Nicholas Delbanco's Blog, page 3
November 14, 2013
Nicola’s Books: 11-20-2013: An Evening with Nicholas Delbanco
Delbanco will be appearing at Nicola’s Books in Ann Arbor on Wednesday, November 20, 2013. Join us for a discussion regarding the release of his latest non-fiction book, The Art of Youth. This event is free and open to the public.
For more information, please visit the website for Nicola’s Books.
Location:
Nicola’s Books
Westgate Shopping Center
2513 Jackson Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48103 [Directions]
734.662.0600
nicolasbooks@tds.net
January 15, 2012
Nicola’s Books: 2-15-2012: An Evening with Nicholas Delbanco
February 15, 2012
7 pm
Delbanco will be appearing at Nicola’s Books in Ann Arbor this February 15, 2012. Join us for a discussion regarding the paper back release of his latest non-fiction book, Lastingness and for the release of the Sherbrookes trilogy, now collected into one volume.
For more information, please visit the website for Nicola’s Books.
Free and open to the public.
Location:
Nicola’s Books – Westgate Shopping Center
2513 Jackson Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48103
734.662.0600
Email – nicolasbooks@tds.net
website – www.nicolasbooks.com
Nicola's Books: 2-15-2012: An Evening with Nicholas Delbanco
February 15, 2012
7 pm
Delbanco will be appearing at Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor this February 15, 2012. Join us for a discussion regarding the paper back release of his latest non-fiction book, Lastingness and for the release of the Sherbrookes trilogy, now collected into one volume.
For more information, please visit the website for Nicola's Books.
Free and open to the public.
Location:
Nicola's Books – Westgate Shopping Center
2513 Jackson Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48103
734.662.0600
Email – nicolasbooks@tds.net
website – www.nicolasbooks.com
Weekend Sunday Morning Edition 1-15-2012 (NPR): Daughter Auctions Stradivari Cello To Hear It Again
Elena and Nicholas Delbanco spoke on NPR's Weekend Edition on the upcoming auction of their family's famed Stradivarius cello known as the Countess of Stainlein.
Listen to the interview on NPR »
See Also:
"Selling a 300-Year-Old Cello" on the The New York Times website »
January 13, 2012
The New York Times: Selling a 300-Year-Old Cello
Delbanco was featured prominently in a recent article in The New York Times:
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
Published: January 13, 2012
On a cold day last winter, an ailing Bernard Greenhouse, wearing an elegant bathrobe and attached to oxygen, was wheeled into the living room of his Cape Cod home, which was festooned with paper cutouts of musical notes. Relatives and students, locals and caregivers had gathered to celebrate the 95th birthday of one of classical music's most respected cellists, a founding member of the famed Beaux Arts Trio and a beloved teacher. Young cellists performed for him, and then Greenhouse indulged in a martini and a plate of oysters. Thus fortified, he decided he wanted to play for the company. He picked up his cello and, though a bit wobbly, soulfully rendered "Song of the Birds," a Catalan folk melody transcribed by Pablo Casals, with whom he studied many years ago.
"And then he laid down the bow and praised the cello for its beauty," Nicholas Delbanco, Greenhouse's son-in-law, recounted. "He said it had been his lifelong companion and the darling of his heart." Indeed, the instrument, known as the Countess of Stainlein, ex-Paganini of 1707 — perhaps the greatest surviving Stradivarius cello — had been with Greenhouse for 54 years. It was his voice on numerous recordings and a presence at up to 200 concerts a year. Toward the end of his life, Greenhouse asked his nurses to lay the instrument next to him in bed.
But in a twist of exquisite poignancy, Greenhouse was not actually playing his precious cello that day on Cape Cod. It was an exact replica that was made especially for him, a beautiful instrument but not the Strad. As they listened to him talk of his love for the cello, his daughter Elena Delbanco and her husband grieved that he could not tell he was playing the substitute. "We knew that this was the beginning of the end," Nicholas Delbanco said. Five months later, Greenhouse died.
Despite saying that he wanted to sell his cello while he was still alive so that a worthy young musician might benefit from it, Greenhouse was unable to part with it. Now his family has entrusted the sale of the Countess of Stainlein to the Boston violin dealer Christopher Reuning, who this week will open sealed bids starting in the millions of dollars.
Read the full piece:
"Selling a 300-Year-Old Cello" on the The New York Times website »
October 14, 2011
Detroit Book and Author Society’s 79th Annual Luncheon, Reading 10-17
Delbanco will give a reading as part of the the Metro Detroit Book and Author Society‘s 79th Annual Luncheon on Monday, October 17 at Burton Manor in Livonia.
79th Luncheon
October 17th, 2011
Burton Manor Banquet and Conference Center
27777 Schoolcraft Road, Livonia MI 48150
[ Detailed Directions ] - (734) 427-9110
From Points East: I-96 West to Inkster exit. Follow service drive west past Inkster Road (Schoolcraft) to Cardwell, turn left. The parking lot is straight ahead across the bridge.
From Points West: I-96 East to Middlebelt exit. Follow the service drive (Schoolcraft) east. Burton Manor will be on the right, just east of Middlebelt Road.
