What do you think?
Rate this book
Too Strong for Fantasy
"A personal record of music, literature, and politics in America and Europe over half a century"--Jacket subtitle.
483 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1967
About the author
Marcia Davenport
48 books23 followersAmerican author and music critic. She was born Marcia Glick, daughter of Bernard Glick and opera singer Alma Gluck, later stepdaughter of violinist Efrem Zimbalist when Alma Gluck remarried.
Davenport traveled extensively with her parents and was educated intermittently at the Friends School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the Shipley School at Bryn Mawr. She began at Wellesley College but eloped to Pittsburgh in 1923 to marry Fred D. Clarke. Eventually she earned her B.A. at the University of Grenoble. Her first child was born in 1924, but in 1925 she divorced Clarke.
She took an advertising copywriting job to support herself and her daughter. In 1928 she began at the editorial staff of The New Yorker, where she worked until 1931. In 1929, she married Russell Davenport, who soon after became editor of Fortune. Davenport's second daughter was born in 1934. That same year she began as the music critic of Stage magazine.
Davenport had close ties through her mother and stepfather to the classical music world and particularly to the heady opera world of Europe and America in the first half of the 20th century. She was first celebrated as a writer for her first book, Mozart, the first published American biography of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Her marriage to Russell Davenport ended in 1944.
She also wrote several popular novels, notably The Valley of Decision, a 1940s bestseller made into a successful movie with Greer Garson and Gregory Peck.
Davenport traveled extensively with her parents and was educated intermittently at the Friends School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the Shipley School at Bryn Mawr. She began at Wellesley College but eloped to Pittsburgh in 1923 to marry Fred D. Clarke. Eventually she earned her B.A. at the University of Grenoble. Her first child was born in 1924, but in 1925 she divorced Clarke.
She took an advertising copywriting job to support herself and her daughter. In 1928 she began at the editorial staff of The New Yorker, where she worked until 1931. In 1929, she married Russell Davenport, who soon after became editor of Fortune. Davenport's second daughter was born in 1934. That same year she began as the music critic of Stage magazine.
Davenport had close ties through her mother and stepfather to the classical music world and particularly to the heady opera world of Europe and America in the first half of the 20th century. She was first celebrated as a writer for her first book, Mozart, the first published American biography of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Her marriage to Russell Davenport ended in 1944.
She also wrote several popular novels, notably The Valley of Decision, a 1940s bestseller made into a successful movie with Greer Garson and Gregory Peck.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 28, 2009
Interesting how one book leads you to another and another . . . I recently read E.L. Doctorow's new novel HOMER AND LANGLEY - reading up on-line about the real-life Collyer Brothers led me to Marcia Davenport's novel MY BROTHER'S KEEPER, which was also based on them. I enjoyed that book enough to go on to Davenport's most famous novel, THE VALLEY OF DECISION, and although I do plan to pursue it, I've allowed myself to get distracted again - by Davenport's autobiography! As with MY BROTHER'S KEEPER, I lucked into a copy at a used bookstore.
This was an interesting autobiography - It's subtitled "A Personal Record of Music, Literature, and Politics in American and Europe over Half a Century" and that's a very appropriate description. Davenport grew up in a privileged world, the daughter of the popular singer Alma Gluck, stepdaughter of the famous violinist Efrem Zimbalist (her half-brother is the actor Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) - Toscanini was an intimate family friend until his death at 89 (Davenport refers to him simply as "Maestro")- she became a famous author who knew a great many famous people and moved in interesting political circles - she had a passion for Europe, particularly Vienna and Prague, and was a close personal friend of Czechoslovakia's Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk, who died mysteriously in 1948.
Davenport had a very close relationship with her mother, who basically raised her as a single parent - Davenport dispenses with her father in about two sentences - apparently this is the way her mother wanted it. She also has an odd habit of frequently referring to people she was close to by their full names, particularly Efrem Zimbalist and her husband, Russell Davenport. I confess I found this a little off-putting. And although Davenport mentions the births of her two daughters (one from the marriage to Davenport, and an older one from a previous impulse marriage), she never gives their names, and they hardly figure in her story at all - apparently the girls were left in the care of others while Davenport made frequent jaunts to Europe to research her Mozart biography, attend music festivals, and observe first-hand the atmosphere that led up to World War Two. She actually devotes more space in the book to a beloved cat, Tam, who was with her for 16 years than to her own children.
But we are treated along the way to personal glimpses of some very interesting 20th century figures; in addition to those already mentioned, Davenport discusses how the famous editor at Scribners, Max Perkins, helped to shape her books (as well as those by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Ernest Hemingway, and Thomas Wolfe, who also make appearances).
This was an interesting autobiography - It's subtitled "A Personal Record of Music, Literature, and Politics in American and Europe over Half a Century" and that's a very appropriate description. Davenport grew up in a privileged world, the daughter of the popular singer Alma Gluck, stepdaughter of the famous violinist Efrem Zimbalist (her half-brother is the actor Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) - Toscanini was an intimate family friend until his death at 89 (Davenport refers to him simply as "Maestro")- she became a famous author who knew a great many famous people and moved in interesting political circles - she had a passion for Europe, particularly Vienna and Prague, and was a close personal friend of Czechoslovakia's Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk, who died mysteriously in 1948.
Davenport had a very close relationship with her mother, who basically raised her as a single parent - Davenport dispenses with her father in about two sentences - apparently this is the way her mother wanted it. She also has an odd habit of frequently referring to people she was close to by their full names, particularly Efrem Zimbalist and her husband, Russell Davenport. I confess I found this a little off-putting. And although Davenport mentions the births of her two daughters (one from the marriage to Davenport, and an older one from a previous impulse marriage), she never gives their names, and they hardly figure in her story at all - apparently the girls were left in the care of others while Davenport made frequent jaunts to Europe to research her Mozart biography, attend music festivals, and observe first-hand the atmosphere that led up to World War Two. She actually devotes more space in the book to a beloved cat, Tam, who was with her for 16 years than to her own children.
