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Madame du Deffand and the Idiots
'She was bored and fought against her boredom, which only bored her still more.'
Five sparkling, irreverent brief portraits of famous literary figures (including libertines, eccentrics and rogues) from Spain's greatest living writer.
Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic Penguin Modern Classics series, with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary, international flavour. Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin, Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson; essays radical and inspiring; poems moving and disturbing; stories surreal and fabulous; taking us from the deep South to modern Japan, New York's underground scene to the farthest reaches of outer space.
Five sparkling, irreverent brief portraits of famous literary figures (including libertines, eccentrics and rogues) from Spain's greatest living writer.
Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic Penguin Modern Classics series, with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary, international flavour. Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin, Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson; essays radical and inspiring; poems moving and disturbing; stories surreal and fabulous; taking us from the deep South to modern Japan, New York's underground scene to the farthest reaches of outer space.
64 pages, Paperback
First published February 22, 2018
13 people are currently reading
649 people want to read
About the author
Javier Marías
134 books2,457 followersJavier Marías was a Spanish novelist, translator, and columnist. His work has been translated into 42 languages. Born in Madrid, his father was the philosopher Julián Marías, who was briefly imprisoned and then banned from teaching for opposing Franco. Parts of his childhood were spent in the United States, where his father taught at various institutions, including Yale University and Wellesley College. His mother died when Javier was 26 years old. He was educated at the Colegio Estudio in Madrid.
Marías began writing in earnest at an early age. "The Life and Death of Marcelino Iturriaga", one of the short stories in While the Women are Sleeping (2010), was written when he was just 14. He wrote his first novel, "Los dominios del lobo" (The Dominions of the Wolf), at age 17, after running away to Paris.
Marías operated a small publishing house under the name of Reino de Redonda. He also wrote a weekly column in El País. An English version of his column "La Zona Fantasma" is published in the monthly magazine The Believer.
In 1997 Marías won the Nelly Sachs Prize.
Marías began writing in earnest at an early age. "The Life and Death of Marcelino Iturriaga", one of the short stories in While the Women are Sleeping (2010), was written when he was just 14. He wrote his first novel, "Los dominios del lobo" (The Dominions of the Wolf), at age 17, after running away to Paris.
Marías operated a small publishing house under the name of Reino de Redonda. He also wrote a weekly column in El País. An English version of his column "La Zona Fantasma" is published in the monthly magazine The Believer.
In 1997 Marías won the Nelly Sachs Prize.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
September 14, 2022
Not yet having read anything by Javier Marías before, I greatly enjoyed this amusing selection from his Written Lives (2000), brief glimpses into the lives of five famous literati (Madame du Deffand, Vladimir Nabokov, Djuna Barnes, Oscar Wilde and Emily Brontë).
The micro-bio’s sound like five songs in a different key, ranging from a lively, cheeky portrayal of the professional misanthrope Madame du Deffand, which made me chortle (Émile Cioran was an admirer), to an empathic one on Nabokov (without dissembling his quirks and arrogance keeping in mind his being fundamentally a loner as an exile) over a passionate and intense take on Djuna Barnes - ending with a moving and tender note on Emily Brönte, endearingly portrayed as a very decisive woman having a proclivity for drastic measures and nicknamed ‘the mayor’, appositely closing the collection with the last time Emily leaves her bed to comb her long abundant tresses before dying while sitting on the sofa, thirty years old. The pieces are peppered with quoted witticisms and maxims of the authors, a few succulent anecdotes and well-chosen details magnifying their eccentricity.
If there is any recurrent leitmotif to be unearthed in Marias’s view on these so different authors, it might be the silence he observes in the lives of some of them, in speaking or in writing (Emily Brontë’s monosyllabic taciturnity; Oscar Wilde no longer writing after prison; most definite with Djuna Barnes: 'According to one of her biographers, Barnes spent more than forty years in her apartment in Patchin Place. And we know that most of them, days and years, passed in total silence without her exchanging a single word with anyone. Just the noise of the typewriter and those lines till unread.'
