SARAH: A NOVEL OF SARAH BERNHARDT - Softcover

Gross, Joel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 059543715X ISBN 13: 9780595437153

Publisher: iUniverse, 2007

Synopsis

They called her the Divine Sarah. The glorious symbol of a decadent and sensual age. Ambitious, flamboyant, scandalous but above all adored."A wrenching portrait of a great actress."-Washington Post Book World

About this title

About the Author:

Joel Gross?s novels, including The Books of Rachel, have been selected by the Book of the Month Club and the Literary Guild. Also a playwright and screenwriter, he is a member of P.E.N., the Dramatists Guild, the Writers Guild, the Authors Guild, and the Playwrights Unit of the Actors Studio.

From Publishers Weekly:

In his author's note to this overlong fictional biography of Parisian actress Sarah Bernhardt, Gross explains that he here connects "the facts of her life to the strength of her legend." Idolized by turn-of-the-century fans, who were at the same time outraged by her scandalous behavior, the Divine Sarah was, indeed, larger than life. But Gross imagines for us a life-size Saraha woman disappointed in love by her mother, lovers and friends, and soothed, Gross theorizes, only by applause. This insight, though reasonable, is overworked as the narrative's single theme. If Gross had devoted fewer pages to Sarah's unrequited passions and focused his plain, frank prose more on her significant theatrical accomplishments, this would have been a faster-paced and more engrossing tale. On the other hand, Gross (Spirit in the Flesh presents an educated look at turn-of-the-century politics, Paris and the theater, as well as an appealing, if superficial, portrait of a legendary actress.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: iUniverse
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 059543715X
• ISBN 13: 9780595437153
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 358