In this captivating book, Sherill Tippins brings to life the story of what was possibly the most fertile and improbable live-in salon of the twenti...
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Dec 14, 2010
King Dinösaur
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Imagine living in the same house with poet W.A. Auden, writer Carson McCullers, editor George Davis and various other artists/writers/musicians such as Paul and Jane Bowles, Benjamin Britten, Paul Pears, Salvador Dali and the one and only stripper/writer Gypsy Rose Lee!
Well, it happened in one house on 7 Middaugh Street in Brooklyn, NY in a scant two-year period (1940-41) just before America entered the war. A period of extremes, creatively, intellectually, sexually and otherwise, More...
Well, it happened in one house on 7 Middaugh Street in Brooklyn, NY in a scant two-year period (1940-41) just before America entered the war. A period of extremes, creatively, intellectually, sexually and otherwise, More...
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Feb 28, 2009
During: Miss Tippins is not up to the task she has set herself. Primarily, I think, because she still seems to be laboring under the idiot, teenage delusion that "bohemianism," as defined by alcoholism and self-centeredness, is at all interesting, which it is NOT. Decidedly. The material is just so scrumptious, though, so I keep ticking away at this godawful bastard. A house devoted to art! In theory, at least. Fucking NICE. Let's do that! You an' me.
After: Maybe I More...
After: Maybe I More...
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Jan 29, 2012
Rachelle
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This book has served to inspire several people I know to change their lives. It has inspired me to quit my job (goal not yet accomplished), JC to throw a dinner party, and Steev to wear violet gloves. Who knows what it will do for you?
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Dec 04, 2010
Bob
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A fascinating look at a group of very creative people who lived together in some harmony and much discord between 1939-1941 -- very well written.
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Sep 10, 2010
Eduardo
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Having studied Auden in grad school I am always interested in his life so when a friend mentioned this book I picked it up at the San Francisco Public Library, it was amusing and inspiring, Auden living in Brooklyn with Gypsy Rose Lane, Benjamin Britten( the composer), Carson McCullers, George Davis and others as well as their artistic dinner guests such as Louis McNeice, Dali, & many many more. It was a snapshot of an experiment in artistic communal living as well as a snapshot of an America th
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Nov 13, 2010
February House: The Story of W. H. Auden, Carson McCullers, Jane and Paul Bowles, Benjamin Britten, and Gypsy Rose Lee, Under One Roof in Brooklyn
In 1940, George Davis, an editor recently fired from Harper's Bazaar, rented a dilapidated house in Brooklyn Heights in which he installed brilliant, volatile artists, who spent the next year working, fighting, and drinking. Carson McCullers sipped sherry while, down the hall, the burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee typed her mystery novel with thr More...
In 1940, George Davis, an editor recently fired from Harper's Bazaar, rented a dilapidated house in Brooklyn Heights in which he installed brilliant, volatile artists, who spent the next year working, fighting, and drinking. Carson McCullers sipped sherry while, down the hall, the burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee typed her mystery novel with thr More...
Jan 09, 2012
John
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So a poet and his selfish boyfriend and a composer and a tenor (the composer's unselfish boyfriend) and an up-from-the-South young woman novelist and a famous burlesque performer rent a house together, see, and then a married couple who are both writers and he's a composer and they're both actually gay move in... if you made up this collection of characters you'd be accused of over-writing, but there they were, for a while: W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, Carso
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Oct 07, 2009
Nikki
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For most of my life, my favorite period of history has been the 35 or 40 years just prior to my own arrival. Whether tales of the Algonquin Round Table, Barbara Tuchman's The Proud Tower and The Guns of August, Schlesinger's history of FDR's presidency, or fiction set in the period, I'm always drawn to it. So when http://www.todayinliterature.com recently mentioned February House, I was pleased to find it at my local library. I had a hard time putting it down.
The book is the true st More...
The book is the true st More...
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Feb 05, 2009
The disparate personalities of February House, so called because many of the residents had birthdays in that month, makes for fascinating reading. By weaving together thorough biographies of 7 Middagh Street's artists-in-residence with interviews from surviving contemporaries, Tippins vividly reconstructs a crazy, chaotic, feverish year. At times her attempts to underpin the historical happenings of the day to her subjects' frames of mind seems forced; at other points, critics questioned whether
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Dec 12, 2009
Elizabeth
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Why is it that these interesting nonfiction books are so often written in dull prose? Tippins tends to be redundant. She has an annoying habit of referring to some of the subjects of the book by their first names (George, Carson) and others by their last (Auden, Britten). Do British people somehow merit greater respect?
Even so, I was very interested in this book as a social/artistic experiment: several artists (writers and composers, primarily, though if you count burlesque as an art, t More...
Even so, I was very interested in this book as a social/artistic experiment: several artists (writers and composers, primarily, though if you count burlesque as an art, t More...
Dec 05, 2009
Ivan
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7 Middagh Street literally doesn't exist any longer. It was torn down to make way for an Expressway. During the last decade of his life the poet Frank O'Hara lived in four different apartments in Manhattan and at least one of them has a commemorative plague. If 7 Middagh Street were still standing the entire building would have to be bronzed. George Davis, the fiction editior for "Harper's Bizaar," rented and renovated the house with the assistance of friends W. H. Auden and Carson McC
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Dec 17, 2009
summer61
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Pretty amazing story, of some very strong and interesting personalities all brought together in a maelstrom of art, war, politics, culture, love, religion and intellect. A plodding narrative, but the material is so rich that it hardly matters.
