Camille Claudel
Alma
H. Bond
PublishAmerica, LLLP, Baltimore, MD, paperback, (244p)
ISBN: 1-4241-1670-8
Combining an astonishing depth of historical research with a fertile
imagination and great
psychological insight, Dr. Alma Bond's novel "Camille Claudel" tells the
story of a forgotten
romance between two of the greatest artists of the early 20th century. Dr.
Bond makes it clear at the outset that although "Camille Claudel" is based
on historical fact, it has been created and embellished by her imagination
and is therefore, first and foremost, a novel.
In the foreword, an old former professor of classic French literature
tells us why he decides to bring to light the forgotten memoirs of Camille
Claudel, who loved and then lost the sculptor Auguste Rodin.
We already know, thanks to a prologue, that Claudel is confined to the
Montdevergues Asylum, France, in her old age. She has already been there
for 30 years as she writes this memoir. "My life has been a romance," she
writes, "a mystery, a poem, an epic, a novel, an elegy, a historical
treatise which would take a Shakespeare to describe." Claudel has tales to
tell - not only that of her own life, but also "the reasons why Auguste
Rodin is known and adored worldwide for work done largely by my hands,
while I fester away in this dungeon of despair."
Even during her childhood, Claudel had dreams of a great artist falling in
love with her and
transporting her to a magical life. Sculpting was a passion; she would
"attack the clay in a frenzy," so when Rodin took her on as his first
female student, it was a momentous, happy occasion. She studied at Rodin's
studio 16 hours a day, seven days a week, and soon a romance began to
blossom.
But it was a romance fraught with difficulties, and Claudel had to deal
with Rodin's already married status, his seniority in years, as well as
her brother Paul's selfish motives.
Then her career began to run into trouble, largely engineered by Rodin
himself, and Claudel was forced into penury and near-starvation. It did
not help that women artists, in her era, were often discriminated against
and almost never seen as creative individuals in their own right. In the
horrific coda to her life, Claudel was then taken to the Montdevergues
Asylum, where she was destined to live out the remainder of her days.
Dr. Bond has successfully used a similar novelistic autobiography
technique for her book on famed opera singer Maria Callas. She is also the
author of several other titles, including "Who Killed Virginia Woolf?" and
"Tales of Psychology." Here she writes with an elegant fluidity, and her
extensive research, as well as her knowledge of art and art history, makes
"Camille Claudel" a fascinatingly real novel. A glossary of French words
at the end helps guide the reader through the book.
BookWire Review, February 17, 2006