Schedule
11:00 am – Book Sale Room Opens
12:00 pm – Lunch is Served
1:00 pm – Authors Begin to Speak
Authors will be available to sign purchased books after luncheon.
Book sales support grants. Please purchase your books at the luncheon!
**Program and speakers are subject to change.
For full schedule and list of authors, please see Metro Detroit Book and Author Society‘s website.
Detroit Book and Author Society's 79th Annual Luncheon, Reading 10-17
Delbanco will give a reading as part of the the Metro Detroit Book and Author Society's 79th Annual Luncheon on Monday, October 17 at Burton Manor in Livonia.
79th Luncheon
October 17th, 2011
Burton Manor Banquet and Conference Center
27777 Schoolcraft Road, Livonia MI 48150
[ Detailed Directions ] - (734) 427-9110
From Points East: I-96 West to Inkster exit. Follow service drive west past Inkster Road (Schoolcraft) to Cardwell, turn left. The parking lot is straight ahead across the bridge.
From Points West: I-96 East to Middlebelt exit. Follow the service drive (Schoolcraft) east. Burton Manor will be on the right, just east of Middlebelt Road.
Schedule
11:00 am – Book Sale Room Opens
12:00 pm – Lunch is Served
1:00 pm – Authors Begin to Speak
Authors will be available to sign purchased books after luncheon.
Book sales support grants. Please purchase your books at the luncheon!
**Program and speakers are subject to change.
For full schedule and list of authors, please see Metro Detroit Book and Author Society's website.
October 12, 2011
Brattleboro Literary Festival, Reading October 15
Delbanco will be reading at the Brattleboro Literary Festival this coming Saturday (October 15th) at 3PM. The Festival is a three-day celebration of those who read books, those who write books, and of the books themselves. Located in downtown Brattleboro, Vermont, the Festival includes readings, panel discussions, and special events, featuring emerging and established authors.
For more information on the festival, please visit the Brattleboro Literary Festival website.
September 8, 2011
LA Times: The Writer’s Craft, a Q & A with Nicholas Delbanco
There were complaints when the aging William Butler Yeats took poems from his youth and revised them. The complaints were so strenuous that Yeats even wrote a response, in verse:
The friends that have it I do wrong
Whenever I remake a song,
Should know what issue is at stake:
It is myself that I remake .
Yeats isn’t the only writer who’s ever taken early work and changed it. More recently, Peter Matthiessen returned to his Watson trilogy published in the 1990s and republished it in 2008 as a single narrative, “Shadow Country.” (Originally, he said, the story was supposed to be a single manuscript, but his publishers had urged him to break it into three.)
The same is true of Nicholas Delbanco, who published a highly acclaimed trilogy of novels in 1977, ’78 and ’80 centering on the life — saga, really — of a New England clan whose conflicts and celebrations unfold in the shadows of the family manse on its Vermont estate. Dalkey Archive Press last week released a revised edition of the trilogy, brought together between the soft covers of a single book, titled “Sherbrookes.” Don’t misunderstand, however: This book is not simply the three original novels — “Possession,” “Sherbrookes,” “Stillness” — bound together. It isn’t a complete revision of the original story, either. Instead, what Delbanco has done is trim the narrative excesses of his younger self and rediscover thematic echoes that occur when three books fit together snugly into one. In a recent interview, he explained the challenges of revising one’s early work.
Read the full interview:
“The Writer’s Craft: Nicholas Delbanco” on the Los Angeles Times website »
More on the trilogy:
LA Times: The Writer's Craft, a Q & A with Nicholas Delbanco
There were complaints when the aging William Butler Yeats took poems from his youth and revised them. The complaints were so strenuous that Yeats even wrote a response, in verse:
The friends that have it I do wrong
Whenever I remake a song,
Should know what issue is at stake:
It is myself that I remake .
Yeats isn't the only writer who's ever taken early work and changed it. More recently, Peter Matthiessen returned to his Watson trilogy published in the 1990s and republished it in 2008 as a single narrative, "Shadow Country." (Originally, he said, the story was supposed to be a single manuscript, but his publishers had urged him to break it into three.)
The same is true of Nicholas Delbanco, who published a highly acclaimed trilogy of novels in 1977, '78 and '80 centering on the life — saga, really — of a New England clan whose conflicts and celebrations unfold in the shadows of the family manse on its Vermont estate. Dalkey Archive Press last week released a revised edition of the trilogy, brought together between the soft covers of a single book, titled "Sherbrookes." Don't misunderstand, however: This book is not simply the three original novels — "Possession," "Sherbrookes," "Stillness" — bound together. It isn't a complete revision of the original story, either. Instead, what Delbanco has done is trim the narrative excesses of his younger self and rediscover thematic echoes that occur when three books fit together snugly into one. In a recent interview, he explained the challenges of revising one's early work.
Read the full interview:
"The Writer's Craft: Nicholas Delbanco" on the Los Angeles Times website »
More on the trilogy:
Nicholas Delbanco's Blog
- Nicholas Delbanco's profile
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