Jun 02, 2011
Karen
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This book is a must for literary and history buffs alike. A fascinating picture of young, creative artists in Brooklyn at the advent of World War II, this book details their experiment in nurturing themselves as well as their refugee contemporaries. The works that came out of this comraderie became classics, as fresh now as ever. Equally interesting, are the parallels that can drawn between those times and these, and how these young artists struggled to determine who they were and what they c
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Dec 05, 2011
Kayla
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This book is why I love used book stores....you meander through and inevitably find a book that leads you to something else. This book is about a group of artists (WH Auden, Carson McCullers and Gypsy Lee Rose to name a few) who lived together in Brooklyn before WWII. It seemed to be a bold experiement that moved many of them forward artistically. It was also a fascinating social and metaphysical experiment and worth reading about. Now, I want to find a copy of the G String Murders, written
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Jan 22, 2008
Elise
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In my poetry class in college, somebody mentioned this book, and I remember thinking, golly, if only I could remember what book they were talking about so that I could read it, la la la, I'll never find it again. Lo and behold, five minutes on amazon and I've located the book, and then I checked it out from the library. It's almost too easy, no?
I've been frequenting biographies lately, not heavy ones like of LBJ or something, but lighter ones, of Bobby Darrin and people like that - this More...
I've been frequenting biographies lately, not heavy ones like of LBJ or something, but lighter ones, of Bobby Darrin and people like that - this More...
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Nov 04, 2011
Really interesting, with little mini bios of all the people, and great images like Carson and Gypsy running through the streets of Brooklyn chasing a fire engine in the middle of the night, holding hands. As they're running, Carson gets the image that helps her pull The Member of the Wedding together.
Also a lot of stuff about expat Brits trying to figure out what, as artists, they should do about the war, and attitudes about them in the UK.
I've read a biography of McCullers, and Gypsy' More...
Also a lot of stuff about expat Brits trying to figure out what, as artists, they should do about the war, and attitudes about them in the UK.
I've read a biography of McCullers, and Gypsy' More...
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Nov 06, 2010
Highly recommend this one! Unbelievable true tale of an unlikely group of housemates. Great to read of such sterling personages when they were young, poor and crazy.
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Feb 17, 2010
Gail
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Auden is definitely the hero of this book. We spend a lot of time watching him write, listening to his ideas, seeing how he relates or doesn't to other members of the group.
This is an interesting and very detailed account of the lives of those in the title (and some others) over the course of two years. We get some limited information about what happens after they leave this exclusive and racy boarding house.
As is so often the case, this book proves that the private live More...
This is an interesting and very detailed account of the lives of those in the title (and some others) over the course of two years. We get some limited information about what happens after they leave this exclusive and racy boarding house.
As is so often the case, this book proves that the private live More...
Jul 23, 2009
Amy
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Fascinating sense of place of a literary community just before and during WWII. I loved this bok.
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Mar 18, 2011
Frances
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Essential reading for anyone interested in Brooklyn or Brooklyn Heights.
Nov 29, 2011
Great stories, sometimes ineptly written. Worth a read if you are as obsessed as I am with how everybody who was famous in the 20th century seemed to know one another somehow.
Jul 24, 2009
Victoria
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I'm finding this slow going, though I like the topic and I live in the same neighborhood as the house she describes. February House was a building in Brooklyn Heights where Carson McCullers, W.H. Auden et al tried an experiment in creative, communal living in 1941. I don't yet know how it turns out, but it's more academic than I expected. Still, worth finishing.
Sep 06, 2007
Jay
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Historical slice of interesting non fiction.
I loved hearing the portions of the book
where artists were wrestling and arguing over the issue
of the their role in society during war time.
A collective of artists living together side by side and trying
to stake out a place where creativity collides. I dug this book.
I like W.H. Auden and Carson McCullers though a lot.
I loved hearing the portions of the book
where artists were wrestling and arguing over the issue
of the their role in society during war time.
A collective of artists living together side by side and trying
to stake out a place where creativity collides. I dug this book.
I like W.H. Auden and Carson McCullers though a lot.
Apr 18, 2007
lauren
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i stole wishes from this book: i will live in a house, in brooklyn, with as many crazy creative people as possible, and we will create until the world explodes from our over-brilliance. and i will enjoy every second, for it's bound not to last for long. i also found new favourite authors (auden, mccullers) in it.
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Dec 28, 2010
Dee
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I'm liking this book more than most non-fictions I've read. I'm wondering how the author got all the intimate info. she shares in this story. Her style is also very informal and readable. It helps that I know and love all the authors about whom she is writing.
Oct 29, 2008
Alex
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Not amazing writing, but a really cool nonfiction account of a little-known house in Brooklyn and the famous people who lived and loved in it during the fateful summer of 1941. Makes me want to read more Auden.
Feb 19, 2008
Jim
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Excellent! I've compiled a reading list just from this book. My next library trip will bag me some McCullers, for certain, and the G-String Murders if I can find it.
