false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174339826m/382948.jpg 382948 3 "Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe had been raised in silence and routine in a cool blue nursery at the beginning of a comfortable era in his family's fortunes." From that cool blue nursery, the young man who started out his life in quiet, rural anonymity ended it decades later in a highway accident just south of Santa Barbara, California. In between, F. W. Plumpe metamorphosed into F. W. Murnau, one of the greatest film directors in history. Perhaps the most famous of Murnau's movies was <I>Nosferatu</I>, a silent-film treatment of the Dracula story, made in 1921. Vampirism is a strangely apt metaphor for Murnau's life--it was not until his lover, Hans Ehrenbaum-Degele, died in the trenches of World War I that Murnau's artistic genius achieved its highest levels--and so <I>Nosferatu</I> is also the title of Jim Shepard's novel based on the filmmaker's life. <P> Shepard takes his readers on a journey through a tortured soul. We first meet the young, awkward Friedrich on his way to school in Berlin, where he meets Hans on a railway platform and falls in love. Through his association with Hans, Murnau has the chance to give free rein to his love of theater, and this early section of the novel is a veritable who's who of the German literary and artistic world in the early 1900s. Soon, however, personal betrayal and the Great War put an end to Murnau's idyll. Guilt-ridden over Hans's death, Murnau turns back to art after the war and begins work on his masterpiece, <I>Nosferatu</I>. The chapter devoted to the making of this film is perhaps the strongest part of the novel. From here until the novel's end, Shepard deftly limns the contours of artistic obsession and creation as Murnau continues to make films, first in Germany and then in Hollywood. If the book's latter chapters never again approach the peculiar passion of the first half, they are nevertheless a fascinating glimpse into the heart and mind of a troubled genius. 372718 1998 Nosferatu: A Novel total:23|5:4|4:9|3:4|2:5|1:1| 23 79 44 8 1 0 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 22 19:07:07 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 22 19:08:12 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Sun Aug 05 19:16:38 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 05 19:18:37 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Thu Oct 16 13:21:38 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 17 12:37:46 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 05 19:43:19 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 05 20:17:40 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Wed Feb 27 13:42:11 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 17 15:35:59 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 17 15:38:29 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Sun Nov 02 07:17:23 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 02 07:18:35 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Sun Aug 05 14:21:13 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 05 14:27:04 -0700 2007 0 0 false false Tue Sep 02 08:43:42 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 02 08:43:59 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Tue Nov 24 07:05:45 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 24 07:05:51 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Thu Nov 05 15:56:27 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 05 15:56:35 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Fri Oct 16 18:10:29 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 16 18:10:29 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun Sep 20 10:26:45 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 20 10:26:45 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Sep 16 16:15:12 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 16 16:15:12 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Aug 16 17:01:06 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 16 17:01:06 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat Jul 25 21:05:15 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 25 21:05:15 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Jul 21 13:04:26 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 21 13:04:26 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Jun 17 09:31:48 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 17 09:31:58 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Jun 11 13:39:42 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 11 13:39:42 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Jun 02 02:28:36 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 02 02:28:36 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat May 16 13:59:32 -0700 2009 Sat May 16 13:59:32 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=382948