Marías artfully describes Nakobov’s forceful opinions and many abominations: 'Above all, though, he hated four doctors – ‘Dr Freud, Dr Zhivago, Dr Schweitzer, and Dr Castro’. His obsessions and antipathies, however, went much further: he hated jazz, bullfighting, primitive masks, canned music, swimming pools, trucks, transistor radio’s bidets, insecticides, yachts, the circus, hooligans, nightclubs and the roar of motorbikes, to name but a few.'
That catalogue made me laugh, as it reminded me of Sybil Fawlty’s rambling to a guest:
'Mother is a worrier. She has these, well, morbid fears they are, really. Vans is one. Rats. Doorknobs. Birds. Heights. Open spaces. Confined spaces. It's very difficult getting the space right for her really, you know. Footballs. Bicycles. Cows. And she's always on about men following her, I don't know what she thinks they're going to do to her. Vomit on her, Basil says.'
(Sorry. I guess I got a little carried away).
As a first acquaintance with Javier Marías, I thought this collection highly entertaining, affecting, witty and fun. RIP, señor Marías.
(Thank you Senta dear for creating the collage).
The micro-bio’s sound like five songs in a different key, ranging from a lively, cheeky portrayal of the professional misanthrope Madame du Deffand, which made me chortle (Émile Cioran was an admirer), to an empathic one on Nabokov (without dissembling his quirks and arrogance keeping in mind his being fundamentally a loner as an exile) over a passionate and intense take on Djuna Barnes - ending with a moving and tender note on Emily Brönte, endearingly portrayed as a very decisive woman having a proclivity for drastic measures and nicknamed ‘the mayor’, appositely closing the collection with the last time Emily leaves her bed to comb her long abundant tresses before dying while sitting on the sofa, thirty years old. The pieces are peppered with quoted witticisms and maxims of the authors, a few succulent anecdotes and well-chosen details magnifying their eccentricity.
If there is any recurrent leitmotif to be unearthed in Marias’s view on these so different authors, it might be the silence he observes in the lives of some of them, in speaking or in writing (Emily Brontë’s monosyllabic taciturnity; Oscar Wilde no longer writing after prison; most definite with Djuna Barnes: 'According to one of her biographers, Barnes spent more than forty years in her apartment in Patchin Place. And we know that most of them, days and years, passed in total silence without her exchanging a single word with anyone. Just the noise of the typewriter and those lines till unread.'
Marías artfully describes Nakobov’s forceful opinions and many abominations: 'Above all, though, he hated four doctors – ‘Dr Freud, Dr Zhivago, Dr Schweitzer, and Dr Castro’. His obsessions and antipathies, however, went much further: he hated jazz, bullfighting, primitive masks, canned music, swimming pools, trucks, transistor radio’s bidets, insecticides, yachts, the circus, hooligans, nightclubs and the roar of motorbikes, to name but a few.'
That catalogue made me laugh, as it reminded me of Sybil Fawlty’s rambling to a guest:
'Mother is a worrier. She has these, well, morbid fears they are, really. Vans is one. Rats. Doorknobs. Birds. Heights. Open spaces. Confined spaces. It's very difficult getting the space right for her really, you know. Footballs. Bicycles. Cows. And she's always on about men following her, I don't know what she thinks they're going to do to her. Vomit on her, Basil says.'
(Sorry. I guess I got a little carried away).
As a first acquaintance with Javier Marías, I thought this collection highly entertaining, affecting, witty and fun. RIP, señor Marías.
(Thank you Senta dear for creating the collage).
Read
October 5, 2019This was a charming pocket sized palate cleanser. Five mini profiles of writers : Madame de Deffand, Vladimir Nabokov, Djuna Barnes, Oscar Wilde, and Emily Bronte.
Marias I felt was keen to have his readers smile over his subjects rather than to weep with them, he is witty and maybe you might feel is more inclined to find and share the humour than to create a sense of how each writer perceived their own lives, that is the most I might venture to suggest - these five pieces were taken from a longer collection of brief lives Written Lives and I have no idea how representative this part is of the whole.
I could share some titbits from these lives as other reviews have done - but that would be to spoil the pleasure of reading these pieces for yourself. A satisfying snack that you can consume on the go, they did change my sense of the writers about whom I already had some kind of an opinion, but to breathe a word more, would be as I said to spoil the pleasures of discovery.
