Stormy Boastful, and Tender Letters By Distinguished Sons—From Dostoevsky to Elvis
November 15, 1997
Gordon (The Transitive Vampire, Times Bks., 1984) and freelance journalist Johnson have assembled a collection of letters home by writers whose common bond is fame. Contributors include inter alios Gustave Mahler, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jack Kerouac, Paul Klee, and Elvis Presley. The letters range from the banal ("I am sending you my dirty laundry," Gustave Courbet) to William Faulkner's lovely description of the Luxembourg Gardens and Toulouse-Lautrec's charming letter to his aunt's dog on the birth of a new litter. The letters are grouped according to the age of the writer, from youth to maturity. The collection contains a sprinkling of missives from mothers to their sons, including some of the most interesting ones in the book, e.g., Sarah Bernhardt's description of a boat trip to South America and Jeanne Proust's observations of English tourists in the Louvre. Not a scholarly production aimed at revealing the actual relationships between the men and their mothers, it is a diverting but insubstantial selection of letters penned by the famous. Recommended for public libraries.--Caroline A. Mitchell, Washington, D.C.