Dangerous Muse: the Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood Free

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By Nancy Schoenberger. Nan A. In middle age she was gaunt and riveting, her enormous eyes dramatically lined with black. She also looked unwashed, which she often was. The photographs are an important element in Nancy Schoenberger's biography, because Blackwood's beauty was her chief distinction. In her later years she produced nine novels and books of literary journalism, but Blackwood is remembered much better for her connections with famous men than for her own accomplishments. Lowell, the most celebrated of her three husbands, was clutching a portrait of Caroline painted by her first husband, the artist Lucian Freudwhen he died of a heart attack in a New York cab. The Anglo-Irish genealogy of Lady Caroline, who was born inwas complex enough to make the reader long for a tree diagram. Her mother was Maureen Guinnessone of three famously beautiful sisters and a woman of stunning fatuousness. Among Caroline's ancestors on the Blackwood side were the Irish playwright Richard Sheridan The School for Scandal and a loony grandmother who dressed in a fairy costume and flitted barefoot through the halls of Clandeboye, the gloomy and neglected ancestral Blackwood mansion, startling visitors. Blackwood's childhood Dangerous Muse: The Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood so gothically dysfunctional that Schoenberger's straightforward account of it trembles on the edge of parody. The parents played bridge and drank. The children were abandoned to the care of negligent and sadistic nannies, one of whom actually stole the children's food, leaving them half-starved. Given their background, it seems Dangerous Muse: The Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood tiresomely overdetermined that Caroline and her brother Sheridan would become alcoholics. What is surprising is that the third sibling, Perdita, did not. There was a fearful symmetry in Caroline's marriages: Each husband represented one of the arts -- painting, music and poetry. Lucian Freud grandson of Sigmund, of whom Caroline's mother had never heard was a social-climbing bohemian dandy when he met the year-old Caroline. He found her aristocratic lineage irresistible, and she enjoyed the commotion she caused in her mother's horsey social circle by marrying a Jew. The marriage burned itself out after three years, by which time Caroline's drinking habit had firmly established itself. Next, after a Hollywood interval, came the musician. Israel Citzkowitz was a composer of great promise who ended up as a rather pathetic caretaker figure. He fathered three of Caroline's four children or so he thought: One was probably the product of Blackwood's earlier involvement with screenwriter Ivan Moffat. While Caroline drank and smoked through four pregnancies! At one point, after the marriage dissolved, he occupied the second floor of a three-story townhouse in London while Caroline and Lowell lived above him on the third floor, and the children -- with a retinue of nannies -- lived on the first. Caroline had hitherto been rather passive in her relations with men, but she actively campaigned to take Lowell away from his wife, Elizabeth Hardwick a far more important figure in the American intellectual world than Blackwood would ever prove to be. Independent and supportive, Hardwick had seen Lowell through recurrent manic episodes and the promiscuous entanglements with women that accompanied them. Blackwood offered to "share" his psychotic breaks, to become one with him in his suffering, but in fact she tended to run away when he was at Dangerous Muse: The Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood worst. The two lived in what an observer called "grand squalor" in the country house that Caroline bought for them. The reader is continually reminded that it takes a lot of money to float a life lived according to impulse. They wrote, gave house Dangerous Muse: The Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood, drank. The children -- a fourth was born during this period -- were consigned, as their mother had been, to the care of negligent nannies. One daughter was severely burned in an accident and spent three months in a hospital. Another, Natalya, was simply forgotten and left alone in a London apartment while Blackwood and Lowell were traveling. Two years later, at age 17, she died of a heroin overdose. Blackwood served Lowell as an alternately beguiling and threatening erotic muse -- the "dolphin" of his Dangerous Muse: The Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood -- while Hardwick beckoned him back toward security. His poetry became a chronicle of his whipsawed emotions. Eventually he found Blackwood more frightening than arousing and began to see his former marriage as a home from which he had exiled himself. Traveling from London to New York to rejoin Hardwick, he died. After Lowell, Blackwood continued to drink, but she plunged into writing with surprising discipline. Schoenberger plods through Caroline's oeuvrediligently pointing out correspondences between life and art. If the effort seems a little perfunctory, it is probably because Schoenberger senses that having been fed a diet of scandal and outrage throughout the book, her readers will be in no mood for literary exegesis. After a last love affair with a much younger gay man, Caroline dwindled. The last photograph in the book shows her on the grounds of her Sag Harbor, N. Schoenberger never met her subject. On the day the two were to be introduced, Lady Caroline was hospitalized for cancer. Dangerous Muse: The Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood died soon after, on Feb. She was The biography Schoenberger produced seems to suffer from the same near-miss problem; the reader never feels that she has quite met Blackwood either. Schoenberger has assembled an impressive pastiche of quotes and views: It seems everyone had something to say about Blackwood's beauty, her drinking style, her Dangerous Muse: The Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood wit, Dangerous Muse: The Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood poor hygiene "She needs a damn good scrub all over," said Ian Flemingthe arrogant, aristocratic carelessness she betrayed by leaving empty liquor bottles, cigarette