January 5, 2008) was an American novelist writing under her first married name, Theodora Keogh, in the 1950s and 1960s.
, she was a granddaughter of president Theodore Roosevelt
and the eldest of three daughters born to Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt’s third son. Archie Roosevelt served in the Army in World War II
and received the Silver Star
. He later was chairman of Roosevelt & Cross, a Wall Street
investment firm. Theodora’s mother was Grace Lockwood, daughter of Thomas Lockwood and Emmeline Stackpole of Boston
. In her later life, Theodora played down her Roosevelt connections as she wanted her writings and her talents to be judged on their own merits.
Theodora was brought up on the Upper East Side of New York, near the East River
, and in the country at Cold Spring Harbor, New York
near Oyster Bay. She attended the Chapin School and finished her education at Countess Montgelas’s in Munich
, Germany
. She was briefly a debutante in New York and then began her professional life as a dancer in South America
and in Canada
. In 1945, she gave up dancing when she married the costumer, Thomas Keogh (1902–1980). The couple moved to Paris
, France
where he designed for the theater and the ballet
and worked as an illustrator
for Vogue
magazine from 1947 to 1951. Tom Keogh designed costumes for such movies as “The Pirate” (1948) with Judy Garland
and “Daddy Long Legs” (1955) with Leslie Caron
. The couple eventually divorced but stayed friends until Tom Keogh’s death.
Through her friendships in Paris, Theodora Keogh became connected with writers and editors for the Paris Review
, including George Plimpton
and Peter Matthiessen
, co-founders of the Review; Scottish novelist Alexander Trocchi
; the poet Christopher Logue
; and Alabama
poet and screenwriter Eugene Walter
. After Paris, she lived in Rome
, Italy
, and New York. Influenced by the Greta Garbo
film “Anna Christie,” she bought a tugboat
, which she sailed in the Atlantic Ocean
. Her interest in tugboats also led to her second marriage to Thomas (Tommy) O’Toole, a tugboat captain. After O’Toole left her, she lived in the Chelsea Hotel in New York, where she kept a margay
, a South American tiger-cat similar to an ocelot
, for company. One night, after Theodora had drunk too much and was asleep, the margay chewed one of her ears. Theodora remained self-conscious of the injury, which she considered disfiguring to her face and natural beauty, and spent much time adapting her hairstyles to cover the missing ear.
In the 1970s, Theodora moved to Caldwell County, in the western mountains of North Carolina
where she became friends with the wife of Arthur Alfred Rauchfuss (1921–1989), owner of a chemical plant. In 1979, after the Rauchfusses divorced, Theodora married Arthur. After his death she continued to live in North Carolina until her own death in 2008. She spent her final years in a house with 19 acres (7.7 ha) on which she kept cats and chickens, until she gave up on keeping chickens because they were being eaten by coyotes.
, most noted for “Strangers on a Train” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” Like Highsmith, she created characters who seemed quite normal on the surface and in relation to the social conventions of their day, but who had another side to their lives and their identities.
Theodora’s works explored such dark areas and themes as rape, incest, double lives, and a doctor’s psychological and emotional fascination with a child criminal. Her novels were also noteworthy for exploring gay and lesbian themes, which were daring topics for the era in which she was writing. Such daring themes brought Theodora a measure of notoriety in her day.
Her novels were largely neglected after the 1960s but were rediscovered and reissued by Olympia Press during 2002-2007. The attention to her work after about thirty to forty years of dormancy brought both surprise and delight to Theodora in the final years of her life.
Theodora Keogh’s works were reprinted primarily for three reasons. First, her style is very modern and represents a transition from Romanticism
to modernism
and postmodernism
that mirrors not only writers like Highsmith but also Raymond Chandler
and Dashiell Hammett
. Second, she is admired for her exploration of psychological issues and in thus creating complex characters who often present one personality to the world while having a secret and immoral life that is in contradiction. Explorations of the tensions between the socially accepted and the inwardly rebellious or evil side of the same person’s psyche have made Keogh’s novels of greater interest. Third, she is admired for her explorations of lesbian and gay themes, and this approach has made her popular as one of the writers, like Ann Bannon
, Marijane Meaker, and Doris Grumbach
who opened post-World War II American fiction to explorations of homosexuality
. Given her handling of these themes in often lurid detail also made her popular as one of the early writers of lesbian pulp fiction
.
