Sybille Bedford (1911–2006)
Forfatter af A Legacy
Om forfatteren
Værker af Sybille Bedford
Bedford, Sybille Archive 1 eksemplar
Associated Works
The world of law; a treasury of great writing about and in the law, short stories, plays, essays, accounts, letters,… (1960) — Bidragyder — 54 eksemplarer
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Almen Viden
- Kanonisk navn
- Bedford, Sybille
- Andre navne
- von Schoenebeck, Sybille Aleid Elsa (nee)
- Fødselsdato
- 1911-03-16
- Dødsdag
- 2006-02-17
- Køn
- female
- Nationalitet
- Germany
UK - Fødested
- Charlottenburg, Berlin, Germany
- Dødssted
- London, England, UK
- Bopæl
- Berlin, Germany
Sanary-sur-Mer, France
Chelsea, London, England, UK
Rome, Italy
Portugal
California, USA (vis alle 7)
Schloss Feldkirch, Baden, Germany - Erhverv
- journalist
novelist
aristocrat - Relationer
- Huxley, Aldous (friend)
- Priser og hædersbevisninger
- Royal Society of Literature Companion of Literature (1994)
Golden PEN Award (1993)
Order of the British Empire (Officer ∙ 1981) - Kort biografi
- Sybille Aleid Elsa von Schoenebeck was born in the Charlottenberg district of Berlin, the daughter of a German aristocrat and his German-Jewish wife (later an Italian princess). On her father's death when she was seven years old, Sybille moved with her mother to Rome, London, and the south of France. She began a lifelong friendship with Aldous Huxley, who encouraged her to begin writing at age 16. In 1935, she made a brief marriage of convenience to Walter Bedford, an English army officer, which gave her British citizenship. During World War II, she went to the USA, but later returned to London and to her frequent European travels. Sybille Bedford's second novel, A Legacy (1956), is often considered her masterpiece. Her other books included three semi-autobiographical novels, A Favourite of the Gods (1963), A Compass Error (1968) and Jigsaw (1989), and several travel books. Working as a legal journalist for many years, she covered about 100 trials. In her book As It Was (1990), she discussed travel, the prosecution of D.H. Lawrence for Lady Chatterley's Lover, Jack Ruby's trial for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, and the trial of the Auschwitz officials in 1964. Although shy, Sybille Bedford could tell funny stories about her friends and fellow writers, including Thomas Mann, Lion Feuchtwanger, Edith Wharton, and the Huxleys. Her memoir, Quicksands, published in 2005 when she was nearly 94, revived interest in her elegant, insightful work. Her honors included OBE 1981; FRSL 1964; CLit 1994.
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- Medlemmer
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- #10,002
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- 3.8
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Initially, I thought Bedford was interested in exploring some of the same themes as Henry James, specifically the clash of American romanticism and idealism with Old World realism and pragmatism. Constanza’s mother’s fortune was likely a large part of her appeal to Prince Rico, whose family fortune was in decline and grand palazzo in Rome in some disrepair. Bedford does examine cultural difference to some extent, but her real focus is on marital infidelity.
Rico, it turns out, has a very long-standing extramarital relationship with Giulia, the wife of a marchese. Anna finds out, is wounded, enraged, and repulsed. She leaves her young son Giorgio behind and flees with her daughter to London. (She can do this because her money has all been protected by her American solicitors.) Rico, his aristocratic family, and their extensive social circle cannot understand Anna’s reaction, her prudishness, and dramatics. Friends side with him. Bedford would have us believe that infidelity is widespread and tolerated in Roman society. Even teenage Constanza, who follows in her father’s footsteps and is sexually precocious, is aware of her father’s liaison with Giulia. She thinks nothing of it, and can’t believe that this would be the reason her mother has taken her away and barred her from seeing her father. Anna refuses to clarify the nature of her husband’s crime, and for a time Constanza thinks his offence must be a financial one.
The large central section of the novel focuses on Anna and Constanza’s life in London. Anna nurses a depression while Constanza sows her wild oats in the manner typical of a young man, restlessly entering and exiting many sexual relationships. And so it goes until she makes the acquaintance of Simon Herbert, a loquacious and entertaining young man. His presence brings joy into the life of the apathetic, defeated Anna. It’s at this point—in my opinion, at least—that Bedford’s novel goes off the rails and turns into a semi-ridiculous soap opera. Constanza acts in a way that is inconsistent with her free-spirited, independent, and mostly selfish orientation.
I enjoyed aspects of Bedford’s novel, but feel that it missed the mark overall. Characterization is not strong. I believe I was at some disadvantage reading this, as I know almost nothing about Italian history, culture, and politics—all of which figure in the book. There’s lots of Italian language content, not all of which I could guess the meaning of by using context clues alone. I sought online translation. I found Bedford’s style a little odd. I wasn’t confident I was making the correct inferences when I read dialogue between characters. For example, when Rico’s infidelity comes out, he pronounces that Anna “cannot have it both ways.” Can’t have what both ways? Here, and elsewhere, it wasn’t clear to me what the character was actually referring to. Possibly it was that she could not deny him a mistress when she was not interested in a sexual relationship with him.
Initially an interesting novel and engaging enough to complete, A Favourite of the Gods ultimately did not fully deliver for me. It is, in my view, a lesser novel.… (mere)