The item you selected has ended, but we found something similar.

Picture 1 of 1

Stock photo

Eleonora Duse: A Biography - Picture 1 of 1

Eleonora Duse : A Biography by Helen Sheehy (2003, Hardcover)

Be the first towrite a review.

ZBK Books (95834)
98.9% positive feedback

Price:

$16.52

Free shipping

Estimated delivery Wed, May 29 - Sat, Jun 1

Returns:

30 days returns. Buyer pays for return shipping.

Condition:

Brand New

You are purchasing a New copy of 'Eleonora Duse: A Biography'.

About this product

Product Information

A new biography, the first in two decades, of the legendary actress who inspired Anton Chekhov, popularized Henrik Ibsen, and spurred Stanislavski to create a new theory of acting based on her art and to invoke her name at every rehearsal. Writers loved her and wrote plays for her. She be-friended Rainer Maria Rilke and inspired the young James Joyce, who kept a portrait of her on his desk. Her greatest love, the poet d'Annunzio, made her the heroine of his novel Il fuoco (The Flame). She radically changed the art of acting: in a duel between the past and the future, she vanquished her rival, Sarah Bernhardt. Chekhov said of her, "I've never seen anything like it. Looking at Duse, I realized why the Russian theatre is such a bore." Charlie Chaplin called her "the finest thing I have seen on the stage." Gloria Swanson and Lillian Gish watched her perform with adoring attention, John Barrymore with awe. Shaw said she "touches you straight on the very heart." When asked about her acting, Duse responded that, quite simply, it came from life. Except for one short film, Duse's art has been lost. Despite dozens of books about her, her story is muffled by legend and myth. The sentimental image that prevails is of a misty, tragic heroine victimized by men, by life; an artist of unearthly purity, without ambition. Now Helen Sheehy, author of the much admired biography of Eva Le Gallienne, gives us a different Duse-a woman of strength and resolve, a woman who knew pain but could also inflict it. "Life is hard," she said, "one must wound or be wounded." She wanted to reveal on the stage the truth about women's lives and she wanted her art to endure. Drawing on newly discovered material, including Duse's own memoir, and unpublished letters and notes, Sheehy brings us to an understanding of the great actress's unique ways of working: Duse acting out of her sense of her character's inner life, Duse anticipating the bold aspects of modernism and performing with a sexual freedom that shocked and thrilled audiences. She edited her characters' lines to bare skeletons, asked for the simplest sets and costumes. Where other actresses used hysterics onstage, Duse used stillness. Sheehy writes about the Duse that the actress herself tried to hide-tracing her life from her childhood as a performing member of a family of actors touring their repertory of drama and commedia dell'arte through Italy. We follow her through her twenties and through the next four decades of commissioning and directing plays, running her own company, and illuminating a series of great roles that included Emile Zola's Thérèse Raquin, Marguerite in Dumas's La Dame aux camélias, Nora in Ibsen's A Doll's House, and Hedda in his Hedda Gabler. When she thought her beauty was fading at fifty-one, she gave up the stage, only to return to the theatre in her early sixties; she traveled to America and enchanted audiences across the country. She died as she was born-on tour. Sheehy's illuminating book brings us as close as we have ever been to the woman and the artist. From the Hardcover edition.

Product Identifiers

Publisher
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
ISBN-10
0375400176
ISBN-13
9780375400179
eBay Product ID (ePID)
2370681

Product Key Features

Book Title
Eleonora Duse : a Biography
Author
Helen Sheehy
Format
Hardcover
Language
English
Topic
Entertainment & Performing Arts
Publication Year
2003
Genre
Biography & Autobiography
Number of Pages
400 Pages

Dimensions

Item Length
9.5in
Item Height
1.4in
Item Width
6.5in
Item Weight
26.9 Oz

Additional Product Features

Lc Classification Number
Pn2688.D8s48 2002
Copyright Date
2002
Target Audience
Trade
Lccn
2002-033997
Dewey Decimal
792/.028/092 B
Dewey Edition
21
Illustrated
Yes

All listings for this product

item 1 Eleonora Duse: A Biography by Sheehy, Helen
$5.24
Free shipping
item 2 Eleonora Duse: A Biography by Sheehy, Helen
$5.60
Free shipping
item 3 Eleonora Duse : A Biography Hardcover Helen Sheehy
$6.03
Free shipping
item 4 Eleonora Duse: A Biography by Sheehy, Helen
$6.21
Free shipping
item 5 Eleonora Duse: A Biography by Sheehy, Helen
$6.34
Free shipping
item 6 Eleonora Duse: A Biography by Sheehy
$3.99
+$9.99 shipping
item 7 Eleonora Duse: A Biography
$16.52
Free shipping

