The Price of Salt
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| Author | Patricia Highsmith |
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| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | W W Norton |
| Released | 1951 |
| Media Type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 288 p. (paperback edition) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-393-32599-7 (paperback edition) |
The Price of Salt is a lesbian pulp novel written by Patricia Highsmith under the pen-name Claire Morgan. The novel was rejected by Highsmith's publisher, likely because of its lesbian content, but was published elsewhere. In fact, the novel was first published in hardcover format (it was not a paperback original) in 1951, but it was not until 1952 when it was re-issued in pulp format that it became widely read.
[edit] Plot summary
The Price of Salt was written by Patricia Highsmith shortly after the success of Strangers on a Train. In a foreword Highsmith wrote many years later to accompany the book's re-release by Naiad Press, Highsmith recalled that the idea for the story came to her one afternoon when she noticed a mysterious and striking woman in a department store. Highsmith became sick later that night and when she awoke from her fever dreams the next day, the story had taken form in her head. In Marijane Meaker's memoir, Highsmith: A Romance of the 1950s, Meaker recalls Highsmith writing at a furious speed while she was sick with what turned out to be the chickenpox.
The two main characters are Therese, a lonely young woman, and Carol, the elegant stranger Therese encounters one day at a department store. On an impulse, Therese sends Carol a card. Carol, who is going through a difficult divorce and is herself quite lonely, unexpectedly responds, and the two begin to spend time together. Therese develops a strong attachment to Carol, but she is unsure how to understand her feelings. Therese's boyfriend accuses Therese of having a "schoolgirl crush" but Therese knows it is more than that: she is in love with Carol. Carol and Therese take a road trip West, over the course of which it becomes clear that the feelings both women have for each other are romantic feelings. They become physically as well as emotionally intimate.
The women are unaware that Carol's husband has hired a Private Investigator to follow them and collect any evidence that would incriminate Carol as homosexual in the upcoming custody hearings. The eerie P.I. is a typical figure in Highsmith's writing.
In court, Carol has to choose between her daughter and Therese. Carol loses badly in court, but the book's ending is unusually optimistic for a lesbian pulp novel, as it suggests that Carol and Therese might stay together and be happy after all. Because of the happy ending (or at least an ending with the possibility of happiness) that defied the lesbian pulp formula and because of the unconventional characters that defied stereotypes about homosexuals, The Price of Salt was sustaining to many lesbians in the 1950s who had never seen a lesbian portrayed in a positive light. The book fell out of print but was re-issued by Naiad Press and a number of other feminist and lesbian presses.
