Marie Tarnowska

Vivanti, Annie, 1866-1942Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 324K words
Chapters: 33

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Marie Tarnowska by Annie VivantiAuthor: Vivanti, Annie, 1866-1942,Language: English, Class: CT: History: Biography, Release Date: Jun 29, 2013

Editor's review

Annie Vivanti's Marie Tarnowska is a biographical work based on a real person: Marie Tarnowska, a Russian noblewoman who drew public attention in the early twentieth century. Vivanti was herself a writer and journalist, and her style has a clear reportorial quality: she is in no hurry to judge, but instead places her subject back into the social circle, the courtroom and the arena of public opinion, letting readers see how a person is shaped by status, emotion and the gaze of the age. The book's strength lies in its narrative pacing and organization of material; the author is skilled at moving the story forward through scenes and dialogue, so that the biography reads almost like nonfiction fiction while preserving the complexity and ambiguity of the events themselves. For readers who enjoy biographies of real people, early twentieth-century European social history or questions of women's fate, this is a book that is both informative and readable. It should be noted that the work carries the author's own observational perspective and should not be used as fully neutral historical material; readers who already have preconceptions about the subject should keep an open mind while reading.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy biographies of real people and nonfiction narrative
Readers interested in early twentieth-century European society and women's fate
Journalism and history enthusiasts concerned with courts, public opinion and celebrity image
General readers who want to understand the atmosphere of an era through an individual case

Not a good fit for

Scholarly readers who accept only fully neutral historical material and reject an author's perspective
Readers expecting fast-paced suspense or fiction
Readers completely unfamiliar with modern European social background who are unwilling to check references

Reading tips

Read the opening and closing sections first to grasp the author's basic attitude toward the subject, then go back and read the middle chapters closely.
While reading, note where the author's direct commentary ends and factual statement begins, and form your own judgment.
Read alongside background material on early twentieth-century European social history to understand the climate of public opinion.
After finishing, write a short review distinguishing the book's facts, the author's inferences and your own views.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a novel or a biography?

It belongs to biographical writing about a real person, though its narrative technique is close to nonfiction fiction, with reconstructed scenes and dialogue. Vivanti was herself a writer and journalist, and the book carries her observations and judgments; readers should treat it as a biography with an author's perspective, not a pure compilation of archives.

Can I read it without knowing the subject's background?

Yes. The author provides the necessary context about relationships and social background, and the narrative line is clear. For a deeper reading, you may first learn about early twentieth-century Russian aristocratic social circles and the European climate of public opinion, then move into the main text.

How credible is the content?

The main events have a basis in reality, but the author's scene descriptions and character psychology involve literary treatment, and some commentary reflects the author's own position. It is advisable to separate the factual framework from the author's inferences, and to check contemporary sources separately for key events.

Comments

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About the author

Vivanti, Annie, 1866-1942 Author

Annie Vivanti (Vivanti, Annie, 1866-1942) was an Italian writer; the library holds eleven of her works, mostly classified under inspirational growth. Her output centres on novels, with representative titles including ...Sorella di Messalina, I divoratori, Vae victis!, Gioia! and Naja tripudians, as well as the play Le bocche inutili and the travel account A Journey to Crete, Costantinople, Naples and Florence. Judging from these titles and genres, her writing engages with social and family ethics, individual destiny and emotional conflict, and she also tried her hand at drama and travel sketches. Public information is limited: biographical details, nationality and exact dates are not documented in the library, so readers may approach her place and influence in Italian literature through the themes and narrative style of these works.