#Deirdre Bair

[anaxerneas]

Robert Sokolowski, "The Method of Philosophy: Making Distinctions"

[peregrination-studies]

24 books in 2024

It is 2024, and I am here yet again with my bookish hopes and dreams!

I did this challenge last year (available here), and in 2022 (available here), and I'm STOKED to do it again this year! As is my way, I have been planning and revising this list for some time. My Goodreads overfloweth with ideas.

As always, if you have book recs, please send them my way! And, if you're participating in the challenge this year, I'd love to see your lists!

Without further ado, I gladly present to you my 24 in '24 book list:

Sci-Fi and Just for Fun :)

1) Randomize by Andy Weir (read April 2024)

2) Next by Michael Crichton (read May 2024)

3) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick (read April 2024)

4) With a Little Luck by Marissa Meyer (read February 2024)

Environmental Science/Ecology/Books Relevant to my Studies

5) Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth by Buckminster Fuller (read April 2024)

6) Must Love Trees: An Unconventional Guide by Tobin Mitnick (read April-November 2024)

7) Scientifically Historica: How the World’s Great Science Books Chart the History of Knowledge by Brian Clegg (read November 2024)

8) Letters to a Young Scientist by Edward O. Wilson (read November 2024)

Reading Around the World

9) The Eighth Continent: Life, Death and Discovery in the Lost World of Madagascar by Peter Tyson (Madagascar)

10) Everything is Wonderful: Memories of a Collective Farm in Estonia by Sigrid Rausing (Estonia) (read April-November 2024)

11) Willoughbyland: England’s Lost Colony by Matthew Parker (Suriname)

12) A General Theory of Oblivion by José Eduardo Agualusa and Daniel Hahn (Translator) (Angola) (read November 2024)

Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge/Classics

13) The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (read April 2024)

14) The Second Sex by Simone De Beauvoir, H.M. Parables (Translator and Editor), and Deirdre Bair (Introduction) (read December 2024)

15) Gidget by Frederick Kohner (read November 2024)

16) Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (read December 2024)

Recommended by Friends

17) Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (recommended by @hedonism-tattoo and many, many others) (read December 2024)

18) Howl’s Moving Castle by Diane Wynne Jones (also recommended by many people now. @permanentreverie posted about it recently tho, and that was what really made me decide to include it on this list!) (read April 2024)

19) Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson (recommended by @daydreaming-optimist ) (read April 2024)

20) The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux (recommended by @kaillakit) (read May 2024)

Eco-Psychology

21) Ecopsychology by Lester R. Brown (read December 2024)

22) Against Purity: Living Ethically in Compromised Times by Alexis Shotwell (read April 2024)

23) Radical Ecopsychology: Psychology in the Service of Life by Andy Fisher and David Abram (foreword) (read December 2024)

24) Sight and Sensibility: the Ecopsychology of Perception by Laura Sewall

Bonus

25) Bride by Ali Hazelwood (read February 2024)

26) Open Heart Surgery by Johanna Leo (read March 2024)

27) A Short History of the World in 50 Books by Daniel Smith

28) Candy Hearts by Tommy Siegel (read February 2024)

No pressure tagging: @daydreaming-optimist @kaillakit @permanentreverie @noa-the-physicist @silhouette-of-sarah @captaindelilahbard @senatorhotcheeto @the-bibliophiles-bookshelf @skyekg @of-the-elves @obesecamels @courageisneverforgotten @willowstea @its-me-satine @deirdrerose @notetaeker @theskittlemuffin and anyone else who wants to do this!

[64-jungle-planks]

Night at the Museum Wing AU

(AU by @multiversal-madness)

I love this AU so much!

I based Al's wings off of a red-tailed hawk! Al always “thought of himself as “American” rather than Italian or even Italian-American.” (Al Capone by Deirdre Bair) The screech used for the Bald Eagle in Hollywood is actually the call of a red-tailed hawk!

Ralph's wings are based off a Rüppell's Vulture/ a Griffon Vulture. I don't have a lot of reason why, I just felt he should be a large bird of prey with feathers close to Al's. Griffon Vultures hold the record for the highest flying bird in the world!

Frank is based off a Northern Mockingbird. They are known for being very smart birds. They are also very aggressive and territorial, like Frank was. I feel I could have picked a bird of prey to fit in with his brothers, but I think a Northern Mockingbird suits him because of his description of being the best looking and mild-mannered brother.

(Colored Version below the cut)

I love this AU a lot! I want to make more art for it. Multi says that "Those born in and later than 1900 have wings while some born 1890 to 1900 might have wings", which lets all the Capone siblings have wings! Ralph was born in 1894, Frank in 1895, and Al in 1899!

