The Life of Astolphe De Custine

by Anka Muhlstein

Biography. Anka Muhlstein's lively biography, translated by Teresa Waugh, introduces American readers to Astolphe de Custine, a passionate literary figure, a poet, playwright, essayist, traveler, aristocrat and homosexual adventurer. Against the fascinating background of early-19th-century France, Anka Muhlstein presents the gifted if at times deplorable Custine with vivacity, elegance, and insight. It is a splendid introduction to the Marquis and his world and to his famous 1839 tour of autocratic Russia -- Daniel Aaron. Briliant, visionary, beautiful Astolphe -- man of letters and man of society -- finally gets his biography . . . -- French elle Magazine.

Genres: Biography

391 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1999

About the author

Anka Muhlstein was born in Paris in 1935. She has published biographies of Queen Victoria, James de Rothschild, Cavelier de La Salle, and Astolphe de Custine, a study on Catherine de Médicis, Marie de Médicis, and Anne of Austria, and a double biography, Elizabeth I and Mary Stuart. She is currently writing a volume on Proust as a reader. She has won two prizes from the Académie Française, and the Goncourt Prize for Biography. She and her husband, Louis Begley, have written a book on Venice, Venice for Lovers. They live in New York.

Reviews

[Christopher Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure whether my mediocre rating for the book is due to the writing which seemed superficial at times and just loaded with names, many of which are just dropped and left OR because I really didn't care much for Astolphe (the subtitle above is misspelled) and the quite superficial, casual, wandering, seemingly carefree life he was able to lead by reason of his social status and wealth. The book certainly paints an accurate and altogether not terribly complimentary picture of early 19th century France/Europe but then that's not really its purpose. Pity.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A somewhat uneven but nevertheless engrossing account of the author of one of the greatest books ever written about Russia (La Russie en 1839, or, in English, Letters from Russia). Muhlstein devotes almost as much space to Custine's mother as to himself, and she was a fascinating character, but it does unbalance the book somewhat. Custine, who was gay, had the courage (and the pedigree and the income) to live openly with his partner all his life. He seems to be a writer for this century, rather than the two last-- and it is to be hoped that more of his work, especially the letters to Rahel Varnhagen, will appear in English translation,

[Rachel Pollock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting enough, but it also felt oddly incomplete and distant. I'm not sure if something was lost in translation with respect to the original French, but by the time i got to the end of this book, i didn't feel like i knew much more about its subject than when i began.