Francine Prose Livres

An essay by Xavier F. Salomon, Frick Curator, paired with a contribution by author Francine Prose bring to life one of Titian's most personal and revealing portraits. Author of lives of saints, scurrilous verses, comedies, tragedies, and innumerable letters, Pietro Aretino (1492–1556) attained considerable wealth and influence, in part through literary flattery and blackmail. Little is known of his early years, but by 1527 he had settled permanently in Venice. Among Aretino’s friends and patrons were some of the most prominent figures of his time, several of whom gave him gold chains such as the one he wears in this portrait. He was on intimate terms with Titian, who painted at least three portraits of him. Here the artist conveys his friend’s intellectual power through the keen, forceful head and his worldliness through the solid, weighty mass of the richly robed figure.

Though the sense of realism in German photographer Loretta Lux's striking portraits of children remains eerily intact, Lux does not strive to create faithful photographic representations of her young subjects. Instead, each image--invariably comprised of a lone child in a sparse landscape--is painstakingly composed and manipulated to create psychically charged explorations of the nature of childhood and the process of self-discovery. Originally trained as a painter, Lux continues to draw influence from paintings by old masters such as Velasquez, Goya and Runge. This influence is especially apparent in Lux's compositions. After carefully choosing the models, costumes and backdrops--sometimes using her own paintings--she digitally combines and enhances each element to form meticulously structured tableaux. The consistently forlorn expressions of her models combined with the hyperreality of the image create portraits that transcend their subjects and remind us that childhood is as chaotic and multidimensional as any other part of life.

Photographs of breasts are everywhere: in museums, on book covers, in fashion ads, and on posters. Alluring symbols of womanhood, breasts have fascinated generations of image makers. Here, for the first time between two covers, is the breast in photography: the titillating breast, the maternal breast, the aging breast, and the symbolic breast.

In the classical world, the muses were the nine daughters of Zeus who inspired creative individuals to produce remarkable works. Francine Prose highlights the significance of real women who inspired greatness, presenting them as more than mere catalysts deserving recognition for their contributions. Each chapter serves as a mini-biography, exploring the lives of these women and their relationships with male artists. For instance, memoirist Hester Thrale's letters to Samuel Johnson influenced his later works, while Alice Liddell, the inspiration for Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, navigated her independence from the author. Yoko Ono emerges as a muse and artist in her own right, whose avant-garde tendencies were sometimes blamed for John Lennon’s musical decline. Prose includes both well-known figures like Suzanne Farrell, who collaborated with George Balanchine, and lesser-known women such as Lou Andreas-Salomé, who had ties to Nietzsche and Freud. The book delves into how these women motivated men of achievement, often at the cost of their own recognition, and examines the lasting consequences of their roles in the creative process.

A biography of one of twentieth century America's most influential patrons of the arts that covers her personal life, uncompromising spirit, and relationships with such modern masters as Jackson Pollock and Man Ray.

Set against the backdrop of the 1970s, this memoir explores the disillusionment of American youth as they confront the fading hopes of the previous decade. Through a blend of sharp intelligence and irony, Francine Prose recounts her emotional and artistic development, offering insights into the political climate of the time. The narrative balances rigor with unexpected poignancy, making it a compelling reflection on the challenges of growing up amid shifting societal ideals.

Long before there were creative-writing workshops and degrees, how did aspiring writers learn to write? By reading the work of their predecessors and contemporaries, says Francine Prose. In Reading Like a Writer , Prose invites you to sit by her side and take a guided tour of the tools and the tricks of the masters. She reads the work of the very best writers—Dostoyevsky, Flaubert, Kafka, Austen, Dickens, Woolf, Chekhov—and discovers why their work has endured. She takes pleasure in the long and magnificent sentences of Philip Roth and the breathtaking paragraphs of Isaac Babel; she is deeply moved by the brilliant characterization in George Eliot's Middlemarch . She looks to John Le Carré for a lesson in how to advance plot through dialogue, to Flannery O'Connor for the cunning use of the telling detail, and to James Joyce and Katherine Mansfield for clever examples of how to employ gesture to create character. She cautions readers to slow down and pay attention to words, the raw material out of which literature is crafted. Written with passion, humor, and wisdom, Reading Like a Writer will inspire readers to return to literature with a fresh eye and an eager heart.

“Matching gorgeous prose to gorgeous artworks, Prose responds to each image as a moment of theatrical revelation, sensual or spiritual, and frequently both.” —  Boston Sunday Globe In Caravaggio, New York Times bestselling author Francine Prose offers an enthralling account of the life and work of one of the greatest painters of all time. Caravaggio defied the aesthetic conventions of his time; his use of ordinary people, realistically portrayed—street boys, prostitutes, the poor, the aged—was a profound and revolutionary innovation that left its mark on generations of artists. His insistence on painting from nature, on rendering the emotional truth of experience, whether religious or secular, made him an artist who speaks across the centuries to modern day.Called “racy, intensely imagined, and highly readable” by the New York Times Book Review, Caravaggio includes eight pages of color illustrations, and is sure to appeal to art enthusiasts interested in one of history’s true innovators. Caravaggio is part of the “Eminent Lives” series from HarperCollins, a selection of biographies by distinguished authors on canonical figures.

