Tante

by Anne Douglas Sedgwick

This novel concerns the destructive relationship between a concert pianist and her young protégée. Born in New Jersey, Sedgwick lived abroad after age nine, and her books explore, after the manner of Henry James, the contrasting values of Americans and Europeans.

Library Binding

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Anne Douglas Sedgwick (28 March 1873 – 19 July 1935) was an American-born British writer. The daughter of a businessman, she was born in Englewood, New Jersey but at age nine her family moved to London. Although she made return visits to the United States, she lived in England for the remainder of her life.
In 1908, she married the British essayist and journalist, Basil de Sélincourt. During World War I she and her husband were volunteer workers in hospitals and orphanages in France.
Her novels explored the contrast in values between Americans and Europeans. Her best-selling novel Tante was made into a 1919 film, The Impossible Woman and The Little French Girl into a 1925 film of the same name. In 1931, she was elected to the United States National Institute of Arts and Letters. Four of her books were on the list of bestselling novels in the United States for 1912, 1924, 1927, and 1929 as determined by the New York Times.
Anne Douglas Sedgwick died in Hampstead, England in 1935.[1] The following year her husband published Anne Douglas Sedgwick: A Portrait in Letters.[2]

Reviews

[L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Baroness Mercedes von Marwitz is burdened with the celebrity life of sycophants and adoring fans (think The Oprah) but she's not about to give up her place in the spot light (again think The Oprah). She is the guardian, or 'Tante', to a young woman named Karen Woodruff. When Karen dares to marry lawyer Gregory Jardine, Tante transforms into a passive aggressive monster-in-law that husbands throughout the ages have feared and loathed. Let the games begin!

[Susan]

1912 Current day London and Cornwall romance

[Patrizia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Il romanzo è stato scritto nel 1912, da una scrittrice a me finora ignota, che non mancherò di coltivare. L'ho trovato magnifico: la protagonista, una pianista di fama mondiale, adorata e venerata da una piccola, esclusiva corte di ciechi ammiratori, viene progressivamente messa a nudo, con le sue furie, i suoi piccoli dispetti, la sua (alla fine) quasi commovente mancanza di principi morali. La storia di questo personaggio si intreccia con quella della sua protegée, Karen, alla quale, per gelosia, la tanto amata 'Tante' cerca fino all'ultimo di negare il diritto a una vita propria.
Feroci e insieme deliziosi i quadri d'insieme; acuta la rappresentazione del giovane marito di Karen, Mr. Jardine, incapace di accettare il milieu della pur amata sposa; superba la figura di Mrs Talbott, la vecchia 'nutrice' della protagonista, l'unica che si dimostrerà capace di ridurla alla ragione.