THE GLAMOROUS OUTCASTS
Since the early nineteenth century, the bohemian has been the hero of the story the West has wanted to hear about its artists: a story of genius, glamour and doom. The bohemian is variously the artist dying in poverty like Chatterton or a successful self-destroyer like Jackson Pollock. Wilson’s remarkable Bohemians is a quest for the many shifting meanings that constitute bohemianism.
REVIEWS
‘Her intellectual enthusiasm, ironic humour and delight in bohemian absurdity make this a fascinating book to read.’
Sheila Rowbotham (Financial Times)‘Elizabeth Wilson, who has done a prodigious amount of research, is particularly good on the slumming of her aristocratic and/or wealth bohemians … When everyone is a Bohemian, then, paradoxically, the country of Bohemia ceases to exist. Of this country Elizabeth Wilson has produced a fascinating history.’ Francis King (Spectator)
‘Wilson leads the search party … for the bona fide … bohemians with fantastic energy … in a book that is intricately informative, expertly researched and highly entertaining. She tells a good story.’
Sally Cline (Literary Review)‘It is really the best kind of book: a scholarly exploration of a fascinating subject.’
Thomas Hodgkinson (Independent on Sunday)