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Dangerous Muse: The Life Of Lady Caroline Blackwood Paperback – October 1, 2002

by Nancy Schoenberger (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 64 ratings
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You can see her dark-eyed beauty in photos by Walker Evans, and her bewitching figure in paintings by Lucian Freud. She is the mermaid of whom poet Robert Lowell writes in The Dolphin (and he was clutching her portrait when he died). She was Lady Caroline Blackwood, legendarily witty and alluring but also a legendary drunk. Raised an heiress to the Guinness fortune, Blackwood (1931-1996) moved easily among the aristocracy, the bohemians of postwar England and the liberal intelligentsia of 1960s New York. She has been called a muse to genius-though her marriages to Lucian Freud, the composer Israel Citkowitz, and Robert Lowell were as troubled as they were inspiring-and she was an author herself, short-listed for the Booker Prize in 1977. In this first biography of Blackwood, Nancy Schoenberger deftly paints a complex woman who was captivating to her dying day.
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  1. Print length
    416 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    October 1, 2002
  4. Dimensions
    9.08 x 6 x 1.09 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0306811871
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0306811876
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Dangerous Muse is not so much a literary biography as a fable for our own times-dramatic, chilling and suggestive." -- New York Times Book Review

About the Author

Nancy Schoenberger, award-winning author of three books of poetry and co-author of a biography on Oscar Levant, is a former executive director of the Academy of American Poets and was an associate producer of the PBS film series Voices and Visions. She teaches creative writing at the College of William and Mary, and divides her time between Virginia and New York.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Da Capo Press (October 1, 2002)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0306811871
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0306811876
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.01 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.08 x 6 x 1.09 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 64 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
64 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

