The Letters of Noël Coward
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- €27.99
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- €27.99
Publisher Description
'A uniquely charming and enticing journey through a remarkable life.
Coward's own record is made all the more delightful by the wise and
helpful interpolations of Barry Day, the soundest authority on the
Master that there is.' Stephen Fry
'Precise, witty, remarkably observed and gloriously English' Dame Judi Dench
'Barry Day's analysis is both perceptive and irresistible' Lord Richard Attenborough
With virtually all the letters in this volume previously unpublished -
this is a revealing new insight into the private life of a legendary
figure. Coward's multi-faceted talent as an actor, writer, composer,
producer and even as a war-time spy(!), brought him into close contact
with the great, the good and the merely ambitious in film, literature
and politics.With letters to and from the likes of: George Bernard
Shaw, Virginia Woolf, Winston Churchill, Greta Garbo (she wrote asking
him to marry her), Marlene Dietriech, Ian Fleming, Graham Greene,
Evelyn Waugh, Fred Astaire, Charlie Chaplin, FD Roosevelt, the Queen
Mother and many more, the picture that emerges is a series of vivid
sketches of Noel Coward's private relationships, and a re-examination
of the man himself.
Deliciously insightful, witty, perfectly bitchy,
wise, loving and often surprisingly moving, this extraordinary
collection gives us Coward at his crackling best. A sublime portrait of
a unique artist who made an indelible mark on the 20th century, from
the Blitz to the Ritz and beyond.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Writers labor to come up with lines half as good as those No l Coward dropped into the mailbox every day "I felt that some sort of scene was necessary to celebrate my first entrance into America, so I said, 'Little lamb, who made thee,' to a customs official." The playwright, actor and songwriter is in fine form in these missives, telegrams and poems (he would rhyme almost anything, even communications to his business manager), presented along with return mail from friends and luminaries. Day (Coward on Film: The Cinema of Noel Coward) arranges the well-chosen selections in roughly chronological order with some unobtrusive narrative context; at times he spotlights a lifelong correspondence with a single person to flesh out Coward's relationships, such as with Gertrude Lawrence. Coward's voice is charming, whimsical, sharp-eyed and canny, often alternating, in the showbiz way, between effusive warmth (letter to Tallulah Bankhead: "Thank you very much, darling, for all your sweetness and your insane generosity") and cutting putdown (letter about Tallulah Bankhead: "a conceited slut"). A true intellectual of the stage, his comments on the nitty-gritty of writing, pacing, character and acting technique are incisive. Fans of Coward's plays and students of 20th-century theater will be fascinated, but casual readers will also find an entertaining browse. Photos.
