THE JEALOUS MISTRESS

by Paul Elbogen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 7, 1953

A lifesized portrait of a painter, Jan Dram, is often out of scale with reality and describes his creative energy- not all of which goes into his work- with vigorous exuberance. Dram's first marriage to his model, Faustina, in Italy, ends with her delivery of a crippled child, Ugo. He returns to Paris where Lucille, again a model, becomes his wife and their ""typhoon of love"" blows up into constant quarrels and a divorce after several years of marriage which result in Genevieve and Charles. As a young man, and a successful caricaturist, Ugo comes to Paris and his hate for his father does not deflect the attraction he feels toward Genevieve. They fall in love; she attempts suicide; but he alone can save her and they go off together. A third marriage for Dram is perhaps the happiest but he spends a year on cocaine, and she is killed in an air raid. And the titan is finally whittled down to size when at 75 his lifework is destroyed and an exhibit- containing all his pictures- is burned to ashes. . . A flamboyant figure, Paris and a palette- the mill here that this runs out of is still not Moulin Rouge. The writing is fullblown.

Pub Date: Sept. 7, 1953

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1953

Categories: FICTION