Since I headcanon Jimmy/Richard James "Two-Gun" Hart to be in Jed's group, I'm not sure if he would have wings! Especially since he was born in 1892. Maybe he did, but when he was made into a Miniature, they weren't added?

[berezina]

Writing about Montague made me think of other writers I interviewed who claimed close friendships with Beckett. Their attitude can be described only with the Yiddish word 'chutzpah', defined in English dictionaries as 'shamelessness' or 'gall'. I think of Israel Horovitz in this category. His interview took place at his home in New York after he telephoned me in the last frantic May days of 1973 as I tried to organize myself and my family for our Paris sojourn. He had heard of me through Jean and George Reavey and their New York theater grapevine, and because he, too, was 'so close to Sam', he said it was imperative that he 'enlighten' me before I left. I had not heard of a Horovitz-Beckett friendship before this, but because I followed up every possibility, I dutifully showed up at his house on Eleventh Street at the time he specified. There were no social preliminaries before he ushered me into a chair. With an elaborate ceremonial flourish, he held out a file folder with a cover that he had obviously hand-decorated himself. He opened it reverently to show me a typed series of questions and answers.

'These are the questions you must address in a biography, and to do so, you will need my answers,' he said. 'You may not use any of your own words or opinions, and you will quote me exactly as it is here. It must be inserted into the middle of your book, so that it opens naturally to these pages, which will be the most important in it.' I was just too stunned to open my mouth. I just sat there holding this object in front of me, all the while wondering how fast I could get out of there. Horovitz was undeterred, beaming as he told me, 'You will not only have the biography of Beckett; you will have the authentic record of his greatest friendship with another great playwright.' It was another 'okaaaay' moment, and needless to say, none of it found its way into the biography.

~Deirdre Bair [buy]

[calyptapis]

I could not have gone through the awful wretched mess of life without having left a stain upon the silence.

Quoted in Samuel Beckett: A Biography by Deirdre Bair

[bookwormlily]

I could not help but comment to my distinguished audience that every question asked about Sartre concerned his work, while all those asked about Beauvoir concerned her personal life.

Deirdre Bair

[bigtickhk]

Parisian Lives: Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir and Me: A Memoir by Deirdre Bair https://amzn.to/2QcIM4j

[lidensword]

Howdy! I’ve been rewording this over two days so I’m really excited to share this with you! It’s my headcanons for Al’s boys and their historical counterparts (and why I picked them instead of the other hundreds on the Outfit’s payroll)!

I’m going to start off with a little historical background because I really, really love that! If you didn’t know the Outfit was the Mob that Al and MANY others were apart of which was founded by Big Jim Colosimo around 1910. After Big Jim was murdered, Jonny “the Fox” Torrio took over control with Al and Frank Capone as his two right hand men. When Frank was shot to death by police in 1924, a lot of threats were pinned onto Torrio. Al took over officially in the next six years.

The name, the Outfit, seemed like it was started to be used in the 60’s. Before that, Chicago Newspapers usually used “The Old Capone Gang” or a mix of Ship-like names of the leaders.

There are four men who were “revived” with Al, I picture these four as: Ralph “Bottles” and Frank Capone, Jonny “The Fox” Torrio, and Frank “The Enforcer” Nitti. As I’ve stated before, I headcanon Al as 26, which plants the story in 1925.

First: My reasons for Jonny Torrio was Al’s mentor. In late 1925, he moved to Italy with his wife and mother, so the “revival” takes place before that. It would be funny, though, that it did take place after! He helped make the Outfit what it was. Legend says he’s the one who murdered Colosimo and pushed the Outfit into Bootlegging! From the Museum’s standpoint, he would be a big point to bring up in an exhibit of Chicago in 1920’s Prohibition.

Second: Frank Nitti, Al’s right hand man and the person who inherited the Outfit after Al when to jail and Ralph stepped down. He’s first cousin to Al too. It seemed like they were really close, the first gang Al joined (I think? I mean when he joined this he was 8-9) Nitti led! It was called “the Boys of Navy Street” and Al was their mascot.

Third: Ralph Capone, “Public enemy #3”, and Al’s older brother of 5ish years (and my favorite). He earned his nickname “Bottles” from the bottling plant he worked at before the Outfit. According to Wikipedia too, “family lore suggests that the nickname was specifically tied to his lobbying the Illinois Legislature to put into law that milk bottling companies had to stamp the date that the milk was bottled on the bottle”! He’s described as a bit of a prick, bullying people into getting his way, but somewhere I read (I lost the source unfortunately) he take IOU’s and not collect them from clients who were down on their luck. He played semi-pro baseball with Al and the two stuck close together till the very end. They joined the Five Points together too before the Outfit. (he also really liked horses and had a racing horse for a while)

Fourth: Frank Capone, Al’s older brother of 4ish years, and (according to Al Capone: his Life, Legacy, and Legend by Deirdre Bair) the smartest of the eldest five of the Capone brothers. He would have inherited the Outfit if he didn’t die in 1924. He’s interesting so I’ll save talking about him for later lol.