Marias I felt was keen to have his readers smile over his subjects rather than to weep with them, he is witty and maybe you might feel is more inclined to find and share the humour than to create a sense of how each writer perceived their own lives, that is the most I might venture to suggest - these five pieces were taken from a longer collection of brief lives Written Lives and I have no idea how representative this part is of the whole.
I could share some titbits from these lives as other reviews have done - but that would be to spoil the pleasure of reading these pieces for yourself. A satisfying snack that you can consume on the go, they did change my sense of the writers about whom I already had some kind of an opinion, but to breathe a word more, would be as I said to spoil the pleasures of discovery.
May 28, 2025
I am not one for biographies but Marias short essay on these 5 were really enjoyable. I only know little of them but he sure does know them in depth. Not that he chose to tell us all about them but what he said although sometimes rapier sharp made me feel warm about them, made me smile. It's like he knows them, their highs and lows, their dark and bright and he choose to share some of that with me leaving me smiling, happy to have met them but also to have read this and met Marias as well.
This was my first Marias experience and I want more.
This was my first Marias experience and I want more.
September 25, 2018
Javier Marias' Madame du Deffand and the Idiots sounded like such an interesting concept. This volume presents 'five sparkling, irreverent brief portraits of famous literary figures (including libertines, eccentrics and rogues) from Spain's greatest living writer'. All of these pieces are taken from Written Lives, which was published in Spain in 2009, and all have been translated by Margaret Jull Costa.
The essays here are written variously about Madame du Deffand, Vladimir Nabokov, Djuna Barnes, Oscar Wilde, and Emily Bronte. I was particularly interested to read the final three, all writers whom I adore. This is the first time which I have read Marias' work, and I found it rather amusing and intriguing. The first essay, for instance, begins: 'Madame du Deffand's life was clearly far too long for someone who considered that her greatest misfortune was to have been for at all.' On discussing the unusual names used in Djuna Barnes' family, 'which, in many cases, do not even give a clue as to the gender of the person bearing them' he writes: 'Perhaps it is understandable that, on reaching adulthood, some members of the Barnes family adopted banal nicknames like Bud or Charlie.' All of these pieces are rather short, and quite fascinating - and sometimes enlightening - to read. Marias seems to really capture his subjects throughout, and shines a spotlight on a handful of quite unusual people. Madame du Deffand and the Idiots has certainly piqued my interest to read more of Marias' work, and soon.
The essays here are written variously about Madame du Deffand, Vladimir Nabokov, Djuna Barnes, Oscar Wilde, and Emily Bronte. I was particularly interested to read the final three, all writers whom I adore. This is the first time which I have read Marias' work, and I found it rather amusing and intriguing. The first essay, for instance, begins: 'Madame du Deffand's life was clearly far too long for someone who considered that her greatest misfortune was to have been for at all.' On discussing the unusual names used in Djuna Barnes' family, 'which, in many cases, do not even give a clue as to the gender of the person bearing them' he writes: 'Perhaps it is understandable that, on reaching adulthood, some members of the Barnes family adopted banal nicknames like Bud or Charlie.' All of these pieces are rather short, and quite fascinating - and sometimes enlightening - to read. Marias seems to really capture his subjects throughout, and shines a spotlight on a handful of quite unusual people. Madame du Deffand and the Idiots has certainly piqued my interest to read more of Marias' work, and soon.
December 19, 2022
Παραλίγο να ξεχάσω πως μέσα στο φθινόπωρο είχα την πρώτη επαφή μου με τον Μαρίας (Μαριάς;) και πως οι τέσσερις μίνι βιογραφίες του κατάφεραν να με συνεπάρουν. Ούτε εγώ ήξερα πόσο ενδιαφέρουσα ήταν η ζωή του Ναμπόκοφ, ενός συγγραφέα που δεν με ενθουσίασε και πολύ, αλλά κοίτα να δεις που με τράβηξε.
August 24, 2022
What a joyous little book! These mini biographies were an absolute pleasure to read and were very comparable to These possible lives by Fleur Jaeggy, which is equally brilliant.
February 27, 2025
Feeling bad about being the only 1* review, but frankly I had no patience for this blog post of a book.
