Creators (40 page)

Chapter 9: Victor Hugo: The Genius Without a Brain

1.
The Distance, the Shadows
, a translation by Harry Guest of sixty-six important poems (London, 1981), is the fairest attempt to bring Hugo’s poetry to an English-speaking audience.

2.
The first complete edition is called
Édition d’Imprimerie Nationale
, 45 vols. (Paris 1904–1952); a better one is
Édition Chronologique
, 18 vols., Jean Massin (Club Français de Livre 1967–1971); a third, eds. Jacques Seebacher and Guy Rosa, was published by Laffont in 15 vols. of what it called its “Bonquins” (1985–1990). H. Guillemin edited three volumes of
Oeuvres Poétiques
for
Pleiade
(1964–1974). The so-called 45 vols. of the complete works contain 4 vols. of correspondence, and there are various other selections. See bibliography in Graham Robb,
Victor Hugo
(London, 1997), pp. 634–637.

3.
Robb, 1997. There is no good French life—André Maurois,
Olympio
(1954), is the best. Herbert Juin,
Victor Hugo
, 3 vols. (Paris, 1980–1986), is the longest. Joanna Richardson,
Victor Hugo
(London, 1976), is also useful.

4.
For an annotated list see Stanley Sadie (ed.),
New Grove Dictionary of Music
(London, 1980), VIII, pp. 769–770.

5.
Honoré de Balzac,
Lettres à Madame Hauska
, 2 vols. (Paris, 1990), II, p.8.

6.
See his poem “Ce qui se passient aux Feuillantines,” from
Les Rayons et les Ombres, Oeuvres poetiques
(
Pleiade
edition, Paris), i, p. 1064.

7.
La Civilisation
,
Oeuvres complètes
, XII, p. 608.

8.
Les Misérables
, II, p. 362.

9.
A. Lambert,
Le Siège de Paris
(Paris, 1965), p. 336.

10.
Philip Mansel,
Paris between Empires
,
1814–1852
(London, 2001), p. 294.

11.
See Robb, 1997, p. 247. Robb gives a full account of the affair, pp. 241–272.

12.
Verlaine,
Oeuvres en Prose Complètes
(Paris, 1972), p. 107.

13.
This story may be
bien trouvé
rather than exact. When I lived in Paris, there were still people who had known acquaintances of Hugo and his family, and such stories abounded. I have forgotten the name of my informant, but he had held a high post in the administration of the former royal palaces of France. See Henri Guillemin,
Hugo et la Sexualité
(Paris, 1954), p. 134.

14.
For the funeral, see Robb, 1997, pp. 527ff.

15.
For Tennyson, see Robb, 1997, p. 515; for Thackeray, see Gordon N. Ray,
Letters and Private Papers of W. M. Thackeray
, 4 vols. (Oxford, 1945), I, p. 228; II, pp. 44, 139–154.

16.
Pilgrim Edition of the Letters of Charles Dickens,
12 vols. (Oxford, 1965–2002), X, p. 155; V, p. 15; VI, pp. 334–335.

Chapter 10: Mark Twain: How to Tell a Joke

1.
I have used for convenience the
Oxford Mark Twain
, ed. Shelley Fisher Fishkin, 27 vols. (1996), facsimile of the original editions. This is cheap, with (on the whole) excellent introductions by a variety of writers, and the original types and layouts give a flavor of the period. There is also, however,
a scholarly edition,
The Works of Mark Twain
, in process of publication for the Iowa Center for Textual Studies, by the University of California Press. This includes much previously uncollected work.

2.
Twain is best presented, as a phenomenon, by his
Speeches
, originally collected with an introduction by William Dean Howells, reprinted in the
Oxford Mark Twain
(1996), with an introduction by the actor Hal Holbrook. Holbrook toured the United States in a one-man show as Twain and made a study of Twain’s appearance and mannerisms.

3.
J. H. and R. Hagood,
Hannibal: Mark Twain’s Town
(Marcelline, Missouri, 1987). See also M. M. Brashear,
Mark Twain, Son of Missouri
(New York, 1964).

4.
See Randall Knoper,
Acting Naturally: Mark Twain in the Culture of Performance
(Berkeley, 1995).

5.
E. M. Branch,
The Literary Apprenticeship of Mark Twain
(Urbana, Illinois, 1950).

6.
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Sketches
forms a volume in the
Oxford Mark Twain
(1996), with an introduction by Roy Blount, Jr.

7.
Twain’s own voice was variously described as a “nasal twang,” or “a little buzz inside a corpse.” He was variously said to have a “Missouri drawl” or a “Down East” accent. See Paul Fatout,
Mark Twain on the Lecture Circuit
(Carbondale, Illinois, 1960).

8.
There are many biographies of Twain. The one I like best is Andrew Hoffman,
Inventing Mark Twain
(London, 1997), which has a good chapter on Twain lecturing, pp. 162–167.

9.
Fred W. Lorch,
The Trouble Begins at Eight: Mark Twain’s Lecture Tours
(Ames, Iowa, 1960).

10.
David R. Sewell,
Mark Twain’s Languages: Discourse, Dialogue, and Linguistic Variety
(Berkeley, 1981).

11.
It is important to note that
Pudd’nhead Wilson
, though dotted with one-liners and with each chapter headed by an aphorism, is in essence a story about the race problem.

12.
The best edition of the book I know is
Mark Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: The Only Comprehensive Edition
(Mark Twain Foundation, U.S.A.; London, 1996), with an introduction by Justin Kaplan and textual addenda by Victor Doyno. This also includes a facsimile of the original mss., an eye-opener.

