Colossus: A Novel about Goya & a World Gone Mad

by Stephen Marlowe

It's also a bigger than normal size book...Colossal in several ways. Good writing style.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Art

544 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Aka Milton S. Lesser, Adam Chase, Andrew Frazer, Jason Ridgway, C.H. Thames.

Stephen Marlowe (1928–2008) was the author of more than fifty novels, including nearly two dozen featuring globe-trotting private eye Chester Drum. Born Milton Lesser, Marlowe was raised in Brooklyn and attended the College of William and Mary. After several years writing science fiction under his given name, he legally adopted his pen name, and began focusing on Chester Drum, the Washington-based detective who first appeared in The Second Longest Night (1955).

Although a private detective akin to Raymond Chandler’s characters, Drum was distinguished by his jet-setting lifestyle, which carried him to various exotic locales from Mecca to South America. These espionage-tinged stories won Marlowe acclaim, and he produced more than one a year before ending the series in 1968. After spending the 1970s writing suspense novels like The Summit (1970) and The Cawthorn Journals (1975), Marlowe turned to scholarly historical fiction. He lived much of his life abroad, in Switzerland, Spain, and France, and died in Virginia in 2008.

Marlowe received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) in 1997.

Reviews

[Susan Romei · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just reread this book which I read for the first time in my twenties. I still loved it! If you enjoy reading about the tumultous lives of artistic types this work of historical fiction may be a good read for you. The Spanish artist, Francisco Goya, was driven by a need to capture the truth behind what he saw, all else be damned. He wouldn't idealise or gloss over the truth. He risked his life numerous times in pursuit of his passions and lived his life on his terms. His passion and love of life with no compromises was not always a happy one. He suffered in so many ways... losing his various loves,seeing his country destroyed by war,marrying someone who didn't share his lust for life, becoming deaf, and never really reaping the rewards of family. He often felt that it all amounted to " nada y nada y nada".Despite the fact that he became very wealthy and was well regarded as first painter to King Carlos of Spain when he was young, his greatest works were created in his 60s. This is a man who was driven by a burning passion to speak the truth and squeeze all that he could from life.

[Bookguide · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story would make a fabulous costume drama. It’s not written in the most literary style, but I’m surprised it’s not more well-known. I’m sure fans of Philippa Gregory‘s historical dramas would love this.

At times florid and melodramatic, this was a comprehensive imagining of the real life and times of the living legend of Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, the Spanish artist Paco Goya. From humble origins in the backwaters of Aragon, his artistic talent was recognised and nurtured from an early age. A schoolboy brawl in which he killed another boy in self-defence forced him into a life of petty thievery and the glamour of the bullfighting circuit where he was befriended by a talented bullfighting family who became the famed Apiñani dynasty. Spending the majority of their lives in the capital Madrid, they kept him in touch with the common people as his career progressed. Persuaded not to squander his God-given talent, he often had to repress his natural style to fit into the current taste in art. With a background of the developing Enlightenment, originating in Paris, Goya’s free-thinking and personality often got him into trouble, but it also made him lasting friends, benefactors and a string of high-born lovers.

The women in this novel are mostly based on real people, though many of Goya’s liaisons are rumoured based on the people he painted: his first love Mariana, Marquesa de Solis y Olavide; his long-suffering wife Josefa Bayeu; the love of his life, Cayetana, Duchess of Alba; Leocadia who fought with his son as a guerrillero during the War of Spanish Independence against the French and cared for him in his dotage.

During the reign of King Carlos III, the intrigues at court were reminiscent of the goings on in the wonderful film of Dangerous Liaisons, with rivalries between the various court hostesses reaching ridiculous heights. There is one marvellous incident where Cayetana made a fool of the queen, Maria Luisa, by trumping her import of the latest Paris fashion. What should have been a triumph for the queen made her a laughing stock and was well-deserved, though Cayetana herself was far from being an angel herself. The perfect plot for any story of jealous and vindictive rivals.
Cayetana used a spy in Paris to find out what the queen was having made and, rather than undermining her by wearing the same dress at a prominent event, she totally humiliated her by being attended by five of her lesser maids, each dressed in identical copies.

[Patricia Vaccarino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes is considered to be the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th Centuries. Stephen Marlowe succeeds in showing us the man behind the legacy. Sometimes a great person comes into being and changes the world, but that does not come without sacrifice. The author’s eye for detail paints a world of extraordinary upheaval. The book is often mired in drawing room situations, especially when rendering Goya’s passionate love affairs. The historical narrative is a dramatic unfolding of events that are factually accurate. The characters are living the story; the author is not telling us what to think about what actually happened historically. We see the world through Goya’s eyes and feel his pain and his passion. You will have no choice but to fall in love with him.

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been a favourite of mine since I first read it some 27 years ago. It is the story of an artistic genius and the turbulent historical times he lived through. Author Stephen Marlowe (an American) lived in Spain for around 10 years and absorbed the feeling and soul of that country. I read this book again periodically; not because I don't have good recall but for the sheer joy of reacquainting myself with this extraordinary work.
It says on the back cover of my much-thumbed copy: Written with compelling power by a consummate storyteller, it is an unforgettable experience.
I cannot argue with that eloquent statement and I commend the book and the author to you. His later biographical novels about Miguel de Cervantes, Christopher Columbus and Edgar Allen Poe are also magnificent.
Like Goya himself, Marlowe 'has the magic'.

Merged review:

This book has been a favourite of mine since I first read it some 27 years ago. It is the story of an artistic genius and the turbulent historical times he lived through. Author Stephen Marlowe (an American) lived in Spain for around 10 years and absorbed the feeling and soul of that country. I read this book again periodically; not because I don't have good recall but for the sheer joy of reacquainting myself with this extraordinary work.
It says on the back cover of my much-thumbed copy: Written with compelling power by a consummate storyteller, it is an unforgettable experience.
I cannot argue with that eloquent statement and I commend the book and the author to you. His later biographical novels about Miguel de Cervantes, Christopher Columbus and Edgar Allen Poe are also magnificent.
Like Goya himself, Marlowe 'has the magic'.

[Beáta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nagyon tetszett ez a magával ragadó könyv.
Esemény dús életet élt a festő, elképesztő volt az élni akarás benne. Igaz voltak időszakok, amikor nem ez jellemezte az életét, de mindig visszatalált a helyes ösvényre.
Napóleonról szól ez a néhány sor, de a jelenlegi helyzetünkre is nagyon aktuális: "Azt, hogy egyetlen hatalmi tébolytól megszállott ember előidézhet ilyen szörnyűséget. Hogy egy hadsereg tudja vakon követni a hazája dicsőségére."

[Marion · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the author captured the spirit of Goya quite well in this biography. However, in my opinion, too much of the book was about his love affair with the Duchess of Alba. Too little was spent on Spain's history with Napoleon and how it affected Goya's work. At least in terms of the number of pages devoted to each, it seemed out of balance to me. The author's knowledge of Goya's work was evident and well expressed, but I would have liked more detail about the historical context of Goya's most important work. It's not that this context wasn't provided, but I thought it was rather overwhemed by the over emphasis on Goya's love life.