18th and 19th Century Artists

chuck · Post by **chuck** » Sun October 5th, 2008, 12:01 am

Years ago I saw a 1988 French Film called Camille Claudel; Isabelle Adjani and Gerard Depardieu.....Really interesting, very sad and disturbing..... beautifully filmed...Claudel and Rodin's had a very interesting, passionate, tempestuous relationship.....Regarding novels about them...... the 1963 David Weiss novel about August Rodin; probably very hard to find and Camille Claudel by Alma H Bond......

Sheramy · Post by **Sheramy** » Sat November 29th, 2008, 1:13 am

I read in PW last week about a novel to come out in Spring 2010 called Dancing for Degas, by Kathryn Wagner. I'm guessing from the blurb that it's about the model for 'Little Dancer, age 14,' Degas' famous bronze sculpture. I figured there'd be a book about her sometime!

I'm curious to see what Wagner's done with her story.

Margaret · Post by **Margaret** » Sat November 29th, 2008, 4:44 am

Sounds interesting. Several of these novels are about painters and "artists" in other mediums. Dance and art could be a nice combination in a novel - the visual and the kinetic.

Margaret · Post by **Margaret** » Mon April 19th, 2010, 8:01 pm

Just reviewed another novel about a French Impressionist - Claude & Camille by Stephanie Cowell (see review). It's about Claude Monet and the woman who became his first wife. The Impressionists seem to have really captured novelists' imaginations lately!

Catherine Delors · Post by **Catherine Delors** » Mon April 19th, 2010, 8:30 pm

[quote=""Margaret""]Just reviewed another novel about a French Impressionist - Claude & Camille by Stephanie Cowell (see review). It's about Claude Monet and the woman who became his first wife. The Impressionists seem to have really captured novelists' imaginations lately![/quote]

I have begun reading it, Margaret, and am to host a guest post from Stephanie in a few days. You do a very good job of explaining the themes of the novel, but did you like it?

Margaret · Post by **Margaret** » Tue April 20th, 2010, 12:26 am

I have begun reading it, Margaret, and am to host a guest post from Stephanie in a few days. You do a very good job of explaining the themes of the novel, but did you like it?

Well, I felt a bit tepid about this one. My personal style of reviewing is to try, as much as possible, to describe the book well enough that someone who would like it will be inspired to read it, while someone who would not will pass it by (a more aspirational than realistic goal, most of the time, but still worth aiming for, I think). Claude and Camille leans toward the historical romance style, except that it spends too much time on Monet's passion for his art to be a romance novel - and I really doubt that Cowell intended to write a romance. I think that, personally, I would have felt more excited by this novel if Cowell had fully immersed me in Monet's point of view and not tried to make it a love story at all. Although it is told entirely from Monet's point of view, I felt like there was a pulling back from some of the times when Monet's feelings about Camille must have segued into fury (perhaps for long periods) because the responsibility of providing for a wife and child pulled him away from his ability to devote himself utterly to his art. The novel avoids that - it goes as far as letting him feel a bit frustrated with her for brief periods, but it never pulls out all the stops the way I would have liked.

On the other hand, some readers would undoubtedly enjoy the novel much less if Camille's role in the novel were darkened in this way. I think a lot of readers are not looking for the more literary (brutally honest?) style that I'm drawn to, and I don't want to put them off reading this novel if it's one they would enjoy. It's certainly very well researched and skillfully written, and I think a lot of readers will enjoy it very much.

Catherine Delors · Post by **Catherine Delors** » Tue April 20th, 2010, 8:47 am

[quote=""Margaret""]Well, I felt a bit tepid about this one. [/quote]

This is how it came across, Margaret. Your review gives an excellent overview of the book, as far as I can tell so far, but lacks the little spark of enthusiasm. I tend myself to like plenty of darkness and violence in the novels I read (and write.)

Margaret · Post by **Margaret** » Tue April 20th, 2010, 5:57 pm

It's always nice to be on the same wavelength with someone. I'm not too surprised that we would be, because I enjoyed Mistress of the Revolution quite a lot (and reviewed it at www.HistoricalNovels.info back in the days when I was checking books out of the library for review purposes). I'm looking forward to For the King, which is supposed to be wending its way to me very shortly.

boswellbaxter · Post by **boswellbaxter** » Thu April 22nd, 2010, 4:16 pm

Moved the posts on ARC's here:

http://www.historicalfictiononline.com/ ... php?t=3315

Catherine Delors · Post by **Catherine Delors** » Thu April 22nd, 2010, 4:29 pm

Quite right, BoswellBaxter, we were sadly off topic.

Historical Fiction Online

18th and 19th Century Artists

New Degas Novel