The story of Marie Duplessis, the woman who inspired Verdi's La traviata. A rags-to-riches fairytale, from rural poverty to Parisian stardom, which ended in tragedy but gave rise to some of the most heart-wrenching and lyrical music ever composed.
The tale of Heathcliff's and Cathy's ungovernable love and suffering, and the havoc that their passion wreaks on the families of the Earnshaws and the Lintons, shocked the book's first readers, with even Emily's sister Charlotte claiming Whether it is right or advisable to create beings like Heathcliff, I do not know. I scarcely think it is.Wuthering Heights is Emily Bront's only novel. It was first published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, and a posthumous second edition was edited by her sister Charlotte. The name of the novel comes from the Yorkshire manor on the moors on which the story centers. The narrative tells the tale of the all-encompassing and passionate, yet thwarted, love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, and how this unresolved passion eventually destroys both thems and many around them. Now considered a classic of English literature, the novel's innovative structure, which has been likened to a series of Matryoshka dolls, met with mixed reviews by critics when it first appeared.
This riveting biography brilliantly explores the short, intense, and passionate life of the country girl from Normandy, who at thirteen fled her brute of a father to go to Paris. Almost overnight she became one of the most admired courtesans of the 1840s—the inspiration for Alexandre Dumas fils’ The Lady of the Camellias and Verdi’s La Traviata. With her aristocratic ways, elegant clothes and signature camellias, Marie was always a subject of fascination at the opera and the boulevard cafés. Her death at twenty-three from tuberculosis created such an outpouring of sympathy in the press that Charles Dickens, who was in Paris at the time, was amazed. “Everything is erased in the face of an incident which is far more important,” he wrote, “the romantic death of one of the glories of the demi-monde, the beautiful, the famous Marie Duplessis.”
When you want to read in both French and English, though, there's a great option: bilingual books!Reading bilingual books and inferring the vocabulary and grammar is a far superior method of language learning than traditional memorization. It is also much less painful.La Dame aux Camélias (literally The Lady with the Camellias, commonly known in English as Camille) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils, first published in 1848, and subsequently adapted by Dumas for the stage. La Dame aux Camélias premiered at the Théâtre du Vaudeville in Paris, France on February 2, 1852. The play was an instant success, and Giuseppe Verdi immediately set about putting the story to music. His work became the 1853 opera La Traviata, with the female protagonist, Marguerite Gautier, renamed Violetta Valéry.In the English-speaking world, La Dame aux Camélias became known as Camille and 16 versions have been performed at Broadway theatres alone. The title character is Marguerite Gautier, who is based on Marie Duplessis, the real-life lover of author Dumas, fils.Alexandre Dumas (24 July 1802 - 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (French for 'father'), was a French writer. His works have been translated into many languages, and he is one of the most widely read French authors.
Looking for an engaging and emotionally resonant read from a novelist who was inspired by the works of both Charles Dickens and Charlotte Bronte? Elizabeth Gaskell's 1850 short novel The Moorland Cottage offers up a unflinching slice of nineteenth-century family life, with a particular focus on family dynamics in an era where sons were openly favored.
How did Paris and its musical landscape influence Verdi's La traviata? In this book, Emilio Sala re-examines La traviata in the cultural context of the French capital in the mid-nineteenth century. Verdi arrived in Paris in 1847 and stayed for almost two years: there, he began his relationship with Giuseppina Strepponi and assiduously attended performances at the popular theatres, whose plays made frequent use of incidental music to intensify emotion and render certain dramatic moments memorable to the audience. It is in one of these popular theatres that Verdi probably witnessed one of the first performances of Dumas fils' La Dame aux camélias, which became hugely successful in 1852. Making use of primary source material, including unpublished musical works, journal articles and rare documents and images, Sala's close examination of the incidental music of La Dame aux camélias - and its musical context - offers an invaluable interpretation of La traviata's modernity.
Unraveling myth from reality, this intriguing study goes inside the boudoir to reveal the real-life world of the legendary French courtesans of the nineteenth century, describing the reputations and influence of Marie Duplessis, Cora Pearl, La Pava, and Apollonie Sabatier, La Prsidente. Reprint.
Madame Bovary is the French writer Gustave Flaubert's debut novel. The story focuses on a doctor's wife, Emma Bovary, who has adulterous affairs and lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life. Though the basic plot is rather simple, even archetypal, the novel's true art lies in its details and hidden patterns. Flaubert was a notorious perfectionist and claimed always to be searching for le mot juste ("the precise word"). Long established as one of the greatest novels ever written, the book has often been described as a "perfect" work of fiction. Henry James writes: "Madame Bovary has a perfection that not only stamps it, but that makes it stand almost alone; it holds itself with such a supreme unapproachable assurance as both excites and defies judgment." Giorgio de Chirico said that in his opinion "from the narrative point of view, the most perfect book is Madame Bovary by Flaubert".
A country torn apart by war. A woman fighting for her future... Ely, 1643. England is convulsed by Civil War, setting King against Parliament and neighbour against neighbour. As the turmoil reaches her family home in Ely, 19-year-old Bridget Cromwell finds herself at the heart of the conflict. With her father's star on the rise as a cavalry commander for the rebellious Parliament, Bridget has her own ambitions for a life beyond marriage and motherhood. And as fractures appear in her own family with the wilful, beautiful younger sister Betty, Bridget faces a choice: to follow her heart, or to marry for power and influence, and fight for a revolution that will change history... A gripping evocation of the Civil War, and the hidden stories of women at the heart of power... Perfect for fans of Philippa Gregory and Anne O'Brien *** Praise for The Puritan Princess 'There is much to enjoy in this evocation of a family whose lives are so upended by the convulsions of history' Antonia Senior, The Times 'Totally gripping... grab it now. There's a new Cromwell on the shelves!' Minoo Dinshaw, author of Outlandish Knight 'The Puritan Princess is a genuinely moving portrait of the tragedy of the Cromwells at the height of their power, and Miranda Malins handles the tumultuous drama of the last days of the Protectorate with incredible aplomb' S G MacLean, author of the Damian Seeker series 'A beautifully written and captivating true story of personal love and loss enacted against the backdrop of an England dominated by Frances' father, Oliver Cromwell. Deeply knowledgeable about the politics and desires and ideals of the time, Malins nevertheless inhabits her characters and brings them convincingly to life' James Evans, author of EMIGRANTS 'The extraordinary, revealing and moving relationship between Oliver Cromwell and his daughter Frances is brought to vivid life in this masterly historical novel' Paul Lay, author of Providence Lost 'Miranda Malins is a real and fresh new talent. This is beautifully written, exciting fiction from a writer in full command of the history' Suzannah Lipscomb 'This engaging novel brings one of the most momentous but least well known periods of English history vividly to life.' Carolyn Kirby, author of THE CONVICTION OF CORA BURNS