Chapter 11: Tiffany: Through a Glass Darkly

1.
For an outstanding account of how glass is made, see Keith Cummings,
A History of Glassforming
(London, 2002).

2.
Susan Frank,
Glass and Archaeology
(London, 1982).

3.
For terms see H. Newman,
An Illustrated Dictionary of Glass
(London, 1977).

4.
H. Tait (ed.),
5000 Years of Glass
(London, 1991).

5.
D. Klein,
Glass: A Contemporary Art
(London, 1989); see also D. Klein and W. Lloyd,
The History of Glass
(London, 1984).

6.
M. Wiggington,
Glass in Architecture
(London, 1990).

7.
For the original firm of Tiffany, see J. Loring,
Tiffany’s 150 Years
(New York, 1987).

8.
For Tiffany silverware see W. P. Hood et al.,
Tiffany Silver Flatware
(London, 1999).

9.
See B. MacLean Ward and G. W. R. Ward,
Silver in American Life
(Yale, 1979–1982).

10.
For the influence of Inness, see Adrienne Baxter Bell,
George Inness and the Visionary Landscape
(New York, 2003).

11.
For Tiffany’s firm see “Dictionary of Firms and Artists” in the exhibition catalog
In Pursuit of Beauty: Americans and the Aesthetic Movement
(Metropolitan Museum, New York, 1986).

12.
Robert Koch,
Louis C. Tiffany: Rebel in Glass
(New York, 1964).

13.
For Tiffany’s stained-glass work, see Vivienne Couldrey,
The Art of Louis Comfort Tiffany
(London, 1989).

14.
Sarah Brown,
Stained Glass: An Illustrated History
(London, 1994).

15.
Catherine Brisac,
A Thousand Years of Stained Glass
, trans. (New Jersey, 1984).

16.
For illustrations of outstanding Tiffany glassware, see Paul Greenhalgh (ed.),
Art Nouveau 1890–1914
, exhibition catalog (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2000); Tod M. Volve and Beth Cathus,
Treasures of the American Arts and Crafts Movement 1890–1920
(London, 1988); Couldrey, 1989; and R. Koch,
Louis C. Tiffany: Glass, Bronzes, Lamps—A Complete Collector’s Guide
(New York, 1971).

17.
For the manufacture of favrile, see M. Amaya,
Tiffany Glass
(New York, 1967).

18.
See H. McKean,
The Lost Treasures of Louis Comfort Tiffany
(New York, 1980).

19.
For the house in Oyster Bay, see H. McKean,
Laurelton Hall: Tiffany’s Art Nouveau Mansion
(Winter Park, Florida, 1977).

20.
For the Tiffany revival, see A. Duncan,
Louis Comfort Tiffany
(New York, 1992).

Chapter 12: T. S. Eliot: The Last Poet to Wear Spats

1.
Lyndall Gordon,
Eliot’s Early Years
(Oxford, 1977).

2.
Peter Ackroyd,
T. S. Eliot
(London, 1984), pp. 30–54.

3.
See Gordon, 1977.

4.
Bertrand Russell,
Autobiography
(London, 1968), vol. 2. Letter to Lady Ottoline Morrell, 27 March 1914.

5.
Ackroyd, 1984, p. 54. Valerie Eliot (ed.),
The Letters of T. S. Eliot,
vol. 1,
1898–1922
(London, 1988), gives precious glimpses.

6.
Richard Aldington,
Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
(Hurst, Berkshire, 1954).

7.
For Pound, see Noel Stock,
The Life of Ezra Pound
(London, 1970); and D.D. Paige (ed.),
Letters of Ezra Pound
(London, 1951).

8.
For
The Waste Land
, see Valerie Eliot (ed.),
The Waste Land: A Facsimile and Transcript of the Original Drafts
(London, 1971).

9.
Cyril Connolly,
The Modern Movement
, 2 vols. (London, 2002), II, pp. 227ff.

10.
Helen Gardner,
The Composition of the Four Quartets
(London, 1978).

11.
Keith Alldritt,
Eliot’s Four Quartets: Poetry as Chamber Music
(London, 1978).

Chapter 13: Balenciaga and Dior: The Aesthetics of a Buttonhole

1.
D. de Marly,
The History of Haute Couture 1850–1950
(London, 1986).

2.
D. de Marly,
Worth: Father of Haute Couture
(London, 1990).

3.
R. Lynam (ed.),
Paris Fashion: The Great Designers and Their Creations
(London, 1972).

4.
See the fine volume
Balenciaga,
by Marie-Andrée Jouve, text by Jacqueline Demorne (trans., London, 1989).

5.
Edmonde Charles-Roux,
Le Temps Chanel
(Paris, 2004).

6.
Colin McDowell,
Forties Fashion and the New Look
(London, 1997).

7.
For Dior’s early life, see his autobiography,
Dior on Dior
(trans., London, 1957).

8.
Marie-France Pochna,
Christian Dior
(Paris, 2004).

Chapter 14: Picasso and Walt Disney: Room for Nature in a Modern World?

1.
J. Palau i Fabre,
Picasso en Cataluna
(Barcelona, 1966).

2.
For Picasso’s works see C. Zervos,
Pablo Picasso
, 33 vols. (Paris, 1932–1978).

3.
F. Fontbona,
Casas
(Barcelona, 1979).

4.
For Casas’s portrait drawings, see
Ramon Casas: Retrats al Carbo
, exhibition catalog, ed. C. Mendoza (Palacio Virreira, Barcelona, 1982).

5.
For Picasso’s portrait drawings, see John Richardson,
A Life of Picasso,
Vol. 1,
1881–1906
(London, 1991), pp. 146–147, where fourteen are illustrated; some drawings by Casas are shown on pp. 144–145.

6.
For the Barcelona art world and its competitiveness, see
Homage to Barcelona: The City and its Art, 1888–1936
, exhibiton catalog (Arts Council, London, 1986), especially pp. 149ff.