The Art of Youth, Nicholas Delbanco
The Art of Youth, Nicholas Delbanco
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
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The Art of Youth
Crane, Carrington, Gershwin, and the Nature of First Acts

Author: Nicholas Delbanco

Narrator: Jeff Crawford

Unabridged: 5 hr 27 min

Format: Digital Audiobook (DRM Protected)

Published: 11/19/2013

Synopsis

The Art of Youth is a moving inquiry into the nature of artistic prodigies who did their major work at an early age. Renowned novelist Nicholas Delbanco gives us a triptych of indelible portraits: the American writer Stephen Crane (immortalized by The Red Badge of Courage), the British artist Dora Carrington (called “the most neglected serious painter of her time”), and the legendary composer George Gersh­win (Rhapsody in Blue, Porgy and Bess).All three lived colorful, productive lives before dying early, at an average age of thirty-five. In this learned and elegant book, Delbanco discovers what it is we mourn in artists who pass away so young, and muses on his own life—one marked by both early success and longevity.

About Nicholas Delbanco

Nicholas Delbanco is the author of more than two dozen works of fiction and nonfiction — including, most recently, Lastingness: The Art of Old Age. He is the Robert Frost Distinguished University Professor of English at the University of Michigan, where he directs the Hopwood awards program and was for many years the director of the MFA program in creative writing.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Kavan

In Lastingness: The Art of Old Age, Nicholas Delbanco explored the creative lives artists like Monet Yeats, and Verdi who’s skills and talents lasted a lifetime. For The Art of Youth: Crane, Carrington, Gershwin, and the Nature of First Acts, Delbanco reverses focus. He instead presents short biogra......more

Goodreads review by Debbie

I received this book as part of the Goodreads First Reads Giveaway. Rating: 3 to 3.5 stars In his work, The Art of Youth, author Nicholas Delbanco explores the history of three “artistic prodigies” who died young. The first chapter explores the idea that some people seem to be born to experience great......more

Goodreads review by Jjudyfl

I won this book from Goodreads. To be honest here - I do not know enough about music to make a proper comment on Gershwin. Dora Carrington is also lost on me, never having seen or "experienced" her paintings. I came to this book because of a lifetime of reverence of Stephen Crane. The many quotes and......more

Goodreads review by Christine

I'm reviewing a copy received for free from Goodreads Giveaways. This is a really interesting concept, and piggybacks off of the author's last work Lastingness (which I haven't read, but is interesting as well)--that book was about artists who have lasting careers, and this one was about genus that d......more

Goodreads review by Richard

Read my full review of The Art of Youth in The New York Journal of Books. A list of recent reviews can also be found on Richard Cytowic's reviewer page. Delbanco is the Robert Frost Distinguished professor at the University of Michigan. He is a prolific writer of fiction and nonfiction himself. He w......more

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