Inventing the it girl : how Elinor Glyn created the modern romance and conquered early Hollywood / Hilary A. Hallett.
Material type:
TextPublisher: New York : Liveright Publishing Corporation, [2022]Edition: First editionDescription: 448 pages : illustrations (black and white), map ; 24 cmContent type: - text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9781631490699
- 1631490699
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
|
Dr. James Carlson Library | Biography | GLYN, E. H186 | Available | 33111010993612 | ||||
|
Adult Book
|
Main Library | Biography | GLYN, E. H186 | Available | 33111010867212 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Unlike typical romances, which end with wedding bells, Elinor Glyn's (1864-1943) story really began after her marriage up the social ladder and into the English gentry class in 1892. Born in the Channel Islands, Elinor Sutherland, like most Victorian women, aspired only to a good match. But when her husband, Clayton Glyn, gambled their fortune away, she turned to her pen and boldly challenged the era's sexually straightjacketed literary code with her notorious succes de scandale, Three Weeks (1907). An intensely erotic tale about an unhappily married woman's sexual education of her young lover, the novel got Glyn banished from high society but went on to sell millions, revealing a deep yearning for a fuller account of sexual passion than permitted by the British aristocracy or the Anglo-American literary establishment.In elegant prose, Hilary A. Hallett traces Glyn's meteoric rise from a depressed society darling to a world-renowned celebrity author who consorted with world leaders from St. Petersburg to Cairo to New York. After reporting from the trenches during World War I, the author was lured by American movie producers from Paris to Los Angeles for her remarkable third act. Weaving together years of deep archival research, Hallett movingly conveys how Glyn, more than any other individual during the Roaring Twenties, crafted early Hollywood's glamorous romantic aesthetic. She taught the screen's greatest leading men to make love in ways that set audiences aflame, and coined the term "It Girl," which turned actress Clara Bow into the symbol of the first sexual revolution.With Inventing the It Girl, Hallett has done nothing less than elevate the origins of the modern romance genre to a subject of serious study. In doing so, she has also reclaimed the enormous influence of one of Anglo-America's most significant cultural tastemakers while revealing Glyn's life to have been as sensational as any of the characters she created on the page or screen. The result is a groundbreaking portrait of a courageous icon of independence who encouraged future generations to chase their desires wherever they might lead.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 391-432) and index.
"The modern romance novel is elevated to a subject of serious study in this addictively readable biography of pioneering celebrity author Elinor Glyn. Society darling Elinor Glyn shocked her English peers with the 1907 publication of Three Weeks, an intensely erotic novel that launched her to international fame and infamy. Historian Hilary A. Hallett traces Glyn's meteoric rise for the first time, beginning where most romance novels end: with her marriage into the English gentry class in 1892. When her husband, Clayton, gambled their fortune away, Glyn boldly became the first commercially successful writer to challenge the sexually straightjacketed literary code. As she churned out novels, she consorted with world leaders from St. Petersburg to Paris to Cairo before movie producers lured her to California in 1920. There, Glyn crafted the romantic aesthetic of Hollywood's golden Silent Age, coining the term "It"--a quality of magnetism she projected onto actresses like Clara Bow. Weaving deep archival research, Hallett presents Glyn as an icon of sexual and professional independence who would encourage new generations to chase their own desires wherever they led"-- Provided by publisher.
Prologue: On Flappers and Their Philosophers -- Act I: Beauty. In the Library, Jersey, the Channel Islands, 1880 -- A Gentleman's Wife -- In Sickness and in Health -- Marry the Life, Not the Man -- Under Foreign Skies -- Act II: Glamour. Writing Three Weeks -- Trash -- The Word Became Flesh -- Surviving the Worst -- World Split in Two -- Act III: Power. At the Hollywood Hotel -- Babylon or Bohemia? -- The Elinor Glyn Touch -- Family Fortunes -- The It Girl -- Afterlives of a Tiger Queen.