Casanova in London"In the New Statesman, TLS, the Spectator, the New York Times and Harper's Bazaar among others, these short pieces appeared in other forms as book reviews, an introduction, etc. but all of them display Mr. Quennell's immanent virtues -- the well-informed insights so pleasantly styled. There are twenty-five figures, chiefly old with the exception of [Robert] Graves and [Evelyn] Waugh, and from both sides of the Channel. The title essay deals with the indignities Casanova suffered in London in 1763 in the hands and even in the bed of a malicious demi-mondame. There's Victor Hugo and George Sand in the setting sun of old age; [André] Gide, married to a woman who aroused devotion but could not awake desire while [James] Boswell, the dissolute, was anything but faithful; [Daniel] Defoe's transformation of Alexander Selkirk's story; Waugh, the 'greatest novelist' of this generation; that lovable old La Rochefoucauld; and the 'magician of pleasure,' [Guillaume] Apollinaire. One or two unknowns, generally speaking, Anthony Hamilton and [Henry] Mayhew and perhaps the Goncourts whose pursuit of l'art pour l'art is like Quennell's, a rebuke to our own 'slovenly and hall-hearted age.' Even in this minimal form, the essays represent a perfectly proportioned judgment and taste."--Kirkus Reviews. |
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A. E. Housman admirable adventures Agnes Grey Amelia André Gide Apollinaire appeared artist Baudelaire Baudelaire's beauty Becky biographer Boswell Boswell's Branwell Brontë Casanova century character Charlotte Charlotte Brontë charm Charpillon colour critic Defoe described devoted Dickens Emily Emily's England English Evelyn Waugh existence eyes Falstaff famous feeling Flaubert French friends Gavarni genius George George Sand gift girl Goncourts Gramont heart Housman human imagination Jane Eyre Jules Kirk Laforgue literary lived London Madame marriage married master Mayhew ment mind modern narrative natural never Nohant novelist novels once passion period personage poems poet poetic portrait Prince prose remarkable Robert Graves Robinson Crusoe Rochefoucauld romantic Sainte-Beuve secret seems Selkirk sense sensual Soane soon story strange subterranean Thackeray Thackeray's tion Vanity Fair verse Victor Hugo Victorian Waugh White Goddess wife Wilde woman women writing wrote Wuthering Heights young youth