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It's ironic, then, that In America revolves around a regular paragon of self-consciousness: a brilliant Polish diva named Maryna Zalezowska. The year is 1876, and this Bernhardt-like figure has decided to abandon the stage and establish a utopian commune in (you guessed it) California. Not exactly a logical career move, is it? Yet this journey to America does involve a major feat of self-reinvention, for which Maryna may be uniquely qualified. Writing a letter home from the brave new world of Hoboken, New Jersey, she argues against the idea that "life cannot be restarted, that we are all prisoners of whatever we have become." And once she arrives in Anaheim with her husband, child, and fellow utopians in tow, she does seem to slough off the skin of her older, European self. She is now that exotic creature, an American, existing in an equally exotic landscape--which happens to elicit some of Sontag's most lyrical prose:
They had never felt as erect, as vertical, their skin brushed by the hot Santa Ana wind, their ears lulled by the oddly intrusive sound of their own footfalls.... Hardly anything is near anything here: those slouching braided sentinels, the yucca trees, and bouquets of drooping spears, the agaves, and the squat clusters of prickly pears, all so widely spaced, so unresembling--and nothing had to do with anything else.Like every utopia in human history, Maryna's is a failure. Following its collapse, she is moved to return to the theater--but as an American, now, plugged securely into the middlebrow culture of her adopted land. The rest of the novel charts her brilliant career among the philistines, along with a number of heated erotic detours.
Given its subject matter, Sontag's novel is oddly anti-dramatic: she juggles a half-dozen narrative strategies but seldom allows us to sink our teeth into a prolonged scene. Yet she delivers a great many other riches by way of compensation. Her take on the perils and pleasures of expatriation is worthy of Henry James (who actually makes a cameo appearance, assuring Maryna that England and America will morph into "one big Anglo-Saxon total.") And she includes a superbly entertaining portrait of theatrical life, culminating in a virtuoso monologue from Edwin Booth that suggests a Gilded Age Samuel Beckett. As always, there is the pleasure of watching the author's formidable intelligence at work, immersing us in the details of a character or landscape and then surfacing for a deep draught of abstraction. Perhaps Sontag is too cerebral to ever produce a straightforward work of fiction. But this time around, anyway, she brings both brains and literary brawn to bear on what Henry James himself called "the complex fate" of being an American. --James Marcus
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. 'A counter-romance, alternately hilarious and tragic'Christopher Hitchens, Vanity FairIt is 1876 and Poland's greatest actress, Maryna Zalezowska, is setting off for the new world. At thirty-five she has decided to start a new life and so, accompanied by her family and entourage, emigrates to the US to found a 'utopian commune' in California. When the commune fails, Maryna stays, and reinvents herself again, rocketing to worldwide fame as a theatrical diva, who makes audiences weep and who, it seems, is unstoppable. Based on the real life of a celebrated Polish actress, this lush, expansive and multilayered novel is a richly detailed portrayal of a woman's self-transformation, of love, idealism, play-acting and how we all see ourselves.'Brave and beautiful . . . a story that tells many stories with elan, intelligence and delight' Washington Post Book World A story inspired by the emigration to America in 1876 of Helena Modrzejewska, Poland's most celebrated actress, accompanied by her husband, Count Karol Chlapowski, her fifteen-year-old son, Rudolf, the young journalist and future author of "Quo Vadis", Henryk Sienkiewicz, and a few friends; their brief sojourn in Anaheim, California. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780141190105
Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Language: ENG. Seller Inventory # 9780141190105
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. 400 pages. 7.72x5.16x1.06 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # __0141190108
Book Description Paperback / softback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days. A story inspired by the emigration to America in 1876 of Helena Modrzejewska, Poland's most celebrated actress, accompanied by her husband, Count Karol Chlapowski, her fifteen-year-old son, Rudolf, the young journalist and future author of "Quo Vadis", Henryk Sienkiewicz, and a few friends; their brief sojourn in Anaheim, California. Seller Inventory # B9780141190105
Book Description Condition: New. 2009. Paperback. A story inspired by the emigration to America in 1876 of Helena Modrzejewska, Poland's most celebrated actress, accompanied by her husband, Count Karol Chlapowski, her fifteen-year-old son, Rudolf, the young journalist and future author of "Quo Vadis", Henryk Sienkiewicz, and a few friends; their brief sojourn in Anaheim, California. Series: Penguin Modern Classics. Num Pages: 400 pages. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 202 x 129 x 24. Weight in Grams: 296. . . . . . Seller Inventory # V9780141190105
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Book Description Condition: New. 2009. Paperback. A story inspired by the emigration to America in 1876 of Helena Modrzejewska, Poland's most celebrated actress, accompanied by her husband, Count Karol Chlapowski, her fifteen-year-old son, Rudolf, the young journalist and future author of "Quo Vadis", Henryk Sienkiewicz, and a few friends; their brief sojourn in Anaheim, California. Series: Penguin Modern Classics. Num Pages: 400 pages. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 202 x 129 x 24. Weight in Grams: 296. . . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # V9780141190105
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Book Description PAP. Condition: New. New Book. Shipped from UK. Established seller since 2000. Seller Inventory # GB-9780141190105
Book Description Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - The story of In America is inspired by the emigration to America in 1876 of Helena Modrzejewska, Poland's most celebrated actress, accompanied by her husband, Count Karol Chlapowski, her fifteen-year-old son, Rudolf, the young journalist and future author of Quo Vadis, Henryk Sienkiewicz, and a few friends; their brief sojourn in Anaheim, California; and Modrzejewska's subsequent triumphant career on the American stage under the name Helena Modjeska. Seller Inventory # 9780141190105