From Library Journal
This is a masterly biography, the first ever produced in English of this pioneering, independent, and unusual woman. Better known for her tumultuous friendship with George Sand and her scandalous liaison with Franz Liszt, d'Agoult struggled to find her niche as a successful intellectual woman in her own right, writing under the name Daniel Stern. Always plagued by self-doubt and besieged by bouts of depression, d'Agoult assumed multiple roles: saloni re, muse to a great artist, novelist, journalist, and historian. Separating from her husband, d'Agoult ran off with Liszt, lost legal custody of her children, had three more out of wedlock, and was disinherited by her family. Stock-Morton (emeritus, Seton Hall Univ.), the author of several books on French and women's history, tells d'Agoult's story with great sensitivity, placing her life squarely in the context of 19th-century intellectual Europe and informing her narrative with the insights of the most recent scholarship in women's history. Wherever possible, she uses d'Agoult's own words, drawn from letters, diaries, and memoirs. Highly recommended for scholars and serious readers.DMarie Marmo Mullaney, Caldwell Coll., NJ
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"[Stock-Morton] resurrects Marie as an unjustly neglected intellectual figure." -- David Coward, New York Review of Books
"This is a masterly biography... Stock-Morton tells d'Agoult's story with great sensitivity, placing her life squarely in the context of 19th-century intellectual Europe and informing her narrative with the insights of the most recent scholarship in women's history... Highly recommended." -- Library Journal (starred review)
"Marie de Flavigny's life was made up of a grim marriage, unsuccessful writing and a deeply disillusioning love affair. To these might be added her failed friendship with George Sand, and her inadequate and largely distant relationship with her five children: two by her marriage and three by Liszt. (One of them, Cosima, left her husband for Wagner.) Fortunately, there is more to Marie's life, and Stock-Morton -- while in no way neglecting these better known aspects, which she treats with sensitivity and insight -- explores and highlights her subject's status as a writer of non-fiction... It is to Stock-Morton's credit that she also reveals her subject's considerable resilience and dry wit." -- Belinda Jack, Literary Review
"A useful and thoughtfully written work of biography... This book is essential to those who wish both to understand more fully this complex woman and French intellectual trends of the nineteenth century." -- Christine Adams, Historian
"Expertly researched, written, and edited." -- Choice
