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Painted Shadow: A Life of Vivienne Eliot

By: Carole Seymour-Jones
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Constable
ISBN: 0094792704
ISBN-13: 9780094792708
Released: 25 Oct 2001
RRP: £20.00
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

What a disappointment! - By: Christopher Casenove., 05 Jul 2005
This interminably long book,the research of a feminist who has jumped on the bandwagon of the 'Let's get T S Eliot' brigade is a complete waste of money.
The author refers to books by Robert Sencourt & T S Matthews & one would be far better off reading their sensibly written books, although of the two only Sencourt reallly knew Eliot.
Obviously Valerie Eliot would never have become involved in these rambings, so a little bit of vitriol is set aside for her at the end of the book.
It's a pity that when a person becomes quite rightfully famous, this is an excuse for some people to try to destroy the image. It's done so often as to have become expected, but when the sub-text is 'Because T S Eliot's wife was a woman, she is treated badly by history' then I'm glad I bought this on a sale & didn't waste much money on it.
Gripping tale of a tragic, flawed heroine - By: , 07 Apr 2005
This biography gripped me like a novel - I was spinning pages like mad! Cos if you're familiar with the Bloomsbury authors, this book reads like a whole lot of new gossip...

The picture which emerges is not very flattering though - & TS Eliot has a lot to answer for. Vivien is shown to be a tragic, flawed figure whose talent ran to waste partly because she was a woman (and thus denied the academic education enjoyed by her male counterparts) & partly because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is heartbreaking to see how vulnerable Vivien was: an emotional, over-ambitious, weak & naive woman in a world of cold, calculating men.

My only complaint about this book is the repetition I found - for instance, Seymour-Jones often quotes a letter or diary & then paraphrases the same words again in her text... And I don't know how necessary it was for her to tell us every time one of the Eliots had the flu or a cold.... This was pretty tedious & slowed down the narrative significantly.

I also felt the ending was a bit abrupt & over-ruled by Seymour's own evident emotion & feeling for her subject... Though by then we forgive Seymour because we feel so sorry for Vivien & angry with Eliot ourselves.

To be honest, it will be difficult to enjoy Eliot's poetry after reading this book .

Essential for understanding T.S. Eliot's early work - By: , 06 Dec 2002
This incredibly well researched book is a facinating read. By credibly demonstrating Vivienne's critical role in Eliot's early poetry, including the Waste Land, it adds to a much better understanding of these works. There is so much new & revealing detail about both Vivienne & Tom & their train wreck of a marriage that I would have thought it more useful than a biography of T.S. alone as a background to understanding his writing.
A sad tale superbly well-told. - By: , 02 Jan 2002
This is a sad almost tragic account of how two people who should never have married lived together for many years torturing each other until finallly one was abandoned into a mental home.One of the characters was T.S.Eliot & the other his "mad" wife Vivienne. Probably we shalll never know the true nature of her maladies but her treatment at the hands of her husband,her brother & the Bloomsbury Group in general almost has the reader gasping with horror. Mrs Eliot's final incarceration into a mental hospital reads more like some 19th century Gothic novel than 20th century literary London.
No-one, with the possible exception of Lady Ottoline Morrell, comes out well from this story & the much vaunted humanism of the Bloomsbury Group is nowhere in evidence. One can't help feeling that the more information that comes out about T.S.Eliot the more reprehensible he appears. He was a user if ever there was one & when Vivienne had served whatever purpose Eliot had wanted her to serve she was dumped in the most brutal manner imaginable. Despite her fascist sympathies one can feel a certain pity for her tragic, shadowy flittings arould literary London seeking the husband who had so cruelly abandoned her.

Seymour-Jones handles the material she has brought together in this book with great assurance. The book is a fascinating read & provides an excellent account of Eliot's poetry as well as compelling picture of the ruthlessness of literary London.

Great for research but an incredibly boring read. - By: kirstralia@yahoo.com, 03 Dec 2001
Painted Shadow reveals the life of Vivienne Haigh-Eliot, the forgotten first wife of the twentieth century poet, T S Eliot. Written, researched & compiled by Carole Seymour-Jones, this is an enormous book full of information about Vivienne & alll who knew her.

Unfortunately for the reader, the author took her passionate obsession with the Eliot's to extremes, & in doing so has produced an incredibly boring mound of facts, opinions & speculation. Vivienne is not a particularly fascinating person & she did not lead a remarkable life, it was unusual & fairly heart-rending, but the most interesting elements could have been accounted for on six pages as opposed to six hundred.

The book has a smalll collection of photographs & hand written diary & letter extracts, which are interesting. The comparison of these with 21st century women would certainly reveal many underlying similarities & it is also a revelation to discover how modern & controversial their rather promiscuous lifestyles were. It offers an intriguing insight into the lives & times of the early part of the twentieth century. Acutely observed comparisons of relationships, emotions & the psychological well-being of the subjects proves that Carole Seymour-Jones has conducted her research carefully & concisely but there is also rather a lot of assumption & hearsay surrounding the life & relationship of T S Eliot & Vivienne.

Carole Seymour Jones states clearly in the preface "I became determined to discover the truth that lay behind her incarceration, to rescue her from ignominy & disgrace, & to restore her to her rightful place in the historical record."
This bold statement dupes the reader into believing there is a fantastic & enigmatic story to be told, particularly when confronted with the sheer size of the book. Disappointing it is then, when her own life story is in fact surpassed by that of her husband, her lover & several members of the Bloomsbury group of which she so desperately wanted to belong. She is portrayed as neurotic & naïve & although the reader may feel for her, you would be forgiven for impatiently wishing she would grow up & take stock.

If you are interested in that particular era, or are conducting research into the lives of the Eliot's or their acquaintances then without doubt it would be a useful source of information. Otherwise, I would suggest that you read the cover, which will inform you of alll you need to know, without having to endure the drudgery that goes with reading the entire book.

Review by Kirsteen Black