Life
Born Theodora Roosevelt in New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, she was a granddaughter of president Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
and the eldest of three daughters born to Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt’s third son. Archie Roosevelt served in the Army in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and received the Silver Star
Silver Star
The Silver Star is the third-highest combat military decoration that can be awarded to a member of any branch of the United States armed forces for valor in the face of the enemy....
. He later was chairman of Roosevelt & Cross, a Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
investment firm. Theodora’s mother was Grace Lockwood, daughter of Thomas Lockwood and Emmeline Stackpole of Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. In her later life, Theodora played down her Roosevelt connections as she wanted her writings and her talents to be judged on their own merits.
Theodora was brought up on the Upper East Side of New York, near the East River
East River
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland...
, and in the country at Cold Spring Harbor, New York
Cold Spring Harbor, New York
Cold Spring Harbor is a hamlet in Suffolk County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the CDP population was 4,975.Cold Spring Harbor is in the Town of Huntington.-History:...
near Oyster Bay. She attended the Chapin School and finished her education at Countess Montgelas’s in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. She was briefly a debutante in New York and then began her professional life as a dancer in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
and in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. In 1945, she gave up dancing when she married the costumer, Thomas Keogh (1902–1980). The couple moved to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
where he designed for the theater and the ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
and worked as an illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
for Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
magazine from 1947 to 1951. Tom Keogh designed costumes for such movies as “The Pirate” (1948) with Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
and “Daddy Long Legs” (1955) with Leslie Caron
Leslie Caron
Leslie Claire Margaret Caron is a French film actress and dancer, who appeared in 45 films between 1951 and 2003. In 2006, her performance in Law and Order: Special Victims Unit won her an Emmy for guest actress in a drama series...
. The couple eventually divorced but stayed friends until Tom Keogh’s death.
Through her friendships in Paris, Theodora Keogh became connected with writers and editors for the Paris Review
Paris Review
The Paris Review is a literary quarterly founded in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen and George Plimpton. Plimpton edited the Review from its founding until his death in 2003. In its first five years, The Paris Review published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip Larkin, V. S...
, including George Plimpton
George Plimpton
George Ames Plimpton was an American journalist, writer, editor, and actor. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review.-Early life:...
and Peter Matthiessen
Peter Matthiessen
Peter Matthiessen is a two-time National Book Award-winning American novelist and non-fiction writer, as well as an environmental activist...
, co-founders of the Review; Scottish novelist Alexander Trocchi
Alexander Trocchi
Alexander Whitelaw Robertson Trocchi was a Scottish novelist.-Early career:Trocchi was born in Glasgow to a Scottish mother and Italian father. After working as a seaman on the Murmansk convoys, he attended University of Glasgow. On graduation he obtained a traveling grant that enabled him to...
; the poet Christopher Logue
Christopher Logue
Christopher Logue, CBE is an English poet associated with the British Poetry Revival. He has also written for the theatre and cinema as well as acting in a number of films. His two screenplays are Savage Messiah and The End of Arthur's Marriage...
; and Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
poet and screenwriter Eugene Walter
Eugene Walter
Eugene Ferdinand Walter, Jr. was an American screenwriter, poet, short-story author, actor, puppeteer, gourmet chef, cryptographer, translator, editor, costume designer and well-known raconteur. During his years in Paris, he was nicknamed Tum-te-tum...
. After Paris, she lived in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, and New York. Influenced by the Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo , born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish film actress. Garbo was an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of Garbo's films were sensational hits, and all but three were profitable...
film “Anna Christie,” she bought a tugboat
Tugboat
A tugboat is a boat that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugs move vessels that either should not move themselves, such as ships in a crowded harbor or a narrow canal,or those that cannot move by themselves, such as barges, disabled ships, or oil platforms. Tugboats are powerful for...
, which she sailed in the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
. Her interest in tugboats also led to her second marriage to Thomas (Tommy) O’Toole, a tugboat captain. After O’Toole left her, she lived in the Chelsea Hotel in New York, where she kept a margay
Margay
The Margay is a spotted cat native to Middle and South America. Named for Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied, it is a solitary and nocturnal animal that prefers remote sections of the rainforest. Although it was once believed to be vulnerable to extinction, the IUCN now lists it as "Near Threatened"...
