Once Again to Zelda: The Stories Behind Literature's Most Intriguing Dedications - Hardcover

Wagman-Geller, Marlene

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0399534628 ISBN 13: 9780399534621

Publisher: Perigee Trade, 2008

Synopsis

Examines the stories behind the dedications in fifty literary classics, discussing each author, as well as the social and historical context in which each book was first published, and covering such works as Shelley's Frankenstein, Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, and Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov.

About this title

About the Author:

Marlene Wagman-Geller, an enthusiastic trivia buff and avid reader, is a veteran high school English teacher.

From Booklist:

Book dedications provide some small clue to the writer’s personal life, yet most readers accord them little more than a passing glance. English teacher Wagman-Geller became a “dedication detective” after she decided to research what turned out to be a gripping story behind the provocative dedication in Peyton Place and now presents a set of zesty biographical literary essays. She begins with the knotty family history behind Mary Shelley’s dedication in Frankenstein to her controversial father, William Godwin, and moves forward in time to assemble an almost sinfully eclectic range of classic and contemporary writers. Wagman-Geller is an unabashed romantic, and love stories abound, including the grab-a-handkerchief tale of Laura Hillenbrand’s simple dedication, “For Borden.” Wagman-Geller also loves stories of struggle, and opens entire worlds when she writes about Harper Lee, Stephen King, and J. K. Rowling. From dedications by George Eliot to John le Carré, Michael Chabon, and Dean Koontz, this widely appealing book of guilty pleasures provides an unusual portal into the lives of a colorful array of writers. --Donna Seaman

About this edition

• Publisher: Perigee Trade
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0399534628
• ISBN 13: 9780399534621
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336