Creating Literature Out of Life: The Making of Four Masterpieces - Softcover

Alexander, Doris

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0271026111 ISBN 13: 9780271026114

Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1996

Synopsis

An exploration of the creative process in four classic works: Death in Venice, Treasure Island, The Rubáiyát of Mar Khayyám, and War and Peace. Creating Literature Out of Life examines four very dissimilar masterpieces and their authors in search of evidence that will answer some of the many questions in the great mystery of creativity. Crossing boundaries of period, nation, and genre, the study looks into the "why" and "how" of the creation of Thomas Mann's Death in Venice, Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, Edward FitzGerald's The Rubáiyát of Mar Khayyám, and Lev Tolstoy's War and Peace.

Doris Alexander finds that each of these works was compelled by an urgent life problem of its author, some of them partly conscious, others completely unconscious, which worked in harmony and counterpoint with the author's conscious theme to shape his work. She traces an interconnected nexus of memories&;personal experiences, ideas, readings&;that came alive in response to the author's problem and served as a reservoir out of which his characters, his images, his story line, and the emotional tone of his work emerged. Creating Literature Out of Life tells the exciting story of how Mann, Stevenson, FitzGerald, and Tolstoy fought out their major life battles in their works.

About this title

About the Author

After teaching at the City University of New York for many years, Doris Alexander is an independent scholar living in Italy. She is the author of, most recently, Eugene O'Neill's Creative Struggle (Penn State, 1992) and Creating Characters with Charles Dickens (Penn State, 1991).

From the Back Cover

Creating Literature Out of Life examines four very dissimilar masterpieces and their authors in search of evidence that will answer some of the many questions in the great mystery of creativity. Crossing boundaries of period, nation, and genre, the study looks into the "why" and "how" of the creation of Thomas Mann's Death in Venice, Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, Edward FitzGerald's The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and Lev Tolstoy's War and Peace. Doris Alexander finds that each of these works was compelled by an urgent life problem of its author, some of them partly conscious, others completely unconscious, which worked in harmony and counterpoint with the author's conscious theme to shape his work. She traces an interconnected nexus of memories - personal experiences, ideas, readings - that came alive in response to the author's problem and served as a reservoir out of which his characters, his images, his story line, and the emotional tone of his work emerged. Creating Literature Out of Life tells the exciting story of how Mann, Stevenson, FitzGerald, and Tolstoy fought out their major life battles in their works.

Edition details

• Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0271026111
• ISBN 13: 9780271026114
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 264