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5.0 out of 5 stars LADY CAROLINE BLACKWOOD
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2015
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The story of Lady Caroline Blackwood is incredibly touching. Born into wealth and privilege but horribly neglected as a child, this beautiful woman chose a path uniquely her own and followed it, though her personal demons and insecurities often got the best of her. Her life makes fascinating reading, not least because of all the famous people she came in contact with, such as Lucian Freud, Robert Lowell, Ivan Moffatt, Francis Bacon, and members of her own Guinness family. The only complaints I have about the book are the photos: most of them seem to have been selected to show how Caroline's addictions ravaged her beauty over the years, and in the paperback edition I purchased the reproduction of the photos is so poor it is often hard to make out who is actually in the photo and what they look like. Still, in my opinion this is an excellent read, and I highly recommend it.
11 people found this helpful
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marieNov15
4.0 out of 5 stars Reads like a gothic fairy tale
Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2001
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I agree with many of the criticisms of this book, and I thought it was a scream that Caroline was continually described as one of the great beauties of her day. If she was, the photos in the book do not do that statement any justice. (...) The description of her as a great beauty appears to be more fiction/legend than fact. (...)I was disappointed that the parallels between Caroline's alcohol/drug abuse and the tragedies and traumas in her life were never made.
Although the book was written from an extremely biased, romanticized point of view, I thought it was extremely well written and enjoyed reading it very much. For me, it had incredible entertainment value and had a similar appeal that a gothic Anne Rice story or a trashy Hollywood Jackie Collins novel might have. The book had incredible appeal as a sociopolitical commentary. (...) So for that expose alone and for writing in such a way that kept me engrossed in Caroline's story, I tip my hat off to Shoenberger and give this book a four star rating.
21 people found this helpful
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Mihal Ceittin
3.0 out of 5 stars What exactly is a muse?
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2023
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Caroline Blackwell was an 'it' girl in bohemian post-war London which got her into a marriage with the flamboyant painter Lucien Freud. If she hadn't been a Guinness heiress she probably would just be a footnote in Freud's sexual biography. But she was a very beautiful and fabulously wealthy 'aristocrat' which made her a flame to which other 'geniuses' would fly, and then perish. By all accounts she was a disaster as a mother and a housekeeper...people of her sort didn't clean their own houses but people who were 'cool' didn't hire efficient servants. Since her own Mother gave her no model of maternal comportment she flew by the seat of her pants. However, since she was often drunk she was incapable of establishing any kind of stable home life for her children. As for being a muse...well Freud did paint her but he also painted countless others. Were they all his muses as well? Her second husband, a gifted composer basically gave up his life work to tend to domestic chores and keeping her children safe from their own mother. In this case she was a negative-muse. As for the third husband, American poet Robert Lowell. She did inspire him to write a prize winning collection...but it was a controversial piece of work that owed as much to his ex-wife as it did to Blackwell. In any event she didn't like to think of herself as a muse so we should really just bin this notion about her. If anything she was a troubled woman from a troubled family who made trouble for everyone in equal measure to the trouble they gave her. Not an enviable life except for the discipline she exhibited as a writer which is probably all she ever wanted to be.
3 people found this helpful
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Ted Epand
5.0 out of 5 stars I totally enjoyed this book
Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2015
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I totally enjoyed this book, even though my main reason for reading it was her relationship with Lucien Freud. I am so into this family's story that I now plan to read Caroline's daughter Ivana's book "Why not say what happened?" People who lead lives like this are different than me at least. They do not care if their life is "messy" by comparison. They roll with their proclivities and drink up the messes that happen. Entertaining for me, but I could not live that life. Birth rites, history and WWll seems to wrap some people up into a world that changes to often, yet their creativity never lessens. The author is to be congratulated on a story well told, through arduous research. Read it, you will like it!
6 people found this helpful
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CJH
5.0 out of 5 stars What a life!
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2023
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Caroline Blackwood lived an amazing, sad, drunken, mad life. She married, she had children, she lost a child, she wrote, she lived. And she had three famous husbands, none of whom were particularly good husband material. Excellent book!!
2 people found this helpful
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dadadwee
4.0 out of 5 stars Moments in Time
Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2011
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All my life I've been fascinated by the history of that time just before i was born - Sports, Art, Jazz, Film and the written word. Miss Schoenberger manages well enough to fill in those gaps regarding Robert Lowell that his letters, and other biographies do not. It's a glimpse into the mad world of the Guinness clan as well, and reeks of cigarette smoke and booze. My only serious complaint would be the quality of he photographic printing - poor. But it is another good link in the chain of literature from that period.
6 people found this helpful
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always reading & cooking
5.0 out of 5 stars Quick delivery. Immaculate copy of book.
Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2021
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Book as described (really even better - never opened) and oddly quick delivery. Thanks!
3 people found this helpful
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Dee Stich
3.0 out of 5 stars Too long at times
Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2012
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Lady Carolyn was a mess, she may have been able to write stories based on her hidden pain, but she appeared to be devoid of feelings of empathy and compassion toward others. Her upbringing coincides, on many points, with the upbringing of so many of her class. She was raised by nannies or otherwise disinterested and cruel people, like her mother who gave very little if any attention to her children and placed an inordinate amount of value in keeping ties with royal and aristocratic society. Carolyn could have been one of the Mitford sisters. She had the same small mind about differences and a wicked sense of humor that found fodder in the weaknesses of others. She was perhaps unable to feel pity or even consideration for others, evidence of her loveless upbringing. The book is well written but could have benefitted from some editing making it at least 50 pages shorter.
8 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Yolante O'Connor
3.0 out of 5 stars Dangerous Muse: The Life of Caroline Blackwood
Reviewed in France on May 9, 2016
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Ce livre est bien écrit et intéressant. je connais Mme Blackwood dans les années 70.s et je trouve que son character est bien représente par la author, Nancy Schoenberger.
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Clarebobacus
5.0 out of 5 stars Darkly shining
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 15, 2013
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Fascinating biography of a fabulously dark aristocratic writer and sometime muse. The tale of a scion of the rich but cursed Guiness family, Lady Caroline Blackwood survived a cold and brutal childhood in Ireland to be part of the burgeoning Soho scene on the 1950's. She married Lucian Freud and was the famous "Girl in bed". This b
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Hermione Johnsen
3.0 out of 5 stars Not worth reading
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 6, 2016
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Disappointing. Not well enough written with too many quotations in the text. I am struggling to finish it!
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MARCIA M BRITO
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 15, 2014
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Very well researched and well written.
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