Javier Marías effectively slanders four well-known literary figures ('the idiots') and Madame du Deffand (who nobody has heard of) with information that seems not only inaccurate and unrelated to their real life or writerly ambition, but also scandalous and silly rumours about them.
I disengaged because even when he's not writing about them he was not being honest or realistic, his description of boredom seems incorrect to me and only for slapstick comic effect, and at that point what point is there to engage with the rest of the text? If a biography turns into a joke, a 'roast' about literary figures, it becomes senseless and silly? Maybe this is more admissible to those who see no problem in tabloid journalism slander of literary figures, or maybe it's a joke I've clearly missed and just not enjoyed.
What's probably set me off particularly so was his insensitive comment on the death of Carson McCullers (of whose work I've read and loved in entirety, including her diary entries on her medical condition) which seemed somewhat unrelated to his subject Djuna Barnes, and wildly inaccurate from a medical standpoint. I can't help to think the book is just a joke that could only be made by someone who thinks they're in a position to write stupidly about some of the world's greatest writers? Of the Penguin Modern series the only similar entry is Truman Capote's interview with Marlon Brando, and while that also has areas of unreliability as any piece of reportage will, Capote did an incredible job of making it a much better portrait of a creative person.
Putting the two works side by side in the same collection to me seems like a better joke than anything written in this one, but that's probably just me not being a fan of biography snapshots I found too silly, false, and short to be worth reading.
Javier Marías effectively slanders four well-known literary figures ('the idiots') and Madame du Deffand (who nobody has heard of) with information that seems not only inaccurate and unrelated to their real life or writerly ambition, but also scandalous and silly rumours about them.
I disengaged because even when he's not writing about them he was not being honest or realistic, his description of boredom seems incorrect to me and only for slapstick comic effect, and at that point what point is there to engage with the rest of the text? If a biography turns into a joke, a 'roast' about literary figures, it becomes senseless and silly? Maybe this is more admissible to those who see no problem in tabloid journalism slander of literary figures, or maybe it's a joke I've clearly missed and just not enjoyed.
What's probably set me off particularly so was his insensitive comment on the death of Carson McCullers (of whose work I've read and loved in entirety, including her diary entries on her medical condition) which seemed somewhat unrelated to his subject Djuna Barnes, and wildly inaccurate from a medical standpoint. I can't help to think the book is just a joke that could only be made by someone who thinks they're in a position to write stupidly about some of the world's greatest writers? Of the Penguin Modern series the only similar entry is Truman Capote's interview with Marlon Brando, and while that also has areas of unreliability as any piece of reportage will, Capote did an incredible job of making it a much better portrait of a creative person.
Putting the two works side by side in the same collection to me seems like a better joke than anything written in this one, but that's probably just me not being a fan of biography snapshots I found too silly, false, and short to be worth reading.
November 5, 2023
insan yaklaşık iki bin sayfalık bir külliyatı devirince 60 sayfadan devam etmek istiyor. ama bu 60’ın marías’la beraber olması işin güzel tarafı. sanırım yazınsal yaşamlar’dan seçmece kısa edebi portreler. goodreads’te bir yorumda “palate cleanser” denmiş, tam olarak o. savaş ve barış’ı önceki gece bitirdiğim halde sabah havaalanına giderken, havaalanında beklerken hala bir şey okuyamıyordum; uçakta telefon gibi dev bir dikkat dağıtıcı olmayınca bunu okuyup bitirdim. şu kısacık metinde bile zekasını, espritüelliğini, böyle nasıl desem, o ışıl ışıl, berrak anlatımını göstermiş marías. madrid’de dünyanın en güzel kitapçılarından birinde bulmuştuk bu kitabı, benim için yeri o anlamda da çok ayrı. çok seviyorum be.
July 5, 2018
Five very short and very delightful essays, each devoted to a different writer.
August 10, 2018
You might not guess it from the title, but this is basically a series of little essays on different authors including Vladimir Nabokov, Oscar Wilde and Emily Bronte. It’s just delightful.
August 6, 2025
3.5, I love reading Marias’s prose but was’t as expansive as his longer work has proven to be
July 29, 2021
A well-crafted form of micro-biography.
