Biographies of LIST authors

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

What are some biographies of list authors that you have enjoyed? More importantly, perhaps, which biographies most helped you enjoy list books?

[Amerynth]

Juliet Barker's The Brontës is a great biography of the Bronte sisters. (It's huge and mostly interesting... there are a few spots where it drags a bit.) It mostly focuses on Charlotte since she lived the longest and had the most correspondence with others. I read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall afterwards, it definitely changed the way I read it since there seemed to be so many parallels with Anne's brother Branwell (which I wouldn't have known otherwise.)

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

The War by Marguerite Duras

My Review:

I'm feeling sort of odd about this. It was my introduction to Marguerite Duras and I think it ought not to have been. On the other hand, I read it because I wanted some foreknowledge and perspective and this surely gave it to me.

The first 50 pages or so are a diary of the end of the war in Paris and her not knowing whether her husband survived. Waiting. Waiting. I tried to remind myself it was a diary, yet written so powerfully I had tears running down my cheeks in the first 10 pages.

The next about 80 pages were some autobiographical short stories she had written about the same time. These told of incidents in connection with her activity with the resistance.

Lastly, there were a couple of very short stories written contemporaneously with her resistance activities, but not autobiographical. They must certainly have been incidents she'd seen and on which she elaborated.

Each of these sections were prefaced with a paragraph or two she penned at time of publication in 1985, explaining what we were about to read. Introducing the autobiographical shorts is:

Thérèse is me. The person who tortures the informer is me. So also is the one who feels like making love to Ter, the member of the Militia. Me. I give you the torturer along with the rest of the texts. Learn to read them properly: they are sacred.

Sacred. Perhaps these brief introductions gave me as much insight as the texts themselves.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Becoming Faulkner: The Art and Life of William Faulkner

My review:

Quite good. Could be 5 stars if you've read all of his early masterpieces. Four stars because there are more than the occasional spoilers. In fact, as I have not yet read Absalom, Absalom!, I found myself skipping a small (3 pages?) section that completely outlined and discussed the entire plot.

Weinstein does give us the high points of Faulkner's life. He was the oldest of 4 children, he dropped out of school when he was 15, he married his childhood sweetheart but not until 10 years after she'd married and divorced someone else. That sort of thing.

Weinstein also discusses the relationship between Faulkner the man and Faulkner the writer and the novels and short stories. This is exactly why I wanted to read the biography and I got it. I lack formal schooling beyond high school (except for some business courses) and this is what I need to help fill in the gaps in my education.

I was already looking forward to reading more Faulkner and this is definitely a help for my quest.

[Karina]

I just picked up Out of Isak Dinesen in Africa: Karen Blixen's Untold Story by Linda Donelson. I finished Out of Africa not too long ago so I am interested to get deeper into the story than the memoirs.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Proust in Love by William C. Carter

I read this as one of some preliminary reads in preparation for a year-long group read of In Search of Lost Time. Carter has a longer biography, Marcel Proust: A Life, with a New Preface by the Author, which I chose not to find time to read before January.

For me, it was absolutely perfect preparation. There are extensive quotes of both Proust and those who have written about Proust. The quotes of Proust include his letters as well as the novel. At first I was hesitant about the novel's quotes because, of course, discussion of them become spoilers.

In this case, I don't think it will matter much. With such a long novel involving so many characters, and that I won't even start reading it for another 6 weeks, it's unlikely I'll remember any specifics anyway. But I also chose to be thankful for them because Proust in Love has helped enormously toward my appreciation of a 4200+ page novel.

Carter ends with a discussion of why In Search of Lost Time continues to find followers even 100 years after Swann's Way first found print. It leaves the reader feeling joy about life. I can't wait!

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Memoirs of an Egotist by Stendhal (my rating 4 stars)

This little book ended much better than it began. That may be only because as I got to know the man better the more I wanted to know. And, unfortunately, this is an unfinished memoir. Stendhal intended to give an account of his life in Paris between 1821 and 1831. There were a few references to the later years, but most of the commentary focused on the very early years of 1821-1824.

This edition Memoirs of an Egotist has a very good introduction by the translator. I learned some background of Stendhal that was not revealed in the memoir. Stendhal's first cousin was Pierre Daru, one of Napoleon's most trusted administrator's and head of his War Department. Because of this relationship, in 1799, young 17-year old Stendhal was given a position in that department. He was acquainted with Bonaparte and much of French society.