I hope you have a good rest of your day and I can’t wait to hear your theories for who was “revived with Al”! I’m going to the Natural History museum where the og NATM was filmed for the first time today so I’m super hyped! (I Hope this is legible bwt, I’m really excited that I finally get to talk to someone else about this)

-⭐️

Thank you for the historical contextualization and facts about each of Al Capone's men! Also, I'm curious about what you might say about Frank Capone.

I must admit that I simply created OCs for Al's boys in NatM 2 (I focused particularly on two of them) instead of seeing them as historical figures. However, your headcanon is indeed a very interesting and relevant perspective.

I'm sorry for answering just now... Yet, that gives me the opportunity to ask you how was your visit to the Natural History Museum? I confess that I would really like to visit it, but more than that, I would LOVE to visit the Smithsonian!!

Thanks for sharing, ⭐! I really appreciate it!!

[justforbooks]

Simone de Beauvoir's 'too intimate' novel to be published after 75 years

Les Inséparables, which depicts the writer’s passionate friendship with a girl who later died, was withheld during her lifetime

A novel by Simone de Beauvoir that was deemed too intimate to release in her lifetime will be published for the first time later this year.

The French writer and feminist’s Les inséparables tells the story of the “passionate and tragic” friendship she had as a young girl with Elisabeth “Zaza” Lacoin, who died of encephalitis at the age of 21. Written in 1954, in the first person, the novel sees the author of feminist classic The Second Sex, published five years earlier, tell the story of the beginning of the friendship, as Andrée, or Zaza, joins the same class as Sylvie, or Simone.

“Sylvie is instantly charmed by her new classmate. She admires her, she cherishes her, she does everything in order to make Andrée loving her back. Quickly they became inseparables until high school and Andrée’s tragic death,” said literary agency 2 Seas. Zaza’s death followed her family’s fierce opposition to her relationship with Maurice Merleau-Ponty, whom she had met through Beauvoir.

The agency said the novel was “too intimate” to be published in Beauvoir’s lifetime, but was recently found in her archives by her daughter, Sylvie Le Bon-de Beauvoir, who wrote the preface.

Vintage will publish the “short, vivid” novel for UK readers in late 2021, with senior editor Charlotte Knight describing it as “a moving, gripping coming-of-age novel about female friendship and finding one’s own way in the world.”

The publisher said the heart of the story was concerned with “the friendship between two young women struggling against conventional ideas of what a woman should be in early 20th-century Paris: chaste, devout, obedient and obliged from a young age to set aside her own interests and passions.

“Beauvoir’s real-life intense, formative relationship with her friend Zaza shaped, in many ways, the woman Beauvoir was to become – while Beauvoir broke free, Zaza never found a way out,” said Vintage.

Beauvoir writes in her memoir Force of Circumstance that when she showed the novel to Jean-Paul Sartre, her partner, “he held his nose”. “I couldn’t have agreed more: the story seemed to have no inner necessity and failed to hold the reader’s interest,” she wrote. Beauvoir would go on to tell the story of the friendship in her non-fiction Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter; Deirdre Bair’s biography of the author tells of how the two were known at school as “the inseparables” by teachers and students alike.

Le Bon-de Beauvoir, who is her literary executor, told the New York Times that she first read the manuscript in 1986, shortly after Beauvoir’s death, and intended to publish it, but “other publishing priorities simply got in the way, which is why I’m just getting to her novels and short stories now”.

“When she wrote it, in 1954, she had already honed her craft as a writer,” said Le Bon-de Beauvoir, who is planning to release more fiction from the author. “She destroyed some works that she was unhappy with. She didn’t destroy this one. About her papers, she told me, ‘You’ll do as you think is right.’”

Les inséparables will be published in French in October, by Éditions de l’Herne, with Vintage in the UK and Ecco in North America to publish it in English in 2021. The book has been sold in more than a dozen languages.

“This novel outlines Simone de Beauvoir’s personal battle against conventional expectations and [depicts] her intellectual and existential ambition,” said 2 Seas.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[liddlejane]

Books I Read in the Order in which I Read Them: 2020

Shit year for reading! I spent too long trying to get through We That Are Young. If I had a different temperament I would have abandoned it. But I closed out the year with probably my favorite book.

Master and the Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov-I wasn’t in the right mindset. I would like to hear a lecture about this book.

The Clothing of Books by Jhumpa Lahiri

Weather by Jenny Offill-I always feel a little unfulfilled by Offill

Topeka School by Ben Lerner-Like the book, hated the ending

We That Are Young by Preti Taneja-Maybe this would have appealed more if I was familiar with Shakespeare. Instead it read like a bunch of nonsense.

Incidental Inventions by Elena Ferrante-Biggest disappointment

Sula by Toni Morrison- Loved. Filled the hole Ferrante left.

Despair by Vladimir Nabokov

Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante-fell just short of my big anticipation. Liked reading it, but with distance I can see it is a minor work. Actually I don’t remember anything about it.

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid-Fun , contemporary, forgettable read, with unbelievable motivations.

Breast and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami-Lived up to the hype and filled the other hole Ferrante left. Apparently lit events are the same everywhere.

Simone de Beauvoir by Deirdre Bair

Exposition by Nathalie Léger

The White Dress by Nathalie Léger-My favorite of her triptych and favorite book I read this year. An unexpected pleasure that I’ll think about for a long time. “She knows that anyone who takes a break to go and visit her mother in order to do nothing is in the grip of some kind of depression that she has clearly decided to exacerbate.”

[wellesleybooks]

BOOKS

CATEGORY,WINNERS & FINALISTS

Fiction

Winner

The Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday) A spare and devastating exploration of abuse at a reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida that is ultimately a powerful tale of human perseverance, dignity and redemption.

Finalists

The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett (Harper) The Topeka School, by Ben Lerner (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

History

Winner

Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America, by W. Caleb McDaniel (Oxford University Press)

A masterfully researched meditation on reparations based on the remarkable story of a 19th century woman who survived kidnapping and re-enslavement to sue her captor.

Finalists

Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership, by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (University of North Carolina Press)

The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America, by Greg Grandin (Metropolitan Books)

Biography

Winner

Sontag: Her Life and Work, by Benjamin Moser (Ecco) An authoritatively constructed work told with pathos and grace, that captures the writer’s genius and humanity alongside her addictions, sexual ambiguities and volatile enthusiasms.

Finalists

Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century, by George Packer (Alfred A. Knopf)

Parisian Lives: Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir, And Me, by the late Deirdre Bair (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday)

Poetry

Winner

The Tradition, by Jericho Brown (Copper Canyon Press) A collection of masterful lyrics that combine delicacy with historical urgency in their loving evocation of bodies vulnerable to hostility and violence.

Finalists

Dunce, by Mary Ruefle (Wave Books)

Only as the Day Is Long: New and Selected Poems, by Dorianne Laux (W.W. Norton)

General Nonfiction

The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America, by Greg Grandin (Metropolitan Books) A sweeping and beautifully written book that probes the American myth of boundless expansion and provides a compelling context for thinking about the current political moment. (Moved by the Board from the History category.)

The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care, by Anne Boyer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) An elegant and unforgettable narrative about the brutality of illness and the capitalism of cancer care in America.

Finalists

Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life, by Louise Aronson (Bloomsbury)

Solitary, by Albert Woodfox with Leslie George (Grove Atlantic)

[64-jungle-planks]

Happy 124th birthday to Al Capone!

(Sorry I am a bit late today, and I'm sorry the drawing is in pencil again! I got really sick. I have a lot of photos that I took, though! I'm super excited to show you guys)

124 years ago on January 17, 1899, Alphonse Gabriel Capone was born in Brooklyn, New York. In his yearly years, he lived with his mom, dad, and siblings at 95 Navy Walk.

I'm pretty sure Al went to school at either Public School 133 or Public School 7. It would make more sense for him to attend 133 because it's a 20-minute walk (nowadays) compared to 7 which is an over 2-hour walk. It would also make sense because, five minutes away, is Brownstone Bagels and Co., the rumored start-up hideout of Johnny Torrio.

I believe the story of Al hitting a teacher is true, with the context that he was fighting a kid over his stolen lunch ((a fight which the teacher was trying to break up) this version of the story is from Al Capone: His Life, Legacy, and Legend by Deirdre Bair, it's the one I find the most believable). I don't believe he left school, though, in Uncle Al Capone by Deirdre M. Capone, she states that Al "did earn a high school diploma. Contrary to what many biographers have written, Al Capone was a high school graduate. I have a photo of Al—the earliest photo of him that I am aware of—on the day he graduated from high school, and his father is sitting proudly beside him.”

The family then soon moved to three places on Garfield place: first 38 Garfield Place and then 21 and 46 on the same street. Al then moved to Chicago in 1919 and the rest of the family soon followed after him in I think August 1923.

I also want to include a horse shoe I found while walking about Garfield Place that was stuck in super old concrete (according to my dad). When looking at it, it made me think that one of the Capone boys put it there while fooling around as a kid. I don't have too many funny stories on Al like I do Ralph, so I hope you folks like this!