I picked up this tiny book on a whim, not knowing a thing about Marías or what he writes. From the short sample provided by Madame du Deffand and the Idiots, it seems he is a master of turning layered accounts of life stories into the kind of delicious gossip one might overhear at a café or salon.
This technique makes even the driest facts seem titillating. Some might say such a trick denigrates the proud institution of biography writing but I think Marías' style elevates it. I learnt so much about famous creative personalities within fifty pages, from Emily Brontë's monosyllabic and violent adolescence to Oscar Wilde's surprising youth, chasing a young maiden who ultimately ended up with Bram Stoker. As the saying goes, history really leaps off the page here in thrilling and unpredictable ways.
Even while intensely focused on his subject, Marías's cheeky personality shines through: a difficult balance to maintain at the best of times. The elan of his prose is something to strive for.
If you're curious about how Djuna Barnes's name was stolen by a would-be lover or Vladimir Nabokov's soccer skill or indeed anything that makes literary legends seem like real people, Madame du Deffand and the Idiots is definitely worth picking up.
Notable Micro-biographies
• Nabokov in Raptures – a teasing deconstruction of one of literature’s grumpiest pioneers.
• Oscar Wilde After Prison – a fat-shaming but otherwise sympathetic account of the wit’s exile.
• Emily Brontë, the Silent Major – a sensational examination of arguably the toughest Brontë.
I picked up this tiny book on a whim, not knowing a thing about Marías or what he writes. From the short sample provided by Madame du Deffand and the Idiots, it seems he is a master of turning layered accounts of life stories into the kind of delicious gossip one might overhear at a café or salon.
This technique makes even the driest facts seem titillating. Some might say such a trick denigrates the proud institution of biography writing but I think Marías' style elevates it. I learnt so much about famous creative personalities within fifty pages, from Emily Brontë's monosyllabic and violent adolescence to Oscar Wilde's surprising youth, chasing a young maiden who ultimately ended up with Bram Stoker. As the saying goes, history really leaps off the page here in thrilling and unpredictable ways.
Even while intensely focused on his subject, Marías's cheeky personality shines through: a difficult balance to maintain at the best of times. The elan of his prose is something to strive for.
If you're curious about how Djuna Barnes's name was stolen by a would-be lover or Vladimir Nabokov's soccer skill or indeed anything that makes literary legends seem like real people, Madame du Deffand and the Idiots is definitely worth picking up.
Notable Micro-biographies
• Nabokov in Raptures – a teasing deconstruction of one of literature’s grumpiest pioneers.
• Oscar Wilde After Prison – a fat-shaming but otherwise sympathetic account of the wit’s exile.
• Emily Brontë, the Silent Major – a sensational examination of arguably the toughest Brontë.
August 23, 2021
I was really pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book as when I seen on the blurb that it was short biographies I expected it to be boring. Marias has a really fun, easy to read writing style and includes some wit and humour in his descriptions of the lives of the five people discussed in this book. Madame du Deffand and Djuna Barnes are people I knew nothing about, but he made them sound like unique and fun characters. Emily Bronte, Oscar Wilde and Vladimir Nabokov are all writers that I really like and respect, so hearing a little about them was great.
March 19, 2019
An interesting quick read that is reasonably pleasurable
To some up the people here in one word:
Madame du Deffand, whore.
Vladimir Nabokov, idiot.
Djuna Barnes, nobody.
Oscar Wilde, gentleman.
Emily Bronte, unfulfilled.
With Oscar Wilde it was a choice of gentleman, scoundrel or chap.
To some up the people here in one word:
Madame du Deffand, whore.
Vladimir Nabokov, idiot.
Djuna Barnes, nobody.
Oscar Wilde, gentleman.
Emily Bronte, unfulfilled.
With Oscar Wilde it was a choice of gentleman, scoundrel or chap.
January 11, 2024
I feared that a lack of knowledge about some of these authors would taint my enjoyment of this mini-biographies but if anything the opposite proved true. In a way, this serves as a delightful alternative to a Wikipedia article on each, where you can learn a little about the core personalities and traits of some of the most influential authors of recent centuries and leave feeling amused at their eccentricities or hedonism or dismayed at their tragedy.
