A Strange Eventful History: The Dramatic Lives of Ellen Terry, Henry Irving and their Remarkable Families - Rilegato

Holroyd, Michael

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0701179872 ISBN 13: 9780701179878

Casa editrice: Chatto & Windus, 2008

Riassunto

Ellen Terry was a natural actress who filled the theatre with a magical radiance. The Times called her the 'uncrowned queen of England' but behind her public success lay a darker story. The child-bride of G. F. Watts, she eloped with a friend of Oscar Wilde at 21 and gave birth to 2 illegitimate children. But her greatest partnership was on-stage, with legendary actor-manager and tragedian Henry Irving. At the Lyceum Theatre in London, the two of them created a grand Cathedral of the Arts.

Their intimately-involved lives exceeded in plot the Shakespearean dramas they performed on stage - and indeed were curiously affected by them. They also influenced the life and work of their remarkable children, Ellen's children in particular. Edy Craig, who founded a feminist theatre group, The Pioneer Players, established a lesbian community whose complex love-affairs make those of the Bloomsbury Group appear quite conventional. Her brother, Edward Gordon Craig, the revolutionary stage designer who collaborated with Stanislavski on a spectacular production of Hamlet in Moscow, is revealed by this book to be the forgotten man of modernism. He had 13 children by 8 women (including the famous American dancer Isadora Duncan) - perhaps the most extraordinary man Michael Holroyd has ever written about.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

“Over thirty years [Holdroyd’s] books have revolutionized the intellectual standing of [biography], and popularized it through narrative flair, witty and immaculate scholarship.”
— Richard Holmes, Daily Telegraph

“Holroyd has a wonderful eye for detail . . . an entirely captivating biography . . . one of the glories of the form.”
— Guardian

“This is a fabulous cavalcade of a book, written with infectious verve and deep imaginative sympathy . . . a joy to read.”
— Sunday Times

“Magnificent, not just as a fascinating exercise in group biography, but as a masterpiece of comic writing . . . such joie de vivre.”
— New Statesman

Descrizione del libro:

A major literary event from 'one of the greatest biographers of our age': Michael Holroyd's stunning biography is an epic yet intimate portrait of two theatrical dynasties that moves from the Victorian stage to the modern age

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Chatto & Windus
• Data di pubblicazione: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0701179872
• ISBN 13: 9780701179878
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero edizione: 1
• Numero di pagine: 640