THE STORY OF AXEL MUNTHE

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 4, 1953

Gustaf Munthe, a cousin of Dr. Munthe, has drawn on family records, letters, papers, interviews for his story of Axel Munthe, and when the material is complete one has a reasonably clear portrait of the man and chronological record of his life, his intimates, his contributions to the world in which he lived. The chapters contributed by Baroness Uexkull deal more with personal impressions, intimate glimpses of the man. Inevitably, in doing a biography this way, the end impression is a bit uncoordinated, the quality uneven. One finds oneself going back in memory to The Story of San Michele, to Memories and Vagaries, -which form virtually an autobiographical record. At times this new biography captures something of the magnetic quality of Dr. Munthe`s own writing, but there is none of the sustained magic. Some of the mysterious quality that captured the imagination in reading his own books is somewhat dissipated; one feels him at one and the same time, now more, now less an actual man. The market? Probably those to whom The Story of San Michele has left Munthe a shadowy figure.

Pub Date: Nov. 4, 1953

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1953

Categories: NONFICTION