In the title story, a professor introduces her middle-aged son to a favorite student, unaware of the student’s true affections. In “A Man Like Him,” a lifelong bachelor finds kinship with a man wrongly accused of an indiscretion. In “The Proprietress,” a reporter from Shanghai travels to a small town to write an article about the local prison, only to discover a far more intriguing story involving a shopkeeper who offers refuge to the wives and children of inmates. In “House Fire,” a young man who suspects his father of sleeping with the young man’s wife seeks the help of a detective agency run by a group of feisty old women.

Contains primary source material. A biography of one of twentieth century America's most influential patrons of the arts that covers her personal life, uncompromising spirit, and relationships with such modern masters as Jackson Pollock and Man Ray.

School has become a prison.No one knows why.There's no way to stop it.

It has been years since Swenson, a professor in a New England creative writing program, has published a novel. It's been even longer since any of his students have shown promise. Enter Angela Argo, a pierced, tattooed student with a rare talent for writing. Angela is just the thing Swenson needs. And, better yet, she wants his help. But, as we all know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. . . . Deliciously risqué, Blue Angel is a withering take on today's academic mores and a scathing tale that vividly shows what can happen when academic politics collides with political correctness.

A feminist reinterpretation of the myths surrounding Cleopatra casts new light on the Egyptian queen and her legacy

1953. Simon Putnam, newly hired by a distinguished New York publishing firm, gets his first assignment: editing The Vixen, the Patriot and the Fanatic, a lurid bodice-ripper improbably based on the recent trial and execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. It is a potboiler intended to shore up the firm's failing finances. Simon's mother was a childhood friend of Ethel Rosenberg's; his parents mourn Ethel's death. Simon meets The Vixen author, reckless, seductive Anya Partridge, ensconced in her opium-scented boudoir in a luxury Hudson River mental asylum. Simon comes to realize that everyone is not what they seem, that everyone is keeping secrets, and that ordinary events may conceal a diabolical plot. -- adapted from jacket

While working for an idealistic college professor, twenty-six-year old Lula, an Albanian trying to make a better life for herself in America, finds her life taking a complicated turn when her Albanian "brothers" return, in a novel set in the aftermath of 9/11

Sie liebten sich leidenschaftlich und reizten sich gegenseitig bis aufs Blut; Musen waren Quellen der Inspiration für ihre Künstler, häufig genug aber auch Anlass für deren Verzweiflung. 'Das Leben der Musen' ist ein Buch über das Geschlecht der Kunst, über die handfesten Gründe genialer Eingebungen und die häusliche Bedingung künstlerischen Erfolgs oder seiner Verhinderung. Die Musen und ihre Genies sind: Haster Thrale und Samuel Johnson, Alice Liddell und Lewis Carroll, Elizabeth Siddall und Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Lou Andreas-Salomé und Friedrich Nietzsche, Gala Eluard und Salvador Dalí, Lee Miller und Man Ray, Charis Weston und Edward Weston, Suzanne Farrell und George Balanchine, Yoko Ono und John Lennon.

Ein meisterhafter Roman über die Macht des Bösen und die unvorhersehbaren Konsequenzen der Liebe Sie war Wettkampfsportlerin und erfolgreiche Rennfahrerin. Später arbeitete sie in einem Pariser Transvestitenclub. Sie trug Männerkleidung und liebte Frauen. Sie verriet ihr Land an die Deutschen und arbeitete unter der Besatzung für die Gestapo. Basierend auf einer wahren Biografie entwirft Francine Prose die faszinierende Lebensgeschichte von Lou Villars, die auf der Suche nach Liebe und Anerkennung immer tiefer in einen Strudel aus Gewalt und Tod gerät. Der vielstimmige Roman lässt die spannungsreiche Vorkriegsepoche und die Zeit des Zweiten Weltkriegs lebendig werden. Francine Prose erzählt von Liebe und Kunst, von Krieg und Spionage, von Verführung und Verrat – und wie Geschichte sich verändert, abhängig davon, wer sie erzählt.

Bart erhält ein Stipendium für die exklusive Highschool Baileywell. Was zunächst aussieht wie die größte Chance seines Lebens, stellt sich bald als wahrer Albtraum heraus. Denn er wird von Tyro, dem Schultyrann, fertiggemacht. Bart erhält Morddrohungen, wird zusammengeschlagen und in ein Schließfach gesperrt. Doch irgendwann rastet er aus und schlägt zurück.

Román ironicky nahlíží na módní hnutí New Age a na jisté směry feminismu, tedy na aktuální fenomény typické pro žhavý dnešek. V jeho příběhu o několika mužích a ženách se však skrývá univerzální přesah.

Ted Swenson bietet der talentierten Schülerin Angela Argo seine Hilfe beim Schreiben an, was sich als verhängnisvoller Fehler herausstellt. Der Roman vereint Elemente von Woody Allen und David Lodge und ist insgesamt sehr durchtrieben.