- Paperback: 280 pages
- Publisher: New York University Press (December 1987)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0814761666
- ISBN-13: 978-0814761663
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,643,438 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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3.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
3.0 out of 5 stars
Useful for the general facts of Perse's life, but unnecessarily florid, May 23 2008
By Christopher Culver - Published on Amazon.com
Erika Ostovsky's UNDER THE SIGN OF AMBIGUITY is one of the few English-language biographies of the great 20th century figure known in diplomatic circles by his birth name Alexis Leger and in poetry under the pseudonym Saint-John Perse. The biography does assume that one can read French, as all quotations from French sources are left untranslated. The body of the book is just over 200 pages, occasionally illustrated with photos. Ostrovsky does a good job of sketching the course of her subject's life, and through the course of his diplomatic career, she equally balances the activities of Leger the diplomat, master of European wheeling and dealing, and Perse the poet.What I found annoying about Ostrovsky's biography, however, is its highly speculative tone. The biography begins with long and often irrelevant musings on what Leger's mother "must" have been feeling as she gave birth to her son. The description of Leger being brought to his baptism reads like a scene from a novel: "As the prow headed towards the open sea, the wind freshened. An odor of salt filled the air. Soon, the outlines of the island blurred, and the servants on the shore were only a brilliant patch of color against the foliage. Then all traces of land disappeared, and one saw nothing but the sapphire expanse of sea. The child, asleep before, seemed to stir as soon as they were afloat."
Similarly, the account of Perse's death is unnecessarily speculative: "Surely, the great window stood open to the water as he lay dying. And his last gaze encompassed all the seas he had known: the Mediterranean, finally reconciled; the Atlantic at the west, ocean of the past and his whole lineage; the terrestrial sea trail that led to Ourga; the trackless deep he had traveled the world over; and the great 'Sea within us'." Couldn't she just stick to facts?
I also feel that Ostrovsky's sources were to limited. While she does claim use of Perse's archives and interviews with some figures close to the man, the bulk of citations seem to be from the "Oeuvres completes", which are notoriously unreliable for biography. The last 20 years have seen a greater familiarity with Perse's papers left to his Foundation, and some interesting clues to Perse's personal life and relationships with women. If you are a fan of the poet and haven't yet found a more recent French biography, this is entertaining reading, for all its limitations.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Useful for the general facts of Perse's life, but unnecessarily florid, May 23 2008
By Christopher Culver - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Under the Sign of Ambiguity: Saint-John Perse Alexis Leger (Paperback)
Erika Ostovsky's UNDER THE SIGN OF AMBIGUITY is one of the few English-language biographies of the great 20th century figure known in diplomatic circles by his birth name Alexis Leger and in poetry under the pseudonym Saint-John Perse. The biography does assume that one can read French, as all quotations from French sources are left untranslated. The body of the book is just over 200 pages, occasionally illustrated with photos. Ostrovsky does a good job of sketching the course of her subject's life, and through the course of his diplomatic career, she equally balances the activities of Leger the diplomat, master of European wheeling and dealing, and Perse the poet.What I found annoying about Ostrovsky's biography, however, is its highly speculative tone. The biography begins with long and often irrelevant musings on what Leger's mother "must" have been feeling as she gave birth to her son. The description of Leger being brought to his baptism reads like a scene from a novel: "As the prow headed towards the open sea, the wind freshened. An odor of salt filled the air. Soon, the outlines of the island blurred, and the servants on the shore were only a brilliant patch of color against the foliage. Then all traces of land disappeared, and one saw nothing but the sapphire expanse of sea. The child, asleep before, seemed to stir as soon as they were afloat."
Similarly, the account of Perse's death is unnecessarily speculative: "Surely, the great window stood open to the water as he lay dying. And his last gaze encompassed all the seas he had known: the Mediterranean, finally reconciled; the Atlantic at the west, ocean of the past and his whole lineage; the terrestrial sea trail that led to Ourga; the trackless deep he had traveled the world over; and the great 'Sea within us'." Couldn't she just stick to facts?
I also feel that Ostrovsky's sources were to limited. While she does claim use of Perse's archives and interviews with some figures close to the man, the bulk of citations seem to be from the "Oeuvres completes", which are notoriously unreliable for biography. The last 20 years have seen a greater familiarity with Perse's papers left to his Foundation, and some interesting clues to Perse's personal life and relationships with women. If you are a fan of the poet and haven't yet found a more recent French biography, this is entertaining reading, for all its limitations.
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