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The Story of Blanche and Marie Per Olov Enquist

The Story of Blanche and Marie By Per Olov Enquist

The Story of Blanche and Marie by Per Olov Enquist


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Summary

In 1878, Blanche Wittman was committed to Salpetriere Hospital as an hysteric and placed in the care of the famous M Charcot, who regularly displayed her, in a cataleptic state, before a public audience. On 17 February 1898, radium was discovered and Blanche's exposure to it necessitated the amputation of all her limbs, save one.

The Story of Blanche and Marie Summary

The Story of Blanche and Marie by Per Olov Enquist

In 1878, Blanche Wittman was committed to Salpetriere Hospital as an hysteric and placed in the care of the famous M. Charcot, who regularly displayed her, in a cataleptic state, before a public audience. Over time, the nature of her participation in these demonstrations changed; she graduated from patient to assistant and on leaving the hospital, was hired by Marie Curie to work in her Paris laboratory.

On 17 February 1898, radium was discovered and Blanche's exposure to it necessitated the amputation of all her limbs, save one. As for Marie, her husband and collaborator Pierre was weakened by illness and subsequently killed having wandered in front of an oncoming horse and cart.

Following this, she embarked on an ill-fated love affair, which, in 1911, almost cost her the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Using Blanche's notebooks - 'The Book of Questions' - Enquist deftly weaves fact and fiction in a powerful tale of scientific discovery, death, art love and the extraordinary relationship of two remarkable women at the dawn of a century of tremendous change.

The Story of Blanche and Marie was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.

The Story of Blanche and Marie Reviews

He is one of the contemporary novel's greatest human investigators -- Paul Binding * Independent on Sunday *
The glimpsed idea of a wider, more poetic sensibility linking art, death, reading and love -- James Urquhart * Mail on Sunday *
Enquist brings out the sad sorority of two women who suffered grotesquely for love and work -- Brenda Maddox * The Times *
Anyone who read Per Olov Enquists dazzling novel...The Visit of the Royal Physician...will not be surprised to hear that he has written another fascinating, highly charged miracle of compression...Fiction rarely gets more interesting than this -- John de Falbe * Spectator *
Dizzy with associations and questions, full of interest and appetite and the satisfactions of a good mind...often funny -- Anne Enright * Guardian *

About Per Olov Enquist

Per Olov Enquist is one of Sweden's most acclaimed writers: a novelist, playwright and poet with works published in more than twenty-five countries. His novel, The Visit of the Royal Physician, was awarded the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2003.

Additional information

GOR001390164
9780099483731
0099483734
The Story of Blanche and Marie by Per Olov Enquist
Used - Very Good
Paperback
Vintage Publishing
20070906
224
Short-listed for Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2007
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - The Story of Blanche and Marie