butts and used sanitary napkins strewn on the floors of hotel rooms. But Caroline herself remains elusive. Perhaps the problem is inherent in a biography of a recently deceased subject; the impression Blackwood left on the friends, family members and lovers who served as Schoenberger's informants may not have come into full focus by the time she interviewed them. Over and over, the reader is amazed by Blackwood's behavior, but in the absence of insight, amazement turns to puzzlement to something like irritation. Caroline had all the standard accoutrements of celebrity -- beauty, wealth, position, a commanding presence. In addition, she had wit and literary flair. But she seems to have lacked an internal life to say nothing of a moral compass. Perhaps she had one but drowned it in drink. In the end, I can't decide whether the hole at the center of Schoenberger's life of Caroline Blackwood is the fault of the biographer or simply a faithful representation of the emptiness of her subject. She lives in Houston. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn More. Today's Picks. Beto, Win Butler think this year Texas might finally turn blue. Shaquille O'Neal dines at popular Houston restaurant. Lady Caroline Blackwood - Wikipedia

Lady Caroline Blackwood —with her wealth, fame, brilliance, eccentricity, dysfunction and illness, is an ideal subject for an absorbingly juicy albeit tragic biography. Perhaps best known for marrying painter Lucian Freud, then Aaron Copland's prize student Israel Citkowitz, then patrician poet Robert Lowell, the mysterious Blackwood, with her enormous, unflinching eyes, was "one of the great beauties of her day"; she was also a writer in her own right. Schoenberger Girl on Dangerous Muse: The Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood White Porchformer director of the Academy of American Poets, never met Blackwood the day of their proposed meeting, Blackwood was hospitalized and died soon thereafter. The author traces this troubled, fascinating life from a childhood on a grand family estate in Northern Ireland, through her marriages to brilliant yet tortured and unstable men, and then through widowhood, when Blackwood inhabited a former funeral home in Sag Harbor, on New York's Long Island, reputedly haunted still by her dark presence. Blackwood inspired her husbands' brilliant works—such as Freud's photograph Girl in Bed it was clutched by Lowell when he died of a heart attack and Lowell's The Dolphindedicated to Caroline. But Schoenberger calls her "both a muse and an anti-muse," for she also undermined their creativity with her alcoholism and cruel wit, provoking their worst qualities, like Freud's gambling and womanizing, Citkowitz's passivity and Lowell's bipolar illness and Dangerous Muse: The Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood. Alternately vibrant and pathetic, Blackwood alienated and insulted everyone around her. Schoenberger targets the general reader over the scholar —particularly with her exploration of Blackwood's "curse"—but those interested in literary biography, particularly in the lives of artists and the sources of their creativity, will find relevant material here. Agents, Joy Harris and Leslie Daniels. July 3. Forecast: Though already chosen for the Wall Street Journal 's summer reading list, with first serial rights sold to Voguethis myth-making bio will have to show unexpected reach to appeal to a mass of readers. The author will do some regional publicity in New York and Washington, D. View Full Version of PW. Buy this book. Show other formats. Discover what to read next. PW Picks: Books of the Week. The Big Indie Books of Fall Black-Owned Bookstores to Support Now. Children's Announcements. 'Dangerous Muse: The Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood' by Nancy Schoenberger

Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Dangerous Muse by Nancy Schoenberger. You can see her dark-eyed Dangerous Muse: The Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood in photos by Walker Evans, and her bewitching figure in paintings by Lucian Freud. She is the mermaid of whom poet Robert Lowell writes in The Dolphin and he was clutching her portrait when he died. She was Lady Caroline Blackwood, legendarily witty and alluring but also a legendary drunk. Raised an heiress to the Guinness fortune, Blackw You can see her dark- eyed beauty in photos by Walker Evans, and her bewitching figure in paintings by Lucian Freud. Raised an Dangerous Muse: The Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood to the Guinness fortune, Blackwood moved easily among the aristocracy, the bohemians of postwar England and the liberal intelligentsia of s New York. She has been Dangerous Muse: The Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood a muse to genius-though her marriages to Lucian Freud, the composer Israel Citkowitz, and Dangerous Muse: The Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood Lowell were as troubled as they were inspiring-and she was an author herself, short-listed for the Booker Prize in In this first biography of Blackwood, Nancy Schoenberger deftly paints a complex woman who was captivating to her dying day. Dangerous Muse: The Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood A Copy. Paperbackpages. More Details Original Title. Other Editions 7. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Dangerous Museplease sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Nov 18, Carla Remy rated it really liked it. I liked reading about Caroline Blackwood's gothic, parentless, childhood in an Irish mansion her father was an earl and her nother a Guinness. I liked her living in London Soho in the s, married to the painter Lucien Freud. From there on this book is a dark, bohemian, of course alcoholic, tour of the 20th century. Lived by rich arty people who of course know other significant rich arty people. View 2 comments. May 28, James Murphy rated it really liked it. Lady Caroline Blackwood was well-known as a member of the British aristocracy and the Guinness family. She was admired for her uncommon beauty. She was celebrated as a journalist and novelist, and was even shortlisted for the Booker Prize. She was also notorious for her slovenly housekeeping as well as her biting, cruel wit. And for her alcoholism. Nancy Schoenberger shows that she fit the definition of