March 31, 2019
Five stories about 5 great authors, that has been narrated with perfection. Usually a description of sorts of author's habits, nature and life can get a bit boring, but this book wasn't. Exceptional writing.
August 19, 2025
RIP Mrs. Wilde, you would have loved "Am I having a girl or an abortion?" On a serious note, this was such a fun and enlightening work.
August 16, 2019
Dudes why are these so short
Anyhow I enjoyed these deliciously, portraits of writers in their deaths and their enlarged lives. What are they doing now?
Anyhow I enjoyed these deliciously, portraits of writers in their deaths and their enlarged lives. What are they doing now?
June 28, 2019
Funny and entertaining!
June 9, 2025
Book 44 of Penguin Modern series of 50.
Evocative sketches of five people from history, including Oscar Wilde and Emily Bronte. Two of them I hadn't heard of (including Madame du Deffand). They were all interesting and done with a light touch. "Wry" also comes to mind. Incidentally, Madame du Deffand included herself in the "idiot" category. :)
Evocative sketches of five people from history, including Oscar Wilde and Emily Bronte. Two of them I hadn't heard of (including Madame du Deffand). They were all interesting and done with a light touch. "Wry" also comes to mind. Incidentally, Madame du Deffand included herself in the "idiot" category. :)
June 19, 2018
"Spain's greatest living writer" writes five sketches of famous (ish) writers. The best are those of the ones I knew least, in this case the women. Djuna seems the most interesting herein. Interesting, but by no means essential.
September 6, 2018
I didn’t know what I was really getting into with this one, but was pleasantly surprised. I love nonfiction to begin with, but these short little snippets into the lives of some famous authors was intriguing. Plus, I found a new author or two whose lives intrigued me to look into their writings.
June 13, 2018
Quite good quick, vignettes of different authors. Marías has a good ability to attribute personality to his characters. Nabakov in Raptures was a particular delight to read.
Read
September 15, 2019Talán ez lehet az első találkozásom kortárs spanyol szerzővel, és nagyon jól sikerült, Ezek a rövid esszé-szerű, irodalomtörténeti írásai viszont nem fikciós művek, inkább ismeretterjesztő írások, amikben a világirodalom többé-kevésbé ismert alakjairól mesél nekünk Marías, magával ragadó, szórakoztató stílusban, informatívan, látható élvezettel. Szakértelme szintén látható, ám nagyon felhasználóbarát. Az egész vékony füzet óhatatlanul felidézi bennem Szerb Antal két vaskos kötetnyi irodalomtörténetét, ha nem is fókuszában (hiszen Marías nem szakmai, sokkal inkább a kevéssé nyilvános, életrajzi szempontból közelít alanyaira. Ez nagyon jól veszi ki magát, még akkor is, amikor olyasvalaki életrajzába nyerek bepilantást, akinek (nyilván nem dicsekvésből mondom) egyáltalán nem ismerem a munkásságát. Úgy tűnik, tényleg mindenki érdekes lesz, amikor Javier Marías érdeklődéssel ír róla.
Margaret Jull Costa angol fordítása gördülékeny, választékos, humort is visszaadó szöveg. A Penguin modern füzetsorozat lényegében összes többi darabja is érdekesnek tűnt, ám hogy épp erre estett a választásom, annak a hátterében pedig olvasó-életrajzi okok vannak. Amikor először vásároltam könyvet akkor új lakhelyemen, a nyelvközeg teljes áthatolhatatlansága miatt nyilvánvaló volt angol fordítású világirodalmat keresni magamnak. Akkor egy Dosztojevszkij kötet integetett nekem az antikvárium polcáról, erről a könyvről bővebben itt írtam: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... Most pedig búcsúzáskor néztem könyv után, és mit ad isten, újabb idiótás címűt találtam magamnak. Micsoda hülye véletlen! Már csak ezért is megéri időnként költözködni.
