Mysteries of Paris: The Quest for Morton Fullerton

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Product Details

Author : Marion Mainwaring
Binding : Hardcover
EAN : 9781584650089
Number of Pages : 357
Product Group : Book
Publication Date : 2001-02-01
Publisher : UPNE

ASIN : 1584650087

Customer Reviews

Biography auto and otherwise (2002-11-26)

This is both the story of Elizabeth Wharton's cad of a lover, and the earnest researcher exploited and spurned by the Scholar in the Field, who she won't even deign to name! Hot stuff, to those who care about such things.

The scholar-cad dismissed her earlier cries de coeur as attempts to elicit publicity for this work, but you have to have read the LRB review to know this.

Literary hearts are broken all around. If you understand this for what it is, it's one of the best books ever, but a bit of an objet trouvee, if you know what I mean.

A fascinating life but a tedious book (2002-07-28)

Basicly, this book is an account by Marion Mainwaring about the research she did to write it. She goes to the south of France, she reads some old letters, she talks to some people who knew Morton Fullerton late in life. Etc. etc. Along the way she gives a somewhat confused account of the slanging match she got into with Wharton's official biographer (about how she did all the research for his book but got no credit, blah blah blah). All of it's pretty tiring and you get the feeling that Mainwaring is desperately trying to pad out an already thin book.Having said that, Fullerton led a fascinating life, something straight out of a Henry James novel. To anyone interested in Edith Wharton or even about expatriate life in early 20th century Europe, this book is a must read.

A great vacation book (2001-07-05)

I greatly enjoyed this book after I realized it was not a quick read of connecting the dots/facts and racing to a conclusion. The joy of this book is that it offers the reader the chance to join Mainwaring as she roams through Paris seeking out the truths of rogue M. Fullerton's life. I loved the descriptions of Paris, the street scenes and the old buildings with their old bureacrats serving as gatekeepers to the dusty stacks of information in the registries of births, deaths and marriages. In her quest for the facts she encounters characters ranging from counts to charwomen and her style, humor and voice make me feel there with her, mulling the facts and planning the next step in the detective work.If you need a vacation from your life, read this book. I now open it to any page and just dive in and quickly become captivated again. Mainwaring is an artist in her impeccable choice of words. Enjoy the process of her quest, indulge yourself and you will find that you will forget about the mundane matters of your life. An instant vacation, what a relief!

The Ultimate Mystery--How This Got Published. (2001-06-22)

A virtually impossible read, this book pretends to be like Richard Holmes' wonderful "In the Footsteps of A Romantic Biographer" but it most assuredly is NOT. Here, instead of footsteps, we have sink-holes. No sooner does a paragraph begin to entice interest, than it degenerates into incomprehensible ramblings. Rather than learning bit by bit in an engaging way about the wonders of turn of the century Paris and it's denizens--particularly Edith Wharton and her rakish secret lover, we learn only that the would-be biographer is an eccentric (not in a good way) confusing and addle-pated researcher who has no success with delivering the literary goods. A frustrating and disappointing waste of time. Avoid it like the plague!

The Ultimate Mystery--How This Got Published. (2001-06-22)

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