TALMA: A Biography of an Actor

by Herbert F. Collins ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

He is nature in all her simplicity, passion caught on the wing, feeling in all its surrender..."" Thus a contemporary playwright described Talma, by all accounts France's greatest actor. Talma maintained his preeminence through three succeeding regimes: the Revolution, the Napoleonic Empire and the Bourbon Restoration. He smashed the classic theater tradition by insisting on authentic costumes, acting in a style of romantic naturalism and by suppressing the singsong rhythm of the alexandrines (he read them according to their sense and in run-on lines, breaking them up with by-play.) His supreme greatness was attested to by Stendhal, Mme. de Stael and Napoleon (with whose sister he had an affair.) Talma's great secret was that he infused French excellence with passions conned from Shakespeare. For many years he was one of Napoleon's very closest friends, received subsidies from him and even acting instruction. (While Moscow laid in ruins about him, Napoleon spent three evenings drawing up rules for the Comedic-Francaise.) Talma's most enormous triumph, after the death of his beloved Emperor, was in Sylla during which, in Roman toga, he impersonated Napoleon with flawless authority and to the stunned admiration of Parisians. This is truly fascinating biography, with the accent more on theatre than Talma's wives and mistresses.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Hill & Wang

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1964

Categories: NONFICTION