Purchase
Adventures of a Biographer in Search of Her Subject
Knopf
July 2007
On Sale: July 5, 2007
242 pages
ISBN: 0307264831
EAN: 9780307264831
Hardcover
Add to Wish List
Non-Fiction
The first rule of biography, wrote Justin Kaplan: “Shoot the
widow.” In her new book, Meryle Secrest, acclaimed biographer
(“Knowing, sympathetic and entertainingly droll”—The New
York Times), writes about her comic triumphs and
misadventures as a biographer in search of her nine
celebrated subjects, about how the hunt for a “life” is like
working one’s way through a maze, full of fall starts, dead
ends, and occasional clear passages leading to the next part
of the puzzle. She writes about her first book, a life of Romaine Brooks,
and how she was led to Nice and given invaluable letters by
her subject’s heir that were slid across the table, one at a
time; how she was led to the villa of Brooks’ lover,
Gabriele d’Annunzio (poet, playwright, and aviator), a
fantastic mausoleum left untouched since the moment of his
death seventy years before; to a small English village,
where she uncovered a lost Romaine Brooks painting; and
finally, to 20, rue Jacob, Paris, where Romaine’s lover,
Natalie Barney, had fifty years before entertained Cocteau,
Gide, Proust, Colette, and others. Secrest describes how her next book—a life of
Berenson—prompted Francis Steegmuller, fellow biographer, to
comment that he wouldn’t touch the subject with a ten-foot pole. For her life of British art historian Kenneth Clark, Secrest
was given permission to write the book by her subject, who
surreptitiously financed it in the hopes of controlling its
contents; we see how Clark’s plan was foiled by a jealous
mistress and a stash of love letters that helped Secrest
navigate Clark’s obstacle course. Among the other biographical (mis)adventures, Secrest
reveals: how she tracked Salvador Dalí to a hospital room,
found him recovering from serious burns sustained in a
mysterious fire, and learned that he was knee-deep in a
scandal involving fake drawings and prints and surrounded by
dangerous characters out of Murder, Inc. . . . and how she
went in search of a subject’s grave (Frank Lloyd Wright’s)
only to find that his body had been dug up to satisfy the
whim of his last wife. A fascinating account of a life spent in sometimes arduous,
sometimes comical, always exciting pursuit of the truth
about other lives.
Comments
No comments posted.
Registered users may leave comments.
Log in or register now!
| 
© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy