Wystan and Chester

by Thekla Clark

46 Members ½ (3.50)

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The first nuanced, personal portrait of Auden and Kallman's relationship of more than thirty years, Wystan and Chester opens a window on a central aspect of Auden's life that has been overlooked by most biographies and critical studies. In a series of witty, poignant, and occasionally disturbing vignettes, Clark recounts the artists at work and at play: the raucous, Bacchanalian dinner parties on Ischia and the quiet mornings of writing on the porch of their house in Kirchstetten, Austria. show more She chronicles the early years of their friendship, when Auden and Kallman became her young daughter Lisa's constant companions, and when their nurturing partnership helped to foster unparalleled creative output for both. Remembering also Kallman's steady decline in his later years, Clark paints a sympathetic picture of the talented and troubled artist and of Auden's abiding love for him. Clark's story is generously sprinkled with glimpses of Auden's eccentricities. She recollects his fascination with female anatomy and with the process of birth; his unusual mix of moral seriousness and intellectual frivolity; his love for church ritual and his conviction that homosexuality was wrong. show less

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4 Works 51 Members

Classifications

Genres
Biography & Memoir, Fiction and Literature, Literature Studies and Criticism, LGBTQ+
DDC/MDS
811.52Literature & rhetoricAmerican literature in EnglishAmerican poetry20th Century1900-1945
LCC
PR6001 .U4 .Z637Language and LiteratureEnglishEnglish Literature1900-1960
BISAC

Statistics

Members
46
Popularity
647,399
Rating
½ (3.50)
Languages
English
Media
Paper
ISBNs
6
ASINs
1