Stendhal writes of that French society. By the time of the memoir the Bourbons were back in power, but somehow Stendhal manages not to be on the complete fringe looking in. However, he admits to hating Paris. Ah, but he loves women so, and much of this memoir is about his love life - or lack thereof.

I'm impetuous, passionate, unpredictable, excessively devoted in friendship and love until the first signs of coolness. Then, from the madness of a sixteen year old I move, in a twinkling, to the Machiavellianism of a man of fifty and, after a week, there's nothing left but melting ice, a perfect coolness. (This has just happened to me again the last few days 'with Lady' Angelica, May 1832).

I have yet to read my first Stendhal novel. Ellis says this memoir is written in a much freer style than his fiction. Stendhal has penciled a note in the margin of the original 'Made' fourteen pages on 2 July from five to seven. I couldn't have worked like this on an imaginative work like The Scarlet and the Black. Looking forward to that one!

[Judith]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Memoirs of an Egotist by Stendhal (my rating 4 stars)

This little book ended much better than it began. That may be only because as I got to know the man better the more I wanted to know. And, unf..."

Thanks for this summary! I know well enough that the pleasure of reading a novel is enhanced by knowing something of the author's life and views, but I too often fail to take the time to prepare for a new author! Kudos to you!

I recognize the same amorous attitudes Stendhal describes represented in one of the main characters in Charterhouse. You'll no doubt get a kick out of that when you get to your second novel (on the 1001 Lists) by the author.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

I've noticed some things in The Red and the Black, too. He professes to having a passion for Mozart and Shakespeare and he corresponded with Byron. Several chapters quote Byron's Don Juan, and there is already (before pg 100) a reference to Mozart.

[Tej]

Gabriel Garcia Marquez's memoir, Living to Tell It, was quite good. It's just the first half of his life, though. I'm hoping he lives long enough to write the second half! Although I read it long after having read One Hundred Years of Solitude, there were many memorable scenes from the novel that were also in the memoir, which really surprised me.

[Tej]

I enjoyed The Jameses by R. W. B. Lewis. It mostly focuses on William and Henry, but a good all-around family portrait.

[Tej]

The biography of Edith Wharton by Hermione Lee was very comprehensive.

[Ursula]

Tej wrote: "Gabriel Garcia Marquez's memoir, Living to Tell It, was quite good. It's just the first half of his life, though. I'm hoping he lives long enough to write the second half! Although I read it lon..."
Unfortunately, a few years ago Garcia Marquez's brother said he was suffering from dementia and would never write again.

[Tej]

Ursula wrote: "Tej wrote: "Gabriel Garcia Marquez's memoir, Living to Tell It, was quite good. It's just the first half of his life, though. I'm hoping he lives long enough to write the second half! Although I..."

Oh no! That's so sad. Thanks for the info.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Balzac by Stefan Zweig (my rating 4 stars). A biography of one list author by another.

My review:

I had several thoughts while reading this, especially at the beginning.

First, that it is such a pleasure when a book comes at just the right time in one's reading life. I would not have been able to appreciate this as much had I read it before reading any Balzac. Zweig often mentions Balzac's genius and I would not have been in a position to understand without having read him. I feel it is also good that I did not wait until the end of my Balzac journey. I now have some perspective on the 60 or so titles remaining to me.

Second, that I hate it when I am so wrong. I said something in writing my review of The Muse of the Department about "lesser works" so not to expect them to be so good. I am happy to say that Zweig whetted my appetite for several more titles, not a few of which are not "lesser works." Yes, there are some lesser works ahead of me. I now have some perspective on even these.

As to the added insight into Balzac's life, I found an immense contrast between his ability to see the reality of life as written in his novels, and his apparent absence of the same when it came to his own life. He worked 12-15 hours a day giving us these works of genius and earned enormous sums in their publication. But he spent more than he earned and was in perpetual debt. In spite of his confidence in his ability to write great novels, he lacked complete confidence in himself as a person and was continually trying to make people believe he was something he was not.

For me, this started a bit slowly, but I can say that about many books I read. I expected to appreciate Zweig's style, and I was not disappointed. Though Zweig includes summaries or descriptions of many titles, I never felt any of my yet unread of Balzac's works was spoiled by too much information. There is an appendix with a good timeline, which includes a brief statement of what was going on in Balzac's life and the works that were published.