The Pen and the Brush
  • Published: 15 February 2017
  • ISBN: 9781590518052
  • Imprint: Other Press
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 240
  • RRP: $39.99

The Pen and the Brush

How Passion for Art Shaped Nineteenth-Century French Novels

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A scintillating glimpse into the lives of acclaimed writers and artists and their inspiring, often surprising convergences, from the author of Monsieur Proust's Library

A scintillating glimpse into the lives of acclaimed writers and artists and their inspiring, often surprising convergences, from the author of Monsieur Proust's Library
 
With the wit and penetration well known to readers of Anka Muhlstein’s previous books, The Pen and the Brush revisits the delights of the French novel. This time she focuses on late 19th- and 20th-century writers--Balzac, Zola, Proust, Huysmans, and Maupassant--through the lens of their passionate involvement with the fine arts. She delves into the crucial role that painters play as characters in their novels, which she pairs with an exploration of the profound influence that painting exercised on the novelists' techniques, offering an intimate view of the intertwined worlds of painters and writers at the time.
 
Muhlstein's deftly chosen vignettes bring to life a portrait of the nineteenth century's tight-knit artistic community, where Cézanne and Zola befriended each other as boys and Balzac yearned for the approval of Delacroix. She leads the reader on a journey of spontaneous discovery as she explores how a great painting can open a mind and spark creative fire.
  • Published: 15 February 2017
  • ISBN: 9781590518052
  • Imprint: Other Press
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 240
  • RRP: $39.99
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Praise for The Pen and the Brush

Praise for Monsieur Proust's Library:

"This gemlike exploration of the literary underpinnings of A la recherche du temps perdu reveals a Marcel Proust who did not so much read books as "absorb" them." --The New Yorker

"With Monsieur Proust's Library, Anka Muhlstein has added another volume to the collection of splendid books about Proust. A woman of intellectual refinement, subtle understanding and deep literary culture...Ms. Muhlstein is an excellent provisioner of high-quality intellectual goods." --The Wall Street Journal

"...Anka Muhlstein's Monsieur Proust's Library, which looks at In Search of Lost Time by way of the books that Proust himself read and the way they influenced both the book and its characters, has become a permanent addition to my Proust library, and is a must read both for Proustians and want-to-be Proustians alike...It's a marvelous book." --Publishing Perspectives

"Muhlstein shows admirable restraint, focusing on select topics to contextualize Proust's work in an accessible way...It's a quick read, and the tight focus and brisk, topical chapters offer an entrée to a work that is not always easy to penetrate." --The Coffin Factory