[doubledaybooks]

All the books coming this fall...

Who else thinks fall is the ABSOLUTE BEST SEASON FOR READING?! Maybe it’s that residual back-to-school feeling, maybe it’s the weather, but as the time for “beach reading” winds down, there’s something about that crisp autumn air that makes us want to sink our teeth into brand-new stories. So, while you’re sharpening your pencils and filling in your day planner, I thought I’d round up all the books we’ve got coming out this fall...because wow, is it going to be a big one.

SEPTEMBER 2019

9/10: The Testaments by Margaret Atwood - THE SEQUEL TO THE HANDMAID’S TALE IS *OFFICIALLY* 4 WEEKS AWAY! EXCUSE THE YELLING, BUT I’M KIND OF FREAKING OUT RIGHT NOW.

9/17: Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry - While waiting for an uncertain outcome in a sketchy Spanish seaport, two aging Irish criminals reflect on their shared history, romances, violence, and betrayal. If you like dark humor and gorgeous writing, this one’s for you.

OCTOBER 2019

10/15: The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson - A new Bill Bryson!! This time, the hilarious writer takes us on a head-to-toe tour of the human body. You’ll never take your “wobble of flesh” for granted again.

10/15: The Guardians by John Grisham - A new John Grisham!! In this one, a young man is sent to prison for twenty-two years for a murder he didn’t commit...and when a small group called Guardian Ministries takes his case, they find themselves up against powerful people who’d do anything to keep an innocent man in jail. 

NOVEMBER 2019

11/5: Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlin’s Most Dangerous Hackers  by Andy Greenberg - In 2014, the world witnessed the start of a series of cyberattacks targeting NATO, utility companies, and electric grids that culminated in 2017 with the release of the malware NotPetya. Now, of course, the fear of such attacks is all-too-familiar - making this story about the real-life team that tracked down the hackers behind NotPetya all the more relevant and chilling.

11/5: The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern - Do I even have to...okay. SO. The one-and-only Erin Morgenstern, author of THE NIGHT CIRCUS, is back with a story about stories that’s like nothing you’ve ever read before. Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student who discovers a strange book hidden in the stacks of the library...and as he turns the pages, which are full of stories about pirates, acolytes, lovelorn prisoners, he finds something else -- a story from his own childhood. IT JUST GETS MORE MAGICAL FROM THERE.

11/12: The Innocents by Michael Crummey - A riveting survival story about two siblings who are left orphaned in a remote corner of Newfoundland. For fans of The Revenant and As I Lay Dying.

11/12: Parisian Lives by Deirdre Bair - Nostalgic for your semester abroad? Deirdre Bair has the ultimate cure: a memoir of her 15 years in Paris as the biographer of legendary authors Samuel Beckett and Simone de Beauvoir, complete with never-before-told anecdotes and details about two incredible people.

Whew! Okay. Only 20 days until fall, people. We can do this. 

[pangeanews]

“Quante volte è dovuta andare a letto con Beckett per avere questo scoop?”. Deirdre Bair, la biografa del grande Samuel che ha tenuto a bada orde di accademici

A metà del libro, Parisian Lives: Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir and Me, A memoir (Atlantic Books, 2020) la biografa statunitense, Deirdre Bair, confessa il suo crimine. Per anni ha provato a mettere le mani sulle lettere che Samuel Beckett inviava a Thomas MacGreevy sicura di trovarci il bandolo della matassa, il motivo che aveva allontanato il drammaturgo irlandese dalla sua terra natia per condurlo in Francia. Con riluttanza, i nipoti di MacGreevy le permisero di leggere le lettere sotto rigide condizioni. In quella domenica invernale, non appena si sedette di fronte alla macchina da scrivere in casa loro, mentre udiva la famiglia del poeta pranzare nella stanza accanto, Bair sapeva di dover correre contro il tempo: le poche ore concessegli dalle sorelle, non le sarebbero mai bastate per trascrivere tutta la corrispondenza di cui necessitava. “Quel pomeriggio ho fatto l’unica scelta disonesta di tutta la mia carriera” ammette Bair. Con nonchalance, l’americana si infilò una piccola selezione di lettere nella borsetta per portarsele nella stanza d’hotel in cui alloggiava.

“Mentre lavora, il biografo”, scrive Janet Malcolm, “è come un ladro professionista: irrompe in una casa, fruga nei cassetti in cui crede ci possano essere soldi e preziosi, per poi allontanarsi trionfante con la refurtiva”. Il suo libro, The Silent Woman: Sylvia Plath & Ted Hughes (riedito da Granta nel 2020) accusa i lettori di biografie di essere colpevoli di “voyerismo e indiscrezione” almeno quanto gli autori stessi: entrambi, e insieme, sgattaiolano in punta di piedi lungo il corridoio per spiare dal buco della serratura. Infatti, le sostanziose borse di studio in letteratura biografica non sono altro che una fulgida patina di rispettabilità, che scontorna la curiosità più morbosa.

