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Ladataan... Author, AuthorTekijä: David Lodge
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Kirjaudu LibraryThingiin nähdäksesi, pidätkö tästä kirjasta vai et. Ei tämänhetkisiä Keskustelu-viestiketjuja tästä kirjasta. I didn't think I would like this book, because I don't have much interest in Henry James, but Lodge's writing is captivating. I became interested in James' trials in getting his work to be profitablly published and, in the case of his plays (who knew he wrote plays?) performed. The book starts with him on his deathbed, which of course is where it ends, but in between one gets to know a man who never deeply connected with anyone, but remains interesting. And there is much here about the life of a writer, and what it is like, particularly the reception of ones work, which informs the title. ( ) Because Lodge's writing is rambling I found myself getting distracted and confused about what was happening when. Author, Author is a biography that focuses mainly on Henry James's relationships with Constance Fenimore Woolsen, the granddaughter of James Fenimore Cooper and with fellow author/friend George Du Maurier and the "horrible opening night" of his play "Guy Domville." The best part of the story was Henry's relationship with Constance Fenimore Woolsen (fondly known as Fenimore throughout the book). James struggles to have a relationship with her that is private yet meaningful. This is probably a better than 3 star book, but it took me a while to get through it. It’s a little too long, and I’ve already read a couple of biographies of James, so I felt like I was covering same ground. Even thought this is fiction it seems to follow facts very closely, and is well written and interesting. Dans son dernier roman, Pensées secrètes, l’écrivain Henry James apparaissait en filigrane. Dans celui-ci, il se tient au centre de la scène. L’histoire commence en décembre 1915, alors que Henry James meurt entouré de ses proches et de ses domestiques - puis recule pour lever le rideau sur les années 1880. Apparaissent alors George du Maurier, l’ami cher, artiste et illustrateur de métier et Constance Fenimore Woolson, écrivain américain avec qui James entretient des relations aussi étroites que platoniques. C’est à cette époque que Henry James décide, pour contrer le faible succès public de ses livres, de chercher la fortune et la renommée au théâtre. Il se lance dans l’écriture de pièces tandis que son ami George, dont la vue s’affaiblit, se met, lui, à écrire des romans. Les conséquences pour les deux hommes vont être tout à la fois comiques, tragiques, surprenantes et ironiques : tandis que Trilby , le roman de Georges, devient le best-seller du siècle au grand étonnement de l’auteur lui-même, Henry se voit hué le soir de la première de sa pièce Guy Domville. Grouillant de personnages campés d’un trait vif - certains d’entre eux célèbres, d’autres obscurs - L’auteur ! l’auteur ! offre le fascinant panorama d’une vie littéraire et théâtrale qui présage en bien des points l’actuelle confusion des genres entre l’art, le commerce et la publicité. Avec ce mélange d’humour britannique et de mélancolie douce qui est sa marque de fabrique, David Lodge dépeint surtout, à travers la figure captivante et mystérieuse de Henry James pour qui il éprouve une immense empathie, les obsessions, les espoirs, les rêves, les déceptions et les triomphes de ceux que l’on appelle les gens de plume. L’épigraphe du livre le résume à la perfection : « We work in the dark – we do what we can- we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art. » "Author, Author" is a fictionalization of the life of author Henry James, with particular attention to his years as a playwright. The book is well written, and assuming the specific details of his life were actually true (and the Lodge didn’t simply make them up), they flowed well within the narrative and never seemed forced or superfluous. Unfortunately, I struggled to finish the book. Again, it was well written, and I typically love writings set in the late 19th century, but it failed to capture my full attention. Likely by biggest distraction is that I have never read anything by Henry James. As the book progresses, it become clear that certain events described earlier in the book end up being the plot devices for works he later writes. Since I didn’t know the works, I missed the build-up. As a result, I failed to see the point of the book for about the first half. Now the flipside of that, since I have no knowledge of his works, it was always a surprise to me when one was successful or a failure. It’s like reading about a war and not knowing who’s going to win. The end of the book picked up, and I found a strong desire to see how it would end. But overall, it was a mediocre experience – possibly better enjoyed by someone with a more refined literary background than my own. ei arvosteluja | lisää arvostelu
In David Lodge's last novel, THINKS... the novelist Henry James was invisibly present in quotation and allusion. In AUTHOR, AUTHOR he is centre stage, sometimes literally. The story begins in December 1915, with the dying author surrounded by his relatives and servants, most of whom have private anxieties of their own, then loops back to the 1880s, to chart the course of Henry's 'middle years', focusing particularly on his friendship with the genial Punch artist and illustrator, George Du Maurier, and his intimate but chaste relationship with the American writer Constance Fenimore Woolson. By the end of the decade Henry is seriously worried by the failure of his books to 'sell', and decides to try and achieve fame and fortune as a playwright, at the same time that George Du Maurier, whose sight is failing, diversifies into writing novels. The consequences, for both men, are surprising, ironic, comic and tragic by turns, reaching a climax in the years 1894-5. As Du Maurier's Trilby, to the bewilderment of its author himself, becomes the bestseller of the century, Henry anxiously awaits the first night of his make-or-break play, Guy Domville... Thronged with vividly drawn characters, some of them with famous names, others recovered from obscurity, AUTHOR, AUTHOR presents a fascinating panorama of literary and theatrical life in late Victorian England, which in many ways foreshadowed today's cultural mix of art, commerce and publicity. But it is essentially a novel about authorship - about the obsessions, hopes, dreams, triumphs and disappointments, of those who live by the pen - with, at its centre, a characterisation of one writer, rendered with empathy. Kirjastojen kuvailuja ei löytynyt. |
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Google Books — Ladataan... LajityypitMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.914Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999Kongressin kirjaston luokitusArvio (tähdet)Keskiarvo:
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