Opera di Cera - Softcover

Kelley Swain

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1908853360 ISBN 13: 9781908853363

Publisher: Valley Press, 2014

Synopsis

In her magnificent new verse drama, Kelley Swain takes us to 18th-century Florence, where the Museum of Physics and Natural History is creating its most famous waxwork, the anatomical Venus: a life-sized female figure who comes apart to reveal a foetus in the womb.

Yet behind the exquisite craftsmanship and beauty of the finished waxwork lies an extraordinary tale; a macabre romance which plunges the reader into a sensual underworld of gluttony and lust, perfection and power. The fates of model, modeller, Museum Director and the deformed porter Cintio are soon intertwined; but who is watching whom as the Venus nears completion?

In Opera di Cera, Swain combines Pygmalion myth and historical research to create a unique, compelling and stunningly poetic literary achievement; a tale of triumph and tragedy, of dissection, bondage, love and sacrifice - a tale that will have you gripped down to the final, chilling lines.

About this title

About the Author

Kelley Swain was born in Rhode Island, 1985. She is the author of Darwin's Microscope (Flambard Press, 2009), Atlantic (Cinnamon Press, 2014), editor of The Rules of Form: Sonnets and Slide Rules (Whipple Museum, 2012) and Pocket Horizon (with Don Paterson: Valley Press, 2013). She is a freelance writer and educator in poetry, science, and the medical humanities. She lives in London. Find her on Twitter @thenakedmuse.

Edition details

• Publisher: Valley Press
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1908853360
• ISBN 13: 9781908853363
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 88