Customer Reviews

Serious Pleasures: The Life of Stephen Tennant

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a very good book. It makes for fun reading and is a must for anyone who loves, as I do, to read about all those folk who knew each other and popped into each other's houses, loves and lives. And then popped each other into their books with easily recognisable portraits. It has been very carefully researched, too.

It's easy to point out mistakes, and I take no pleasure in it, but I do disagree with Mr Hoare that Coco Chanel's post war re-opening was a success that she could 'ride high' on.

This book is an absolute must for the way it captures the little wheels within the little wheels of smart, and not so smart, English circles of [most] of last century. Wonderful.

"When Stephen Tennant was a little boy in Edwardian England, his father asked him what he would like to be when he grew up. 'I want to be a Great Beauty, Sir,' he replied".

With a cover blurb like that, how could one resist this book?

Extremely well-researched biography (the author had access to Tennant's journals and correspondence, and had the cooperation of family and friends). Tennant's was an interesting but ultimately sad life. One of those Edwardian eccentrics who knew everyone. His mother was one of the Wyndham sisters who were painted by Sargent. He had an affair with Siegfried Sassoon. He was buds with Cecil beaton, knew Virginia Woolf (et al.) and provided literary inspiration for Waugh and Mitford. One of the last photographs of him (by Beaton) is of him entertaining David Hockney.

Tennant seems to have had a modicum of literary and artistic talent (he studied at the Slade), but could never bring it to fruition. He spent most of his life TALKING about writing a book. He apparently suffered from some form of depression; perhaps that's why. It seems a sad waste.

A very good biography of an extraordinary man. The text follows a chronological format and does very well at relating information in a readable and interesting style. The author makes no judgment regarding Tennant's sexuality, but merely relates the subject's actions and the reactions of his friends and others. The reader is still able to remain sympathetic with the subject despite Tennant's occasional and extreme arrogance and caprice with his friends. I would have liked more photographs, but the ones included are excellent additions to the text. If you have interests in the British upper class and want some insight into the "Fine Young Things" of the 20s and early 30s, this book will be a welcomed addition to your library.

This is a good, dry biography of a complex man. Undoubtedly, this is a well researched book of a man, who despite being sickly, lived a long life and lived beyond most of his contemporaries. Even though he had many friends, Mr. Tennant was still a lonely man. He hobnobbed with the big names in the writing and artistic communities, and had royalty calling on him. Most famously, Mr. Tennant is thought to be the inspiration of Sebastian in "Brideshead Revisited."

I take off a star because the book is such a dry read. It goes on from one biographical event to the next. It takes some effort to stick with it. However, the book does place us into Mr. Tennat's head, so we get to know the person with his strength and follies as well. The dynamics between friendships is well explained.