Items related to Black Oxen
Synopsis
Black Oxen by Gertrude Atherton is a romantic novel with a cautionary message about youth and its preservation.
We join Lee Clavering, a young, sophisticated playwright in the early 1920s who falls for the alluring Madame Zatianny. Slim, elegant and poetically beautiful, the lady to whom he falls is the epitome of twenties class and style. Yet despite the enchanting appearance of the apparently young flapper, it comes to light that Zatianny has in fact prolonged her youth through unusual forms of glandular surgery and a complex treatment involving X-rays. She is actually aged fifty-eight.
The contrast of youthful appearance with a mind clearly made wiser with age is portrayed incisively by Gertrude Atherton. At the time this book was released in 1923, the author was herself sixty-five but capable of analysing both the glitzy heights and woeful shortcomings of the so-called 'Lost Generation'.
Enormously successful upon its release, Black Oxen was considered a pointed counter to the youthful generation which would come to define United States culture in the Roaring Twenties. In the decades following its publication, Atherton's predictions about drastic measures being used to prolong youth would be proven true, as cosmetic surgery emerged as a prospering industry in its own right.
Adapted into a silent film in 1923, Black Oxen enjoyed popularity throughout the early 20th century but thereafter fell out of favor. Its title originates from the Yeats' drama The Countess Cathleen:
“The years like Great Black Oxen tread the world And God the herdsman goads them on behind.”
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About the Author
Born: Gertrude Franklin Horn October 30, 1857 San Francisco Died: June 14, 1948 (aged 90) (stroke) San Francisco Pen name: Asmodeus, Frank Lin Occupation: Novelist and short story writer. Notable awards: International Academy of Letters and Sciences of Italy (Gold Medal), Legion of Honor honorary member, 1925 D. Litt., Mills College LL.D., University of California Spouse: George H. Bowen Atherton (1876–1887) Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton was a prominent and prolific American author. Many of her novels are set in her home state of California. Her bestseller Black Oxen (1923) was made into a silent movie of the same name. In addition to novels, she wrote short stories, essays, and articles for magazines and newspapers on such issues as feminism, politics, and war. She was strong-willed, independent-minded, and sometimes controversial.
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- PublisherCreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
- Publication date2016
- ISBN 10 1539803538
- ISBN 13 9781539803539
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages228
- Rating
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