See all 12

Best Selling in Books

See all

Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best Selling in Books

The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies by Claude Davis (2018, Paperback)
4.8 out of 5 stars based on 384 product ratings
$55.99 New
$39.99 Used
Outlive Gifford Bil (2023,Paperback)
4.8 out of 5 stars based on 8 product ratings
$11.75 New
$8.99 Used
Sick Fux by Tillie Cole (2017, Trade Paperback)
4.5 out of 5 stars based on 2 product ratings
$19.85 New
---- Used
Trading in the Zone : Master the Market with Confidence, Discipline, and a Winning Attitude by Mark Douglas (2001, Hardcover)
4.9 out of 5 stars based on 26 product ratings
$11.99 New
---- Used
The Empyrean Ser.: Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros (2023, Hardcover)
5.0 out of 5 stars based on 3 product ratings
$14.98 New
$13.18 Used
Ugly's Electrical References, 2023 Edition by Charles R. Miller (2023, Spiral)
4.9 out of 5 stars based on 15 product ratings
$11.19 New
$9.95 Used
Forgiving What You Can't Forget : Discover How to Move on, Make Peace with Painful Memories, and Create a Life That's Beautiful Again by Lysa TerKeurst (2020, Hardcover)
4.9 out of 5 stars based on 24 product ratings
$9.91 New
$9.12 Used

Save on Books

Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Save on Books

Tom Selleck SIGNED BOOK You Never Know A Memoir 1ST EDITION Hardcover In Hand
$50.00
Trending at $60.00
The Candlestick Course by Steve Nison (Paperback, English ) Free Shipping 📚
$9.97
Trending at $12.90
Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins ( Paperback ) - Sealed
$7.99
Trending at $11.91
Apocrypha, The Geneva Bible 1560 large Print: The Complete Texts Rejected from t
$19.97
Trending at $21.01
MIFEPRISTONE: Ultimate Guide To Using Mifepristone A Safe & Effective Option For
$10.99
Trending at $12.49
You Like It Darker : Stories by Stephen King (2024, Hardcover)
$19.95
Trending at $27.40

Shop by category

Picture 1 of 1

Eleonora Duse : A Biography by Helen Sheehy (2003, Hardcover)

About this product

Product Information

Product Identifiers

Product Key Features

Dimensions

Additional Product Features

All listings for this product

item 1 Eleonora Duse: A Biography by Sheehy, Helen

item 2 Eleonora Duse: A Biography by Sheehy, Helen

item 3 Eleonora Duse : A Biography Hardcover Helen Sheehy

item 4 Eleonora Duse: A Biography by Sheehy, Helen

item 5 Eleonora Duse: A Biography by Sheehy, Helen

item 6 Eleonora Duse: A Biography by Sheehy

item 7 Eleonora Duse: A Biography

Best Selling in Books

The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies by Claude Davis (2018, Paperback)

Outlive Gifford Bil (2023,Paperback)

Sick Fux by Tillie Cole (2017, Trade Paperback)

Trading in the Zone : Master the Market with Confidence, Discipline, and a Winning Attitude by Mark Douglas (2001, Hardcover)

The Empyrean Ser.: Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros (2023, Hardcover)

Ugly's Electrical References, 2023 Edition by Charles R. Miller (2023, Spiral)

Forgiving What You Can't Forget : Discover How to Move on, Make Peace with Painful Memories, and Create a Life That's Beautiful Again by Lysa TerKeurst (2020, Hardcover)

Save on Books

Tom Selleck SIGNED BOOK You Never Know A Memoir 1ST EDITION Hardcover In Hand

The Candlestick Course by Steve Nison (Paperback, English ) Free Shipping 📚

Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins ( Paperback ) - Sealed

Apocrypha, The Geneva Bible 1560 large Print: The Complete Texts Rejected from t

MIFEPRISTONE: Ultimate Guide To Using Mifepristone A Safe & Effective Option For

You Like It Darker : Stories by Stephen King (2024, Hardcover)

You may also like

Fiction Hardcover Victoria Helen Stone Books

Fiction Hardcover Victoria Helen Stone Books in English

Biography & Autobiography Hardcover Antiquarian & Collectible Books

Biography & Autobiography Hardcover Signed Antiquarian & Collectible Books

Biographies & True Stories Nonfiction Hardcovers Books in German

Biography & Autobiography Hardcover Antiquarian & Collectible Books in Russian