February House: The Story of W. H. Auden, Carson McCullers, Jane and Paul Bowles, Benjamin Britten, and Gypsy Rose Lee, Under One Roof in Wartime America
a gateway to more - This book to me was really a gateway of learning and insight into the lives of these wonderful artists. Through highs and lows of creative and social moods it really has left me wanting to know more and more about all involved. Tippins must have done so so much work on this book and i want to say that its really worth while. I want to recommend this book to anyone, i feel it will not only be a good read for you but stir within you a creative streak!loved it
Warmer than February - The crossing lives of artists is always fascinating. If we are not biography obsessed, our impressions of artists personalities are acquired through connections in some form with their work. The February House is a successful account of what happens when several disperate (sometimes desperate) artists live together in sort of commune. Auden is the main focus, but I found the more Carson McCullers more interesting, and, while the author writes vividly about this period in these artists lives, I finished wishing to know more about the life of McCullers. This is clearly a book the author put lot into -- I imagine the research was extensive. I enjoyed The February House thoroughly. To read of these intriguing writers, composers and musicians working with and around each other made them much more human than many biographers could have portrayed them.