Wild Heart: A Life: Natalie Clifford Barney and the Decadence of Literary Paris

The book was meant to be a "breathless" read, and it succeeded. I didn't mind the reconstructed conversations. So many people knew this woman, and they all talked and wrote about her so much, the material was just there. A couple of times Rodriguez seemed to lack penetration about her subject. For example the parlor trick Natalie and her sister had as children of seeming to read each other's minds--it was just the sort of thing Natalie would have loved: getting attention and having a good laugh at the expense of her mother's guests. Could have used more editing. I was one of the few members of my book club who actually finished the book, and someone asked me: "Why?" I answered that although I'm sure I would loathe this woman if I met her, I just had to see what happened and how her life played out.As for Natalie: Selfish; cruel; shallow; intellectually dishonest; a terrible snob; unable to empathize; so aggressive in her seductions she was almost a rapist. Rodriguez doesn't say it; it just emerges. Is it unfair to pass judgement on an artist's private self? In this case I can't help it. Famous for all her love affairs, and even the handful that lasted decades, Natalie Clifford Barney did not love. I don't think it was her fault; she just didn't have the brain for it. Natalie was addicted to being loved, addicted to the fix of the next desired-one's capitulation. Then she lost interest and went after someone new. But if the discarded one left, Natalie couldn't stand it and pursued her again. To abandon her again. She never admitted the devastating effects this had on her lovers because she had no way to understand it. If they spiraled downwards into self-destruction after she was unfaithful, it was because they were going to do that anyway. For all her money, she wouldn't donate to charities anonymously--she wanted bang for her buck. And her famous maxims and epigrams, uttered to be admired for their wit much more than intellectual merit; she didn't even believe half the things she said.As for her art, she might have been a poet; I can't judge. Did her salon make a difference to painting or literature? It was fashionable and filled a social need of the intelligentsia, but it wasn't clear that the artists got their inspiration there and no place else. She might have brought deserving young artists to the notice of potential patrons, but they might have met the same people in someone else's drawing room--it was a small universe. Did she pave the way for acceptance of lesbianism? No. It was already accepted in Paris and she was lucky to discover (and rich enough to live in) the milieu in which she could be openly gay. So, what was so important about Natalie Clifford Barney that there is a book about her?Because she was a phenomenon. Paintings and photographs add a visual dimension. I was quite taken away, got on the internet and found more, this courtesan and that lover, from the exquisitely feminine Liane de Pougin to the androgynous Romaine Brooks, who in her self portraits of 1912 and 1923 was stunning. Belle is certainly the mot juste. It was a grand tour of a period I had only heard of, and I was glad to learn more.

Many wonderful details of the Left Bank's Natalie Barney, the people she knew, the times she lived in and the gilded life she lived. Full of historic details that shows us what a remarkable life she lead. A wonderful story, well written celebrating the Who's Who of her day and her life.

Suzie Rodriguez's compelling biography of the American writer and salonista Natalie Barney is by far the most comprehensive produced in the last 30 years. Feminist, sexual iconoclast, and patron of the arts, Barney was dangerously ahead of her time; by the time she died in 1972, the women's movement was only beginning to catch up to her.Rodriguez chronicles in-depth this wayward life, from growing up in an enormously wealthy family polarized by her father's alcoholism and autocratic control to Barney's taking her place in the center of Parisian literary life. Barney served as friend and confidante to many writers, including Hemingway, Djuna Barnes, Gertude Stein, Colette, Ezra Pound, and Janet Flanner. The influences of lovers -- painter Romaine Brooks, poet Renee Vivien, the courtesan Liane de Pougy and others -- are covered, as well as the passionate but platonic affair with France's man of letters Remy de Gourmont.Barney, who defied societal conventions to live her life exactly as she wished, was a deeply contradictory person, and could be both warm and giving, yet cold and selfish. Rodriguez does not shy away from Barney's flaws, including her anti-semitic views -- something not found in earlier works.This book is extensively sourced, and Rodriguez interviewed people who knew Barney well. This excellent work is well written and covers new territory. I bought two copies -- one copy for myself, and then another for a friend.

Natalie Clifford Barney was wild at heart. She loved life and women rather than men but she created one of the most memorable and historic scenes in her Paris salons. While Stein was more cerebral, Barney was more fun and light at heart. She was still complicated with a love life that includes Romaine Brooks and Rene Vivian. Anyway this book is quite a departure for me, I read crime books so I'm looking forward to reading this book in depth. I have only just got it and I'm impressed with it's high quality.Of course since I'm still reading it, I still find Natalie's life both in turmoil and complicated by having too many intimate relationships with women. She was definitely one of a kind lady of her time. She has intimate relationships with women because that's her nature as she believes and that's fine. But Natalie is too much for one partner, I haven't even gotten to Romaine Brooks, the love of her life. Of course, Natalie suffers heartache and loss much more than most people are willing to imagine. Men even admired and desired her despite her obvious taste. She was surely cerebral.She never apologized for her nature and she was neither displaying it like it is today. Natalie was classy with her style. She was feminine without any pretense of wanting to dress like a man or be one. She was definitely a woman who loved other women long before it became fashionable and sometimes a joke. I don't what she would think of female celebrities today etc. I know she would probably be either critical or praise them but I don't know.Natalie was a tough person with higher credentials than most people. She wasn't about to welcome just anybody whether they were gay or straight into her salons. They had to be cerebral and an artist and somebody who could change the world for the better. After finishing this wonderful biography, Natalie lived a fascinating life that nobody with any creativity could have written. Of course, it wasn't always happy.Her one true love, Romaine Brooks, distanced herself from Natalie at the end of their lives. Natalie went to the grave with a picture of Romaine. She shares her grave with her sister Laura. Despite all her lovers, Natalie had many of them but all female, it was Romaine that she wanted most of all. Of course, she had Lily Graumont and others but Natalie lived a life that many of us regardless of our sexual orientation could not have imagined.I would love to see Vanessa Redgrave play the older Natalie and one of her daughters, Joely or Natasha Richardson played younger Natalie in a film adaptation. Her sister Lynn could play older Laura. I don't know who could play Romaine, Lily, Eva, or any of her friends and lovers as well. But for the price on amazon.com, this book is one to keep and if anybody ask questions about why you should read this book. Tell them it's about one of the most fascinating literary lionesses of the last century and they'll be interested in it too if they love to read.

If you know nothing about Nathalie Clifford Barney, this is a good place to start. It's not an academic book but has some decent sources in it should you want to know more about the fin de siecle, the demi mode that NCB moved in for a while, this is a good source. But, it misses some of the nuances of the lives of other important members of the ex-patriate American community which are better dealt with by other writers and the book is, I feel, too loaded towards the earlier part of her very long life. But, in all a good introduction to her life.