But we are treated along the way to personal glimpses of some very interesting 20th century figures; in addition to those already mentioned, Davenport discusses how the famous editor at Scribners, Max Perkins, helped to shape her books (as well as those by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Ernest Hemingway, and Thomas Wolfe, who also make appearances).
January 5, 2022
Daughter of Alma Gluck, legendary singer. Davenport wrote the first biography of Mozart by an American, and other books including two made into film: The Valley of Decision, and East Side, West Side. She was married to a founder of Fortune magazine, and much later was in a relationship with Jan Masaryk, a high-ranking Czech statesman most likely murdered by Stalin's thugs.
Davenport is brilliant. I would've enjoyed it all the more if I knew a lick about opera, or even simply music. For me the book shed light on much about Russia's role in WWII, as well as the nefarious ways it infiltrated communism into Eastern European states. A close friend of Toscanini, the "Maestro" and their relationship is fascinating and is woven throughout the book. The beauty and tragedy of Prague also plays a huge role in her story.
As I read the book, I found it disconcerting to know that Davenport had two daughters, yet they're scarcely mentioned, if at all. I suppose she was protecting their privacy, yet in such a candid memoir it was strange how absent they were — her feelings and relationships with them, or how they figured into the constant shifting of her living circumstances.
This book reveals again how being the scion of fame and riches sets the table for a rich life -- not to take anything away from Davenport's impressive mind or sensibilities, let alone her writings, but I'm not sure she ever had full perspective of her privileged life.
Davenport is brilliant. I would've enjoyed it all the more if I knew a lick about opera, or even simply music. For me the book shed light on much about Russia's role in WWII, as well as the nefarious ways it infiltrated communism into Eastern European states. A close friend of Toscanini, the "Maestro" and their relationship is fascinating and is woven throughout the book. The beauty and tragedy of Prague also plays a huge role in her story.
As I read the book, I found it disconcerting to know that Davenport had two daughters, yet they're scarcely mentioned, if at all. I suppose she was protecting their privacy, yet in such a candid memoir it was strange how absent they were — her feelings and relationships with them, or how they figured into the constant shifting of her living circumstances.
This book reveals again how being the scion of fame and riches sets the table for a rich life -- not to take anything away from Davenport's impressive mind or sensibilities, let alone her writings, but I'm not sure she ever had full perspective of her privileged life.
December 21, 2017
Having recently traveled in Prague and the Czech Republic and also having reread Prague Winter, I wanted to learn more about the tragic death of Jan Masaryk. He was the son of the first president of Czechoslovakia and became chargé d'affaires to the USA as well as ambassador to Britain. From 1946 on he was warned by many to leave the country but he chose to remain as Foreign Minister, and was the only prominent minister who wasn't a Communist. A much loved man, he was killed (some claimed suicide) in the 1948 communist coup of Czechoslovakia. This book is the autobiography of Marcia Davenport and didn't get to Jan Masaryk until about the last 1/3 or 1/4 of the book, though it was worth the wait. Her life was filled with stories of her famous opera singing mother Alma Gluck and dear friend Maestro Toscanini as well as many other musicians and writers of the time, including her step father, famous violinist Efrem Zimbalist. She traveled and lived in Europe extensively during the 30's and 40's and offers a front row seat to what she witnessed, including the last months and days of her tormented Jan Masaryk.
April 7, 2013
I was especially moved by the last section of this memoir, the account of Davenport's deep connection to Prague and the tragic figure, Jan Masaryk. It is the story of the dark period of Czechoslovak history when the communists took control of the country following Nazi occupation during WWII. She deals head on with the controversy over whether Masaryk was murdered or committed suicide. The hopes of the 20 year democratic Czechoslovak Republic led by Masaryk's charismatic father seemed forever broken. My family was there when Davenport returned by car to the once Golden City, then crumbling. The book was published a year before 1968, Prague Spring, when hope returned.
Read
August 12, 2021This well written memoir fills in the gaps on her blockbuster novel Valley of Decision.
June 29, 2014
I have often liked bios on authors but not this one. She used I in almost every paragraph. Her editor died before she finished this and I think that was the problem. Too much info of no interest to me. much of the material was about her mother who was an opera star for 10 years. I can enjoy listening to opera but have no interest in the personal lives of the artist. Information was not organized in any way.
August 31, 2013
This book was a complete surprise to me. I didn't know anything about the author or her story, but it is a well written and fascinating look into the lives of some very famous people from the early 1900's and forward, as well as an interesting history lesson and personal memoir. I have just ordered a copy of Valley of Decision which is a more famous book by this same author. Then, I plan to watch the movie by the same title.
January 19, 2016
Wow, this woman knew everyone, from Arturo Toscanini to Katherine Hepburn to Albert Einstein. She also witnessed most of the major events of the first half of the twentieth century, including Hitler's rise to power, the immediate aftermath of WWII in Europe, and the Communist coup in Chekoslovakia. The book does drag on in places, and Davenport is occasionally a little too tactful, to the point of being oblique. But holy cow - what a life!
November 30, 2012
This was a beautifully written book. Marcia Davenport takes us through the first half of the 20th century in the US and in much of Europe, with her personal experiences in music, writing and politics. Her unabashed passion for Czechoslovakia and its people is absolutely remarkable.
July 9, 2010
way too wordy, repetitive. finished it for a book club, but cannot recommend it to anyone but a raving Toscanini fan or a Jan Masaryck fan.
February 8, 2011
This is the most moving memoir I have ever read. Listening to this very wise woman shortened a very cold January.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews