Lola Montez: A Life [Paperback]

Professor Bruce Seymour (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 4, 2009

During a short but incredible life, Lola Montez transformed herself from middle-class British daughter to notorious adventurer, attracting admirers and scandal wherever she went. This highly entertaining biography uncovers the real story of one of the best-known women of the Victorian era-a dancer and actress, a power behind thrones, and a mistress across four continents.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lola Montez (1820-1861) boasted of being the subject of more biographies than any other living woman. Seymour, a lawyer who credits his winnings on the Jeopardy! TV show for giving him time to research this detailed study, claims to have written the only accurate account of the woman Richard Wagner called a "demonic being." King Ludwig I of Bavaria, who threw away his kingdom for her, was only one of many men who became obsessed with Lola. Born in Ireland as Eliza Gilbert, raised in India (both her father and her stepfather were soldiers), married as a teenager to a friend of her mother, she left her husband after several love affairs and ran off to Spain, emerging as an exotic dancer named Lola. She took London, Paris and Munich by storm, charmed Lizst and became the mistress of Ludwig. The latter was so lavish in his infatuation and she?now the countess of Landsfeld?so outrageous in her behavior that the public outcry resulted in his abdication. Later, after being charged with bigamy in England, Lola came to America, where she found new fame first as a dancer, then as an actress and finally as a lecturer. Seymour is a droning writer who treats both large and small matters with the same evenhanded tone, but the details are here (seemingly all of them, right down to Ludwig's foot fetish), and it is a jim-dandy of a story. In the end, Lola found religion, devoted herself to good works and, when she died, was buried in Brooklyn. Photos.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Lola Montez made up her name, her life, and her career. Born in 1821 to Anglo-Irish parents as Eliza Gilbert, Lola left a disastrous marriage and fell into an affair that left her original name tarnished. "Reborn" as Spanish noblewoman and dancer Lola Montez, she went on to travel Europe and conquer, among others, Franz Liszt and King Ludwig I of Bavaria. She died in America at the age of 40 of complications of a stroke and pneumonia, leaving behind a bizarre tangle of truth, half-truth, and lies about her adventures. It is this tangle that author Seymour set himself to unravel over a period of four years of research. A lawyer and independent scholar, Seymour has obviously devoted himself to a person of particular personal interest. Since no thorough biography of Montez has been done in over 20 years and since all previous works relied perhaps too heavily on Montez's version of her life, Seymour's work fills the gap by providing the definitive biography of yet another Victorian woman (see also Mary Lobell's Rebel Heart: The Scandalous Life of Jane Digby, LJ 10/15/95) who was definitely not Victorian in her actions. Recommended for larger public and academic libraries.
Katherine E. Gillen, Luke Air Force Base Lib., Goodyear, Ariz.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (September 4, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300074395
• ISBN-13: 978-0300074390
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,194,559 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Does justice to its subject: a perfect biography, December 10, 2006

By 

John L Murphy "Fionnchú" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lola Montez: A Life (Hardcover)

The editorial blurbs give the basic facts of Lola's life, but what they cannot convey is the verve with which Bruce Seymour tells her tales. A prefatory note acknowledges the game show Jeopardy as enabling him to write the book thanks to his winnings. His four years were well spent. Seymour, therefore, is no ordinary scholar on the tenure track. As a lawyer, he brings skill in analyzing documents and developing contexts within which Lola and her conquests could act within and beyond the force of the law.

He has certainly done his research, but this book wears it lightly and elegantly. Elegance for a girl from Cork who in less globalized times of instant celebrity and social networking could pose as a Spaniard, dance her way into the wallets and beds of countless besotted swains, and then, once dumped or dumping, move on to her next conquest seemingly for decades little the worse, at least on the surface, for wear. Lightly, or so she seemed, over years of unpredictable liaisons within the turmoil of 1848 and a Europe that threatened to topple the monarchies within which Lola worked her machinations and maximized her share of the winnings.

While not the dour, earnest, or sharpish stereotype of the early feminist, nonetheless she pioneered the right of a woman to be heard and her power--in and out of the boudoir being formidable--to be taken seriously by those in quite influential positions of celebrity and/or acclaim themselves. Lola early perfected her ability to live by her quick study of her suitors, her rivals, and their relative positions vis-a-vis her own advantage. The blackberried and suited type-A CEOs finding and then shattering a glass ceiling in later years also may find that her life anticipates the troubles and the triumphs of being the first woman to successfully make into fact what Becky Sharp in Thackeray's "Vanity Fair" displayed in fiction. Lola certainly does remind you of a storybook tale, in all its complications, subplots, and, well, climaxes.

This is one of my favorite books. It shows how to chart a life and from it extrapolate directions that intersect, far off, with our own condition-- as a good biography should do. Lola was one of the first mass media phenomenons. She spurred the newspapers to promote her and they were only too eager to do so. Of course, this could backfire, but she does, in her later years, appear to have thrived from no publicity is bad publicity. Yet, nearer her death, repentance did occur, and she follows again the narrative arc of so many 18 and 19c fictional protagonists.

She managed to give as good as she got. The press pumped her up and cast her aside as both would sell papers. Her notoriety, carefully cultivated, managed to ensure that for much of the 19th century's middle decades, she would remain prominent, as much so at least as the nobles and royals with whom she connived and cavorted.

Many of those enjoying via MySpace or YouTube through their Warholian fifteen minutes of fame today have Lola to thank as their unwitting predecessor. Yet Seymour neither exaggerates or diminishes her impact. His thorough research into primary and secondary sources allows him to compare what she herself wrote about her life with what happened, or as much as can be known 150 years later. This book, taking on a woman so wrapped up in whipped-up scandal and calculated brazenness, clever self-defence and bold self-aggrandizing, is a notable feat. For those in her potential audience today less hungry for today's spotlights, Lola's story, naturally, is also a cautionary tale in the personal and financial costs of so much controversy and backstabbing and maneuvering, in a time when she, as a lone woman, dared to take on the establishment with wit, intelligence, and shrewdness.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lolitta, Ludwig's love., May 1, 2010

By 

Anna Shlimovich (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lola Montez: A Life (Paperback)

I picked this book in the local library to read about how King Ludwig I of Bavaria's lover ended up in a circus, according to the film by Max Ophuls. It was to my astonishment to learn that Lola Montez never performed in any circus and that she died quite a wealthy person; and that much of Ophuls film was a fantasy, a fact that the author promptly addresses on the last pages of the book.

However, the book is truly great and turned out much more than I had expected. I found pages on King Ludwig I of Bavaria extremely informative, providing great insight in the times and morals of Bavaria, Germany and overall Europe of mid 19th century. My particular fascination with Wittelsbachs was grown from the grandson of Ludwig I, i.e. the notorious Ludwig II, and having been to Nymphenburg some years ago and seeing the Gallery of Beauties (Schönheitengalerie) there, remotely hearing the famous story of the overwhelming passion of the King for the dancer was enough to keep me glued to the pages of this book.

For those who want to find the origins of Ludwig II extravagance, particularly his devotion to Richard Wagner, so immortally depicted in Visconti's "Ludwig", this book about his grandfather gives all the answers. I have discovered that Ludwig I was already a complete autocrat, incredibly stubborn and foolhardy, at a point of self-destruction; needless to say, he passed the disposition to his grandson Ludwig II. Yet Munich and Bavaria owe their reputation of architectural and artistic beauty and prestige to these monarchs, to places, among many others, as Nymphenburg Palace where Ludwig I lived and Ludwig II was born, to famous Schloss Neuschwanstein, where male-loving Ludwig II retreated to live the dreamy life with his minions. The grandfather, after all, was much more modest since he was content with only one female lover, 38 years his junior, on whom he spent a minuscule amount, compared with Ludwig II, who almost bankrupted the state.

It is interesting to see how German/Bavarian state officials did not hesitate to resist the King, as Lola's naturalization affair clearly shows - the King's government preferred to resign instead of signing her naturalization certificate. There was a constitution, and they used it fully in their disagreement with the King, asserting their independence as citizens. Such resistance and dignity are completely unthinkable in Latin countries and in a period of Louis XV, who is mentioned here as a comparison of a dissolute behavior that dag a pit for the social revolution.

One can contemplate further that there must be such a dramatic difference on the aspect of love between Latin and Germanic countries. We have examples of monarchs and persons of Royal blood following their heart passion:

in Germany: Ludwig I, losing his kingdom over the passion to Lola;
in Austria: Francis Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, whose desire to marry Sophie, countess von Chotek, a lady-in-waiting, brought him into sharp conflict with the emperor, and the marriage was only allowed after he agreed to renounce his future children's rights to the throne;
in England: King Edward VIII who abdicated the throne in December 1936 to marry Mrs. Simpson, "the woman I love";
and finally the last Russian Tsar Nicolas II who married a German Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt.

All these romances were met with various degree of happiness; but what is certain that passions of the heart never seemed to rule any Latin monarch, except maybe Nero; his passion for Poppea is forever immortalized in Monteverdi's Il Coronazione di Poppea.

Concluding on Ludwig I and his successor Ludwig II, it cannot escape an observer that in that family the overwhelmingly passionate behavior was at the edge of utter irrationality and irresponsibility as crowned monarchs, in both cases costing them a throne, with consequences of various gravity; if Ludwig I lived well into his 70s, his grandson met a suspicious end at 41.

Speaking of Lola herself, she as a person reminds of Maria Callas in her fits of rage and scandalous behavior; the marked difference is that Maria was rather chaste and faithful, and a hard-worker, the best professional of her trade, while Lola was indisputably quite a promiscuous courtesan, a prodigious and stunningly immoral liar, and an unskilled amateur dancer, so much that her dance was often ridiculed; she was a counterfeit and a fraud in most of her endeavors, including being a lover and a dancer, except for her egotism. Her counterpart could be Giacomo Casanova - also a life of incredible adventures, wealthy patrons and then a steep downfall. It is amazing to contemplate that some people like these and others, as Marquis de Sade, lived such incredible lives, seemingly looking to ruin themselves and succeeded to various degrees. Yet these people are eternally enigmatic, perhaps precisely for their disdain for common sense.

Lola had been an extraordinary woman, of course, with phenomenal determination and will; the endless succession of lovers is very impressive, and leads to believe that she probably did not love anyone except herself, as she was using men for self-advancement and promotion. Nonetheless, one only wonders about her persona as at the age of 22 she managed to seduce 60 years old Bavarian king, whose attachment to her was incredible; definitely she was more than stunningly beautiful; indeed there must have been something mysterious about her, as there were many dancers at her time, yet she was singular in attracting influential admirers. She must have been a fascinating character, yet dangerous in her extreme selfishness, as Callas or Georges Sand have been towards men who were devoted to them. It is quite coincidental that Lola had an affair with Franz Liszt, who was in George Sand's circle, and that supposedly because of his infidelity with Lola, Countess d'Agoult broke up with the pianist. Also it is quite incredible that both Liszt and Ludwig I outlived her.

I found it noteworthy that Ludwig I called Lola "Lolitta" -inevitably it brings to mind whether Nabokov made any connection to this name in his most famous novel, which also troubadours of the destructive amorous obsession.

All in all, a great book and a valuable addition to any library, for both romantic and exciting, informative and educational qualities.

7 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sex and scandal at its best, November 12, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Lola Montez: A Life (Hardcover)

Beautiful, lovely, sexy and fascinating -- makes me want to do a little Spanish dancing and start an adventure.