, a South American tiger-cat similar to an ocelot
Ocelot
The ocelot , pronounced /ˈɒsəˌlɒt/, also known as the dwarf leopard or McKenney's wildcat is a wild cat distributed over South and Central America and Mexico, but has been reported as far north as Texas and in Trinidad, in the Caribbean...
, for company. One night, after Theodora had drunk too much and was asleep, the margay chewed one of her ears. Theodora remained self-conscious of the injury, which she considered disfiguring to her face and natural beauty, and spent much time adapting her hairstyles to cover the missing ear.
In the 1970s, Theodora moved to Caldwell County, in the western mountains of North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
where she became friends with the wife of Arthur Alfred Rauchfuss (1921–1989), owner of a chemical plant. In 1979, after the Rauchfusses divorced, Theodora married Arthur. After his death she continued to live in North Carolina until her own death in 2008. She spent her final years in a house with 19 acres (7.7 ha) on which she kept cats and chickens, until she gave up on keeping chickens because they were being eaten by coyotes.
Writing career
Keogh wrote nine novels during the period of 1950 to 1962, after which time she gave up writing completely. Her novels tended to focus on characters with psychological conflicts and often dark sides to their personalities. In this regard, her themes are similar to those of novelist Patricia HighsmithPatricia Highsmith
Patricia Highsmith was an American novelist and short-story writer most widely known for her psychological thrillers, which led to more than two dozen film adaptations. Her first novel, Strangers on a Train, has been adapted for stage and screen numerous times, notably by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951...
, most noted for “Strangers on a Train” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” Like Highsmith, she created characters who seemed quite normal on the surface and in relation to the social conventions of their day, but who had another side to their lives and their identities.
Theodora’s works explored such dark areas and themes as rape, incest, double lives, and a doctor’s psychological and emotional fascination with a child criminal. Her novels were also noteworthy for exploring gay and lesbian themes, which were daring topics for the era in which she was writing. Such daring themes brought Theodora a measure of notoriety in her day.
Her novels were largely neglected after the 1960s but were rediscovered and reissued by Olympia Press during 2002-2007. The attention to her work after about thirty to forty years of dormancy brought both surprise and delight to Theodora in the final years of her life.
Theodora Keogh’s works were reprinted primarily for three reasons. First, her style is very modern and represents a transition from Romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
to modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
and postmodernism
Postmodernism
Postmodernism is a philosophical movement evolved in reaction to modernism, the tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth and to be inherently suspicious towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. Postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from the...
that mirrors not only writers like Highsmith but also Raymond Chandler
Raymond Chandler
Raymond Thornton Chandler was an American novelist and screenwriter.In 1932, at age forty-five, Raymond Chandler decided to become a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in...
and Dashiell Hammett
Dashiell Hammett
Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories, and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade , Nick and Nora Charles , and the Continental Op .In addition to the significant influence his novels and stories had on...
. Second, she is admired for her exploration of psychological issues and in thus creating complex characters who often present one personality to the world while having a secret and immoral life that is in contradiction. Explorations of the tensions between the socially accepted and the inwardly rebellious or evil side of the same person’s psyche have made Keogh’s novels of greater interest. Third, she is admired for her explorations of lesbian and gay themes, and this approach has made her popular as one of the writers, like Ann Bannon
Ann Bannon
Ann Bannon is an American author who, from 1957 to 1962, wrote six lesbian pulp fiction novels known as The Beebo Brinker Chronicles. The books' enduring popularity and impact on lesbian identity has earned her the title "Queen of Lesbian Pulp Fiction"...
, Marijane Meaker, and Doris Grumbach
Doris Grumbach
Doris Grumbach is an American novelist, biographer, literary critic, and essayist. She taught at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York, and was literary editor of the The New Republic for several years. Since 1985, she has had a bookstore, Wayward Books.-Life:Grumbach was born in New York...
who opened post-World War II American fiction to explorations of homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
. Given her handling of these themes in often lurid detail also made her popular as one of the early writers of lesbian pulp fiction
Lesbian pulp fiction
Lesbian pulp fiction refers to any mid-20th century paperback novel with overtly lesbian themes and content. Lesbian pulp fiction was published in the 1950s and 60s by many of the same paperback publishing houses that other genres of fiction including Westerns, Romances, and Detective Fiction...
.