Balint, Christine. Ophelia's Fan, A novel.BALINT, Christine. Ophelia's fan, a novel. Norton. 351p. c2004. 0-393-32766-3. $13.95. SA * Harriet Smithson Henrietta Constance (Harriet) Smithson (1800 - March 3 1854) was an Irish actress, the first wife of Hector Berlioz, and the inspiration for his Symphonie Fantastique. She was the daughter of a theatrical manager. is the Irish actress whose portrayal of Shakespeare's Ophelia wins the heart of the unpredictably passionate composer, Hector Berlioz, and inspires his Symphonie Fantastique Symphonie fantastique (Fantastic Symphony) subtitled "An Episode in the Life of an Artist" Opus 14, is a symphony written by French composer Hector Berlioz in 1830. . She is born in 1800 to a pair of impoverished actors who pass Harriet into the care of an elderly priest, Father Barrett, who provides her with the education and upbringing of a lady. It comes as a bit of shock to her when she is required by her family to enter the sometimes-seedy world of the theater. In 1827, certain that there is no future for her on the English stage, Harriet and her family travel to Paris to perform Shakespeare for the French. There, she is an almost instantaneous success. However, none of Harriet's admirers are quite as passionate (or as mad, perhaps) as Hector. He shrieks with terror and runs from the theater when she feigns death as Juliet. He threatens suicide in order to convince her to marry him, and he weeps hysterically hys·ter·i·cal adj. 1. Of, characterized by, or arising from hysteria. 2. Having or prone to having hysterics. 3. Informal Extremely funny: told a hysterical story. at her rejections of his love. Yet, six years after their meeting they do marry. Ophelia's Fan seems to be written randomly. Letters from Harriet to her son are interspersed with Shakespearean character studies and dated events that do not occur in chronological chron·o·log·i·cal also chron·o·log·ic adj. 1. Arranged in order of time of occurrence. 2. Relating to or in accordance with chronology. order. However, in Balint's skilled hands, this format works. The narrative ebbs and flows with a gentle rhythm that calls to mind Ophelia's delicate and lyrical lyr·i·cal adj. 1. a. Expressing deep personal emotion or observations: a dancer's lyrical performance; a lyrical passage in his autobiography. b. madness. Although we are never given a direct view of the marriage, through Harriet's letters and our knowledge of her character and Hector's we may imagine the anguish that exists within their union. Despite the fact that this novel is not easily accessible and will not work for reluctant teens, mature readers will be delighted. Inevitably they will find themselves evaluating the structure of the narrative, the symbolism Symbolism In art, a loosely organized movement that flourished in the 1880s and '90s and was closely related to the Symbolist movement in literature. In reaction against both Realism and Impressionism, Symbolist painters stressed art's subjective, symbolic, and decorative of the Shakespearean characters This is an index of characters appearing in the plays of William Shakespeare. NOTE: ''Characters who exist outside Shakespeare are marked "(hist)" where they are historical, and "(myth)" where they are mythical. Where that annotation is a link (e.g. , and the meaning of the title. This is a rich and textured work that will provide much material for discussion and evaluation. Heather Lisowski, YA Libn., Castle Rock, CO |
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