muse--a woman, or a force personified as Dangerous Muse: The Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood woman, who is the source of inspiration for a crea Lady Caroline Blackwood was well-known as a member of the British aristocracy and the Guinness family. Nancy Schoenberger shows that she fit the definition of muse--a woman, or a force personified as a woman, who is the source of inspiration for a creative artist--for at least 3 men: the painter Lucian Freud, her 1st husband, the poet Robert Lowell, her 3rd, and the photographer Walker Evans, Dangerous Muse: The Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood is thought to have been her lover. Schoenberger's biography tells of a life of privilege famous for its eccentricity. To say she was a character would be a suitable description. She ran in highly artistic and intellectual circles, and her sometimes unconventional behavior may have been defensive measures meant to neutralize her feelings of inadequacy in certain social settings. Often she was what is called an awkward party. The biography itself could be considered the life and times of Caroline Blackwood. Schoenberger writes at length about those around her and their work. Almost a third of the book is devoted to Caroline's growing up on her family's Northern Ireland estate and its surroundings, social and physical. The years of her marriage to Lucian Freud justified a dissection of the London art scene in the s. Her marriage to Lowell called for lengthy critique of his background and status as one of America's leading poets. Blackwood's extended residences in Hollywood, Greenwich Village, and the fashionable eastern end of Long Island is fleshed out with detailed descriptions of their particular atmospheres and effects on her. At one point there's even the history of a pub. I read Blackwood's biography because I'm currently reading the new edition of the Robert Lowell- Elizabeth Hardwick letters written during the turbulent s when Lowell left his wife for Blackwood. I thought it'd be interesting to approach the Lowell-Blackwood-Hardwick triangle from another direction. But I gained little in information or perspective. Still, I enjoyed reading the life of this interesting woman. This was a car-crash book Caroline Blackwood was in no way a sympathetic character, and as much as her intelligence and beauty were extolled, I didn't find evidence to bolster the thesis. She was reportedly filthy. Her person was filthy, her homes were filthy, and she was apparently banned from several hotels in New York City due to her habit of making luxury rooms uninhabitable, with dog feces This was a car-crash book Her person was filthy, her homes were filthy, and she was Dangerous Muse: The Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood banned from several hotels in New York City due to her habit of making luxury rooms uninhabitable, with dog feces being the least of the Dangerous Muse: The Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood. As a psychologist, the workings of her mind were somewhat entertaining to me, but her cruel treatment of her children, her sadistic and narcissistic treatment of friends and family, her unappealing behavior with lovers and husbands made reading her biography a really tough go. I don't know if I'll ever read any of her books to see how truly "brilliant" she was, and the photographs included did not back up claims of exquisite beauty. I would have expected more photos, and I have to say that the quality of the photos was terrible. Mar 30, Nancy rated it it was ok Shelves: gave-up-on-itbiographiesover-rated. Caroline Blackwood seems to offer all the elements for a riveting, readable biography, but something Dangerous Muse: The Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood to this book. It never came alive. Despite my penchant for reading about the "high-life" this book was a crashing bore for me. Nancy Schoenberger failed to bring any spark to the character. If a person's life is compelling enough for an author and publisher to devote pp to, there should be a way to infuse life and energy into the narrative. I struggled; then I strove; then I split. Per Caroline Blackwood seems to offer all the elements for a riveting, readable biography, but something happened to this book. Perhaps, it could have been more interesting to me if Schoenberger had more skill at creating a sense of place. It felt like she just filled the pages with one quotation after another and this reader never felt like she participated in Blackwood's life, even voyeuristically. Very disappointing. Aug 27, Bobbye Villanueva rated it it was amazing Shelves: biographies. A very lucky find at Half Price Books. I found myself identifying with Caroline Blackwood and desperately wanting to read everything she'd ever written and since reading it I have. Although "Dangerous Muse" is actually a biographic piece I have classified it as a "gothic romance" because I feel the term adequately describes both the life and the works of Ms. View 1 comment. Oct 10, Evelyn added it. Found this biography and Blackwood's work online-- all out of print and Dangerous Muse: The Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood in the local library. Other reviewers have said that Blackwood herself seems oddly absent from this book and I tend to agree. Even the title places the emphasis on her role as "muse" rather than artist. Blackwood was both, and her impact is far-reaching. I was eager to understand more about her nature and her work. I still found it interesting-- especially on the heels of reading Ivana Lowell's book-- but it was difficult to get a sense of what Blackwood was like in the flesh, or what drove her behavior. I was dismayed to see several reviewers say they would not read her work due to what they learned in this bio. I've only read "Good Night, Sweet Ladies," a collection that mixes short fiction and non-fiction, and I was blown away by both theme and prose style. Ideally a book like this should make a case for an artist's body of work if that work is worthwhile, and it's disappointing that didn't happen here. May 12, Rosemary Atwell rated it it was ok. Caroline Blackwood is an author who - like herself - seems to have slipped through the cracks of major twentieth-century culture, emerging in this biography as an idiosyncratic, spoiled, soiled and wilful beautiful creature.