*

Il giorno successivo, Deidre Bair reinserì le lettere di MacGreevy nella collezione senza alcun segno di usura. Tuttavia, la sua ammissione è rivelatoria, poiché ci mostra come – da esperta reporter quale era – fosse pronta a tutto pur di scovare lo scoop. E uno scoop ha avuto. Quando, nel 1978, Samuel Beckett: A Biography vene pubblicato [in Italia è tradotto per Garzanti nel 1990, ndr], suscitò clamore e mandò in confusione molti accademici in doppiopetto. Gli studenti di Beckett si accalcarono per scrivere recensioni irrisorie che ne evidenziassero imprecisioni e lacune. Ciononostante, per quanto alcune di quelle critiche fossero lecite, il vero peccato di Deirdre Bair fu quello di essere una sconosciuta, e donna per giunta, che aveva scritto il libro su Beckett, che né professori né accademici avrebbe mai osato scrivere.

Nel 1970 Deirdre Bair aveva scelto di intrecciare la propria vita a quella di Beckett con la stessa leggerezza con cui avrebbe scelto cosa mangiare dal menu di un ristorante. Aveva passato i precedenti dieci anni a lavorare come reporter, mentre aiutava il marito a concludere un corso postlaurea e cresceva i loro due figli. Quando ebbe la possibilità di frequentare un corso annuale di letteratura presso la Columbia University, colse la palla al balzo, pensando che l’avrebbe aiutata nella sua carriera da giornalista. Scelse Beckett come oggetto di tesi solamente perché il suo nome era in cima all’ordinata lista di scrittori organizzata per ordine alfabetico, che lei stessa aveva stilato per l’occasione. Il suo tutor la ammonì: se avesse scelto di scrivere della vita di Beckett, come stava pianificando, non avrebbe mai ottenuto né un PhD, né un incarico accademico. “Non avrai una borsa di studio: è solo una biografia,” le disse.

Ma Bair “riconobbe il brivido che si prova quando si trova la storia giusta” e decise di contattare Beckett stesso per chiedergli il permesso di scrivere la sua biografia. “Noiosa e priva di interessi” le rispose una settimana più tardi riferendosi alla propria vita; “vi sono professori che ne sanno più di me” aggiunse poi. Infine, scarabocchiata, quasi l’avesse pensata in un secondo momento, una straordinaria frase senza alcun segno di cesura: “qualsiasi informazione biografica in mio possesso è a tua disposizione se verrai a Parigi ti incontrerò”.

*

Deirdre sarebbe partita per Parigi nel novembre del ’71 e le prospettive non potevano essere più rosee: un cospicuo rimborso spese per il viaggio, un operoso agente letterario e la possibilità di convincere un editore. Ma tutto ciò non durò a lungo, ovviamente. Un amico newyorchese di Beckett, lo scrittore John Kobler, le rifilò due enormi bottiglie di whiskey Bushmill per il collega irlandese. Solo più tardi scoprì che a Beckett nemmeno piaceva il Bushmill, e che quindi aveva faticato invano per farle entrare nella valigia. Tuttavia, lo sgradito regalo era solo il presagio dei fraintendimenti e dei rischi nei quali Deirdre si sarebbe invischiata e che l’avrebbero inghiottita per i successivi sette anni.

“Non ti aiuterò – e non ti sarò d’intralcio”, le disse Becket al loro primo incontro. “La mia famiglia e i miei amici ti assisteranno; i miei nemici ti troveranno presto”. Bair, però, non si aspettava che amici e nemici di Beckett fossero tanto difficili da distinguere fra loro e, che nei sette anni occorsi per fare le opportune ricerche e ultimare il libro, il suo soggetto sarebbe stato fino a quel punto elusivo. Nonostante l’impareggiabile disponibilità che lo scrittore dimostrava, nel presentarle il suo cerchio di frequentazioni, e nel lasciarla libera di chiedere qualunque cosa volesse; Beckett spesso spariva da Parigi in modo alquanto misterioso, senza lasciare alcun recapito, durante le settimane in cui lei lo raggiungeva dall’America per proseguire il lavoro. Quando invece si palesava, Beckett imponeva rigide regole. Niente registrazioni, niente appunti. Bair doveva scriversi le domande in anticipo, memorizzarle attentamente e, dopo averlo incontrato, precipitarsi nella sua stanza d’albergo per buttare giù qualche disordinato appunto. “Quando intuiva ch’io stessi per scoprire qualcosa, s’irrigidiva”, rammenta Bair, “si arrovellava nei propri discorsi; li riempiva di commenti personali e si mostrava sprezzante”.

*

Deirdre sospettava che Beckett non la prendesse seriamente.  Un giorno, divertito dalla situazione, Con Leventhal – un amico dello scrittore – le rivelò di una volta in cui Beckett si era riferito a lei come “la donna dai capelli rigati” alludendo alle mèches che Deirdre si faceva dal parrucchiere. Le ricordò dell’ordinario sessismo di cui era vittima nei suoi giorni in redazione, quando si supponeva che una “ragazza reporter” dovesse scrivere di “cucina, vestiti, club di bridge e circoli sociali” piuttosto che di cronaca vera. Ma Bair non si era arresa allora e non si sarebbe certo arresa nemmeno in questa nuova fase della sua carriera. La sua determinazione venne ripagata. “La mia parola è la mia promessa”, le disse e lei gli credette. Bair aveva il sospetto che anche Beckett fosse curioso di vedere come lo avrebbe dipinto mentre era ancora vivo.

Le esperienze con la maggior parte degli amici di Beckett furono tutt’altro che felici. Bair si sorbì tutte le “derisorie maldicenze” che venivano fuori quando litigavano su chi appartenesse o meno al circolino degli eletti. Dovette comprare una marea di scotch a George Reavey a New York, in cambio di briciole biografiche sullo scrittore (“un incubo che andò avanti durante i sette anni di scrittura del libro”). In quasi ogni pagina di Parisian Lives, si può trovare una vena di ripicca o una traccia del rancore a lungo serbato da parte dell’autrice. “Ero l’unica in grado di riconoscere i ritratti che faceva di certi personaggi noti a Dublino”, scrisse di quando leggeva l’opera di Beckett, ma le memorie dei suoi soggiorni a Dublino per cercare la verità non erano affatto piacevoli. “Ho passato serate interminabili seduta sullo sgabello di un pub nel tentativo di tenermi alla larga da innumerevoli poeti, attori, sceneggiatori, giornalisti o professori irlandesi e ubriachi”. È un peccato che la generosità e la gentilezza di Seamus e Marie Heaney, e di altri che ne mostrarono nei suoi confronti, venga fuori solo lateralmente.

*

Parisian Lives arde nella irreprensibile ira di Bair nei confronti dei comportamenti sessisti che l’hanno perseguitata mentre seguiva Beckett e negli anni successivi. Alla pubblicazione del libro nel 1978, la frustrazione provata dai critici statunitensi, nei confronti di una scrittrice in grado di affrontare un soggetto letterario così importante, venne fuori. Richard Elmann, sulla The New York Review of Books, si chiese come Beckett avesse potuto permettere a una totale sconosciuta di scrivere della sua vita. “La domanda è interessante quanto qualsiasi altro tema proposto nel libro, e la sua risposta non è difficile da intuire”. Le sue insinuazioni non erano più complesse di quelle articolate dal giornalista che chiese a Bair: “Quante volte è dovuta andare a letto con Beckett per avere questo scoop?”. I recensori britannici furono più corretti e alternarono elogi per il lavoro di Deirdre a critiche legittime sulla biografia. Inaspettatamente, Bair non menziona alcun critico irlandese, se non Brian Fallon, che nel The Irish Times scrisse in occasione della ristampa del ’81: “Le parti migliori sono probabilmente quelle che parlano della vita di Beckett in Francia, del suo impegno nella Resistenza (per il quale venne decorato) e quelle che descrivono le circostanze in cui è riuscito a scrivere e produrre Aspettando Godot, mettendo fine a decenni di ombre e difficoltà. Le conoscenze di Ms. Bair in merito alla letteratura irlandese degli anni ’30 e ’40 sono molto meno interessanti e costellate di seccanti scivoloni e abbagli. Per esempio, viene citata un’opera di Sean O’Casey chiamata I Sogni di Padre Ned, mentre il nome di battesimo di Con’ Cremin diventa Constantine invece di Cornelius; viene citato il fantomatico bando su Joyce in Irlanda etc.”.