Margaret Jull Costa angol fordítása gördülékeny, választékos, humort is visszaadó szöveg. A Penguin modern füzetsorozat lényegében összes többi darabja is érdekesnek tűnt, ám hogy épp erre estett a választásom, annak a hátterében pedig olvasó-életrajzi okok vannak. Amikor először vásároltam könyvet akkor új lakhelyemen, a nyelvközeg teljes áthatolhatatlansága miatt nyilvánvaló volt angol fordítású világirodalmat keresni magamnak. Akkor egy Dosztojevszkij kötet integetett nekem az antikvárium polcáról, erről a könyvről bővebben itt írtam: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... Most pedig búcsúzáskor néztem könyv után, és mit ad isten, újabb idiótás címűt találtam magamnak. Micsoda hülye véletlen! Már csak ezért is megéri időnként költözködni.
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March 1, 2025madame du deffand and the idiots: equally wretched, the angel and the oyster. the misfortune lies in having been born at all.
nabokov in raptures: moving and artificial books, unread letters, dostoevsky the cheap sensationalist, dr freud the medieval viennese quack, and it's all for véra
djuna barnes in silence: she spent most of her time failing to write, and yet whatever little she wrote (in the context of her large life) lingers. that's oddly inspiring.
oscar wilde after prison: everything that happens to me is symbolic and irrevocable. i am dying beyond my means
emily brontë, the silent major: knew nothing in life of the passions she so skilfully described in wuthering heights; the supernatural hovers over her one novel from first page to last.
nabokov in raptures: moving and artificial books, unread letters, dostoevsky the cheap sensationalist, dr freud the medieval viennese quack, and it's all for véra
djuna barnes in silence: she spent most of her time failing to write, and yet whatever little she wrote (in the context of her large life) lingers. that's oddly inspiring.
oscar wilde after prison: everything that happens to me is symbolic and irrevocable. i am dying beyond my means
emily brontë, the silent major: knew nothing in life of the passions she so skilfully described in wuthering heights; the supernatural hovers over her one novel from first page to last.
January 23, 2023
Madame du Deffand and the Idiots is a collection of five brief biographies of writers.
Marías is a good writer, but this felt like a very odd book. It felt out of place as one of these small blue books, and the biographies almost felt unsolicited. It wasn't what I wanted and I did not like it. Even if the biographies were fine. I also don't like how whoever decided on the book's title felt the need to choose this one exactly. It feels like it implies that the subjects of the books are idiots.
Regardless I didn't enjoy this. 1 star.
Marías is a good writer, but this felt like a very odd book. It felt out of place as one of these small blue books, and the biographies almost felt unsolicited. It wasn't what I wanted and I did not like it. Even if the biographies were fine. I also don't like how whoever decided on the book's title felt the need to choose this one exactly. It feels like it implies that the subjects of the books are idiots.
Regardless I didn't enjoy this. 1 star.
July 30, 2023
This was a nice little palate cleanser in the middle of a depressing read. I loved the profiles of Madame Du Deffand, Nabakov and Djuna Barnes but I thought the way that Marias treated Wilde was not delicate enough.
Overall enjoyable read, Marias’ profile writing is amazing, especially the way he focuses on a particular theme and makes convincing connections between instances which give the profiles a great flow.
Overall enjoyable read, Marias’ profile writing is amazing, especially the way he focuses on a particular theme and makes convincing connections between instances which give the profiles a great flow.
July 5, 2019
Five great author biographies / character studies. Marías describes the lives (or episodes thereof) of these literary figures with such grace and wit, that it becomes almost irrelevant if one's read "Lolita" or has ever heard of the name Du Deffand before. These essays can just as easily be enjoyed without any of this knowledge, and testify of Marías' skill and love.
January 26, 2021
3.5 rounded up.
I had never read Javier Marias before so didn't know what to expect. For the most part I didn't particularly enjoy these portraits except for the final two on Oscar Wilde and Emily Bronte. It is for those two essays that I have given the higher star rating as they were what I would like to read more of about other authors.
I had never read Javier Marias before so didn't know what to expect. For the most part I didn't particularly enjoy these portraits except for the final two on Oscar Wilde and Emily Bronte. It is for those two essays that I have given the higher star rating as they were what I would like to read more of about other authors.
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December 30, 2024Five essays on writers - deliciously irreverent, almost to the point of being camp. How else to describe the idea that Oscar Wilde, after the trauma of going to prison and losing everything, stopped writing out of - laziness? But that might have been the only true over the top moment here. Overall I enjoyed this introduction to Javier Marias and I'm excited to read more by him.
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