This absorbing, heartfelt work tells the story of the real dancer behind Degas's now-iconic sculpture, and the struggles of late nineteenth-century bohemian life of Paris.
Camille Laurens is an award-winning French novelist and
essayist. She received the Prix Femina, one of France's most
prestigious literary prizes, in 2000 for Dans ces bras-l , which
was published in the United States as In His Arms in 2004. Her
second novel to appear in English, Who You Think I Am (Other Press,
2017), is the basis for a forthcoming film starring Juliette
Binoche. Laurens lives in Paris.
Willard Wood is the winner of the 2002 Lewis Galanti re
Award for Literary Translation and a 2000 National Endowment for
the Arts Fellowship in Translation. He lives in Connecticut.
“A fascinating hybrid…of art history and art appreciation, a
personal narrative that reads like a novel…quixotic, but also
magical.” —The New Yorker
“[Laurens’s] curiosity is contagious, and after reading this
elegant pas de deux between the author and her elusive subject, you
will surely look at Degas’s celebrated tutu-clad ballerina with
fresh eyes…moving…Laurens’s artful achievement is to make us see
the person behind Degas’s famous sculpture.” —NPR
“Fascinating…part historical chronicle, part artfully discursive
personal response and part imaginative close reading of the
sculpture’s past and present…full of thought-provoking insights and
revelations.” —Washington Post
“[A] short, erudite investigation into the story behind Degas’s
masterpiece…[Laurens] provides a glimpse into the art world of
19th-century Paris.” —Wall Street Journal
“Compelling…[Laurens] animates this fascinating book by drawing on
her capacious imagination, her own love of ballet, and her
curiosity about the fate of Degas’s model.” —National Book
Review
“The essence of late nineteenth-century art: Famous man paints
nameless woman, her body and image becoming a mantle upon which his
notoriety hangs. Who were these women? Typically, no one cares. So
it’s refreshing to see an author like Camille Laurens who does.”
—Huffington Post
“[Laurens] spins a compelling and tragic tale of poverty, power,
and the arts that raises questions about the artist’s
responsibility to his subject.” —Booklist (starred review)
“Well-researched…intriguing…Laurens’s fascination with her subject
brings this universally recognized piece of art to life.” —Library
Journal
“Little Dancer Aged Fourteen illuminates a slice of art history
with ravishing acuity…a fascinating tour through the past.”
—Foreword Reviews
“Laurens vividly sketches out a history of the abuses of child
labor in Paris in the 1880s…insightful.” —Kirkus Reviews
“A disturbing and enigmatic story…[Laurens’s] book is a meditation
on an artist and his forgotten model, forever linked to him through
one creation.” —Columbus Dispatch
“An evocative tribute to a model, a man, and a moment. Sensitive,
human, and profound, this vivid recreation of the sights, sounds,
and smells of the nineteenth-century art world is underpinned by
solid research, and written in a style which is assured and
decisive.” —Catherine Hewitt, author of Renoir’s Dancer: The
Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon
“[Laurens] is one hell of a writer. More than the facts, it’s an
era that she reconstructs, the harshness of which brings a lump to
your throat.” —Elle (France)
“This fascinating book is…a mirror in which we see our conception
of art and of beauty.” —Le Magazine Littéraire
“Camille Laurens [evokes], through the story of this model plucked
from the gutter, a period in which art unsettled the hypocrisy of a
society.” —Le Figaro
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