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doriastories 's review for:
Real People
by Alison Lurie
A confession: I picked this book up from the library because Alison Lurie was a friend of my late grandmother, who thought highly of her (Lurie's) work. They met at Yaddo, the famous artists' colony in Saratoga, and Lurie had the nerve to write a "novel" about the place. My grandmother praised it, both for the fine writing and the vivid truthfulness of its telling. Barely half-way through, I fully agree with her assessment.
It's a marvelous, honest, cleanly-written book. However, key members of the Yaddo establishment were furious at Lurie, both at her having broken the solemn taboo against Yaddo "guests" describing its edenic nature to the prurient uninitiated, and for her having painted a too-true portrait of then-director Elizabeth Ames' spoiled, bored, unartistic daughter, who had a penchant for idly seducing male guests. My grandmother recalled a conversation she overheard about the book, between a new guest and a Yaddo staff member: "Did Ms. Lurie write it after her first visit to Yaddo?" "No, after her LAST visit."
Ms. Lurie must have known the risk that she was taking in writing and publishing "Real People": like Eve, she would be forever barred from returning to Yaddo and partaking of its luxurious ambient - fruitful to so many artists and writers for generations - and the cachet bestowed on the chosen ones fortunate enough to enjoy repeated stays and their resultant productivity. But this was a book that needed to be written, if only to immortalize a kind of magical Otherworld, to peep like Actaeon at the nymphs and demi-Gods at play. And the gossip - never mind that its 40 years old - still tastes fresh and juicy! The dialogue is written as if for a play, and the novel's narrator includes notes for possible short stories in between her perceptive and humanizing remarks. Impossible to describe how engaging this book is. Teasingly, the names of "real people" (including my grandmother!) are included side by side with thinly disguised pseudonyms of other "real people". No doubt sensibilities were inflamed and assaulted, but bravo to Ms. Lurie for sharing! The book is probably a better read now than it was in the '60s.
It's a marvelous, honest, cleanly-written book. However, key members of the Yaddo establishment were furious at Lurie, both at her having broken the solemn taboo against Yaddo "guests" describing its edenic nature to the prurient uninitiated, and for her having painted a too-true portrait of then-director Elizabeth Ames' spoiled, bored, unartistic daughter, who had a penchant for idly seducing male guests. My grandmother recalled a conversation she overheard about the book, between a new guest and a Yaddo staff member: "Did Ms. Lurie write it after her first visit to Yaddo?" "No, after her LAST visit."
Ms. Lurie must have known the risk that she was taking in writing and publishing "Real People": like Eve, she would be forever barred from returning to Yaddo and partaking of its luxurious ambient - fruitful to so many artists and writers for generations - and the cachet bestowed on the chosen ones fortunate enough to enjoy repeated stays and their resultant productivity. But this was a book that needed to be written, if only to immortalize a kind of magical Otherworld, to peep like Actaeon at the nymphs and demi-Gods at play. And the gossip - never mind that its 40 years old - still tastes fresh and juicy! The dialogue is written as if for a play, and the novel's narrator includes notes for possible short stories in between her perceptive and humanizing remarks. Impossible to describe how engaging this book is. Teasingly, the names of "real people" (including my grandmother!) are included side by side with thinly disguised pseudonyms of other "real people". No doubt sensibilities were inflamed and assaulted, but bravo to Ms. Lurie for sharing! The book is probably a better read now than it was in the '60s.