A new biography; the first in two decades; of the legendary actress who inspired Anton Chekhov; popularized Henrik Ibsen; and spurred Stanislavski to create a new theory of acting based on her art and to invoke her name at every rehearsal.Writers loved her and wrote plays for her. She be-friended Rainer Maria Rilke and inspired the young James Joyce; who kept a portrait of her on his desk. Her greatest love; the poet drsquo;Annunzio; made her the heroine of his novel Il fuoco (The Flame). She radically changed the art of acting: in a duel between the past and the future; she vanquished her rival; Sarah Bernhardt. Chekhov said of her; ldquo;Irsquo;ve never seen anything like it. Looking at Duse; I realized why the Russian theatre is such a bore.rdquo; Charlie Chaplin called her ldquo;the finest thing I have seen on the stage.rdquo; Gloria Swanson and Lillian Gish watched her perform with adoring attention; John Barrymore with awe. Shaw said she ldquo;touches you straight on the very heart.rdquo;When asked about her acting; Duse responded that; quite simply; it came from life. Except for one short film; Dusersquo;s art has been lost. Despite dozens of books about her; her story is muffled by legend and myth. The sentimental image that prevails is of a misty; tragic heroine victimized by men; by life; an artist of unearthly purity; without ambition. Now Helen Sheehy; author of the much admired biography of Eva Le Gallienne; gives us a different Dusemdash;a woman of strength and resolve; a woman who knew pain but could also inflict it. ldquo;Life is hard;rdquo; she said; ldquo;one must wound or be wounded.rdquo; She wanted to reveal on the stage the truth about womenrsquo;s lives and she wanted her art to endure. Drawing on newly discovered material; including Dusersquo;s own memoir; and unpublished letters and notes; Sheehy brings us to an understanding of the great actressrsquo;s unique ways of working: Duse acting out of her sense of her characterrsquo;s inner life; Duse anticipating the bold aspects of modernism and performing with a sexual freedom that shocked and thrilled audiences. She edited her charactersrsquo; lines to bare skeletons; asked for the simplest sets and costumes. Where other actresses used hysterics onstage; Duse used stillness.Sheehy writes about the Duse that the actress herself tried to hidemdash;tracing her life from her childhood as a performing member of a family of actors touring their repertory of drama and commedia dellrsquo;arte through Italy. We follow her through her twenties and through the next four decades of commissioning and directing plays; running her own company; and illuminating a series of great roles that included Emile Zolarsquo;s Theacute;regrave;se Raquin; Marguerite in Dumasrsquo;s La Dame aux cameacute;lias; Nora in Ibsenrsquo;s A Dollrsquo;s House; and Hedda in his Hedda Gabler. When she thought her beauty was fading at fifty-one; she gave up the stage; only to return to the theatre in her early sixties; she traveled to America and enchanted audiences across the country. She died as she was bornmdash;on tour.Sheehyrsquo;s illuminating book brings us as close as we have ever been to the woman and the artist.From the Hardcover edition.
#2118276 in eBooks 2007-05-29 2007-05-29File Name: B001QWFYEI
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Great ReadBy Drew H.Great overview of local history. Very interesting to read.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. In depth look at AhwatukeeBy David L. GrottenthalerMore to Ahwatukee than I thought. Alot of historical pictures that clearly identify the people; farms; and land uses that once were here.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Perfect.By Barney WPerfect. Got here as promised and is in excellent condition. I read this book earlier and wanted a copy for myself; but did not want to pay an arm and a leg for such a small book.
