8.19.07 Kate Christensen, author of The Great Man
Oscar Feldman, the “Great Man,” was a New York city painter of the heroic generation of the forties and fifties. But instead of the abstract canvases of the Pollocks and Rothkos, he stubbornly hewed to painting one subject—the female nude. When he died in 2001, he left behind a wife, Abigail; an autistic son; and a sister, Maxine, herself a notable abstract painter—all duly noted in The New York Times obituary.
What no one knows is that Oscar Feldman led an entirely separate life in Brooklyn with his longtime mistress Teddy St. Cloud and their twin daughters. As the incorrigibly bohemian Teddy puts it, “He couldn’t live without a woman around. It was like water to a plant for him.” Now two rival biographers, book contracts in hand, are circling around Feldman’s life story, and each of these three women—Abigail, Maxine, and Teddy—will have a chance to tell the truth as they experienced it.
The Great Man is a scintillating comedy of life among the avant-garde—of the untidy truths, needy egos, and jostling for position behind the glossy facade of artistic greatness. Not a pretty picture—but a provocative and entertaining one that incarnates the delicious satirical spirit of Dawn Powell and Mary McCarthy.
Kate Christensen is the author of the novels In the Drink, Jeremy Thrane, and The Epicure’s Lament. Her essays and articles have appeared in various publications, including Salon, Mademoiselle, the Hartford Courant, Elle, and the bestselling anthology The Bitch in the House. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband.
Essential Links
Read an Excerpt from The Great Man
The New York Times Review
On Largehearted Boy
The Great Man website (at Random House)
Want to score a free copy of The Great Man? Leave your question in the comments space below, and if I use your comment on air, you’ll snag The Great Man!
What an intresting story, not only of the artists involved, but I would love to hear the accounts from the others involved. I wonder, have the wife and the mistress met each other?
[…] man … the great man is a scintillating comedy of life among the avant-garde&8212of the untidy …http://writersrevealed.com/2007/08/12/81907-kate-christensen-author-of-the-great-man/trackback/Re: Ultimate Character Elimination Game … unique characters, and hopefully they will be great […]