The Life of Kenneth Tynan - Softcover

Tynan, Kathleen

4.05

20 ratings by Goodreads

9780688089061: The Life of Kenneth Tynan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0688089062 ISBN 13: 9780688089061

Publisher: Quill, 1989

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The author traces her husband's life from his precocious childhood to his role as an outrageous challenger of the establishment and discusses his theatrical and literary careers and his circle of celebrated friends

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From Publishers Weekly:

Irrefutably, critic, essayist and biographer Kenneth Tynan (1927-1980) was extraordinary"sui generis" as the author, his second wife, asserts in this perceptive and richly entertaining biography, a clever mix of objective and subjective elements. Precocious at school, a legend at Oxford (both for his brillance and his Oscar Wildean flamboyance), Tynan went on to become the champion of John Osborne and the other "angry young men" A persistent gadfly of the establishment who delighted to shock (he was the deviser of Oh! Calcutta), he was the co-architect, with Olivier, of England's National Theatre; and, according to many, the finest drama critic since Bernard Shaw. The author, on her part, is uniquely qualified to reveal the man behind the career credits: his insecurity and self-destructiveness, his compulsive Don Juanism, the waspishness that sometimes went with the wit and negated the charm. And she also provides unforgettable vignettes, in some cases very funny, of Tynan in the company of Olivier, Orson Welles, Tennessee Williams, Hemingway, Truman Capote and Marlene Dietrich. Photos.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

British critic Kenneth Tynan's second wife, herself a novelist, has written a candid, minutely detailed account of her husband's flamboyant and often controversial life and career. (He helped develop the National Theater repertoire, championed the drama of the "angry young men," and created Oh! Calcutta .) Kathleen Tynan has bridged the gap between being a scholarly biographer and a personal memoirist. With access to letters, diaries, unpublished writings, as well as her own memories and those of friends, she succeeds in bringing order to the chaos of all the available material. Throughout his volatile career and in his personal life, Tynan, whose critical writings are often compared to Shaw's, worked hard to shock. An important biography of an important man of the theater. Marcia L. Perry, Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield, Mass.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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