Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
162nd out of 305 books
—
489 voters
Arrogance
by
Joanna Scott
In Joanna Scott's breakthrough novel the Austrian artist Egon Schiele comes to prismatic life in a narrative that defies convention, history, and identity. A self-professed genius and student of August Klimt, Scott's Schiele repeatedly challenges the boundaries of early twentieth-century Europe. Thrown in jail on charges of immorality, Schiele's Mephistophelean reputation...more
Paperback, 288 pages
Published
June 1st 2004
by Picador
(first published 1990)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
184)
This is a remarkable book, one of the best biographical novels ever written. It would be worth reading Arrogance alongside Bruce Duffy's The World as I Found It. Both writers brilliantly incorporate Otto Weininger into their narratives in order to define the kind of thinking that led to the demonization and violation of women and Jews in the early twentieth century. As for Scott's portrayal of Egon Schiele, it is profoundly satisfying. No hagiography in this novel. He was a great artist, who was...more
The last chapter was so perfect, so beautiful, so moving. You get into the heads of Vallie(the mistress), Gerti (the youngest sister) and Egon himself - the artist. You understand who he was and why he was the way he was. I would like to tell you more, but I do not want to wreck it for you. Another 5 star book. If you are moved by art - then read this book! I was going to read Girl with a Pearl Earring after this, but to do that would be unfair. I would compare the two, and I believe I would unf...more
1 like · like · see review
view all 12 comments
This was the first novel I've read by Joanna Scott, not to be confused with the other two Joanna Scotts. I think I first heard of Scott when I was reading an interview with an author that I liked (can't remember who...Wallace? DeLillo?) and they mentioned her name as a contemporary author they admired, so I went and looked her up. To give brief synopsis, it is a novel based on the life of Expressionist Austrian painter Egon Schiele, whose art was 'controversial' and often deemed 'pornographic'....more
Growing on me. Read at first by sheer will-power, but finally to a point where I am past repulsion at Schiele and open to how it's moving. Hardest thing is that I cannot binge-read, I have to take it in small doses, because it is overwhelming.
An interesting insight into the life of painter Egon Schiele, mostly from the perspective of various women in his life. Fiction. It was a bit difficult to track the story lines, and I didn't feel that I learned as much about his personality and art as I had hoped. Writing is spotty.
The artist who 'crucified himself for his art', a crosscutting of narratives and voices that reveal an inevitability about the suffering of tortured genius. Well written and intensely engaging, deeply sad and shabby yet with the fierce uplift of arrogance.
Reminded me of how I felt reading Manikin the first time. It's fantastic and whatever I say about it won't do it justice. I swear, everything this woman writes is gold.
Mar 30, 2011
Miryam
added it
not the best book of all time. affirms: pictures are better than words.
Jun 12, 2013
Saquib Mehmood
marked it as to-read
Jun 11, 2013
Marianne
marked it as to-read
Jun 09, 2013
Nick
marked it as to-read
May 31, 2013
Clairedaigle
marked it as to-read
May 21, 2013
Caddy Rowland
marked it as to-read
May 18, 2013
Leslie kuris
marked it as to-read
May 12, 2013
Caleigh
marked it as to-read
May 12, 2013
Erica Santos
marked it as to-read
May 06, 2013
David
marked it as to-read
Apr 29, 2013
Danielle
marked it as to-read
Apr 10, 2013
Robthebook
marked it as to-read
Apr 06, 2013
Nicole
marked it as to-read
Apr 05, 2013
Eleanor
marked it as to-read
Apr 05, 2013
Muzzy
marked it as to-read
Feb 28, 2013
Pam
marked it as to-read
Feb 08, 2013
Romaine
marked it as to-read
Jan 20, 2013
Nancy Madacsi
marked it as to-read
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
from the backcover:
Jenna Scott is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Rochester. She has also taught in the creative writing programs at Princeton University and the University of Maryland. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship during the writing of Arrogance.
More about Joanna Scott...
Jenna Scott is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Rochester. She has also taught in the creative writing programs at Princeton University and the University of Maryland. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship during the writing of Arrogance.
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