*

Aver scritto della vita di Beckett, prima e dopo la pubblicazione, è stato sfibrante per Deirdre Bair, ma fra i lividi e le ferite di battaglia, la biografa ricorda alcuni momenti edificanti. Dopo sette anni di duro lavoro, appena prima della messa in stampa del libro, le venne comunicato che doveva ottenere il benestare di Beckett per ogni singola citazione da lettere personali e manoscritti inediti. Esausta, gli scrisse per spiegare la situazione, e chiese a Beckett di apporre le proprie iniziali accanto a ogni citazione che avrebbe voluto inserire nel libro; si trattava di ventitré pagine di citazioni. Una settimana dopo giunse la risposta dell’irlandese. Aveva firmato ogni citazione eccetto una: il poema che aveva scritto da scolaro della Portora Royal School a dodici anni: “mostra meglio la tua diligenza nella ricerca, che la mia evoluzione come scrittore” le spiegò con sagacia. Dopo tutti gli ostacoli superati e le ostilità incontrate in quegli anni, capire che Beckett era davvero un uomo di parola, commosse profondamente Bair. “Nella mia carriera ho incontrato molte persone di parola”, scrive, “ma nessuno ha mai pareggiato l’integrità mostrata da Samuel Beckett. Per lui la parola era veramente una promessa”.

*

Il successo di Samuel Beckett: A Biography fu la ricompensa di Bair. I lettori si ammassarono nelle librerie per averne una copia, le venne conferito il National Book Award nel ’81. Un editore le offrì un contratto per scrivere di chiunque avesse voluto, convinto che Deirdre potesse “tener testa a qualsiasi irlandese, compresa Virginia Woolf”. Lei giurò di aver chiuso con le biografie, ma poco dopo tornò sui suoi passi. Nel 1986 pubblicò Simone de Beauvoir: A Biography, e da allora ha scritto una mezza dozzina di altre biografie; tutte accolte ottimamente dalla critica. Carl Jung, Anaïs Nin, Saul Steinberg e Al Capone furono i suoi soggetti e anche la sua carriera accademica decollò. Tuttavia, come ci racconta nell’introduzione di Parisian Lives, dopo così tanti libri e così tanti anni, tutto ciò che interessava al pubblico erano comunque i due scrittori “di Parigi”, Beckett e de Beauvoir, che cordialmente si detestavano. Ovunque andasse e di chiunque Bair parlasse, tutti le chiedevano di loro due e sempre con la stessa domanda. “Ma com’erano veramente?”.

*

Così, a quasi cinquant’anni dalla prima volta in cui guardato nei celesti “occhi da gabbiano” di Beckett nella hall di quell’hotel parigino, Deidre Bair ha risposto alla domanda che tiene svegli i ficcanaso, mettendosi al centro della scena. Nell’introduzione di Parisian Lives descrive il libro come “un curioso ibrido: si tratta di bio-memorie”, in cui parla di sé stessa come una biografa quando incontra Beckett e de Beauvoir. La sua vita è proiettata attraverso il prisma dei suoi soggetti più noti ed è quindi particolarmente significativa la sua morte – occorsa nel 2020, all’età di 84 anni – a stretto giro dalla nomina al Premio Pulitzer di questo suo ultimo libro. Parisian Lives, non doveva essere la sua ultima opera; infatti, Deirdre Bair stava già lavorando su un altro progetto, una biografia di T.S. Eliot, quando è deceduta. Tuttavia, così, questo libro chiude nel modo più preciso il ciclo della sua relazione “a vita” con Beckett e de Beauvoir, descrivendo il suo modo scomodo e trasgressivo di inseguire le vite degli altri.

In fin dei conti, Parisian Lives non parla di ciò che è giusto e di ciò che è sbagliato nella biografia, né vuole raccontare i crimini che si commettono nel nome di questo genere. Il vero soggetto è il prezzo che una donna ha dovuto pagare per avere successo nella vita professionale che si è scelta. Dopo le tante avversità incontrate nello scrivere di Samuel Beckett, Bair riporta le parole dell’artista franco-americana, Louise Bourgeois, che le hanno dato il coraggio per continuare a scrivere biografie: “Nell’arte, non c’è posto per una donna, fino a quando non avrà provato e riprovato che non si lascerà spazzare via”.

Ann Kennedy Smith

*L’articolo è stato pubblicato in origine su “Dublin Review of Books” come “The Hard Life”; la traduzione è di Giacomo Zamagni

L'articolo “Quante volte è dovuta andare a letto con Beckett per avere questo scoop?”. Deirdre Bair, la biografa del grande Samuel che ha tenuto a bada orde di accademici proviene da Pangea.

from pangea.news https://ift.tt/2VnOl1y

[finita--la--commedia]

Theirs was a new kind of relationship, and I had never seen anything like it. I can’t describe what it was like to be present when those two were together. It was so intense that sometimes it made others who saw it sad not to have it.

Colette Audry on the relationship between Sartre and  Beauvoir, in the interview with Deirdre Bair, March 5, 1986

[night-zac-666]

I have two connections to this. I've been to Bratislava (1995), and I met the late Deirdre Bair, right after she published Parisian Lives.

Simone de Beauvoir quote graffiti seen in Old Town, Bratislava