The Art of Youth is a moving inquiry into the nature of artistic prodigies who did their major work at an early age. Renowned novelist Nicholas Delbanco gives us a triptych of indelible portraits: the American writer Stephen Crane (immortalized by The Red Badge of Courage), the British artist Dora Carrington (called “the most neglected serious painter of her time”), and the legendary composer George Gershwin (Rhapsody in Blue, Porgy and Bess).
All three lived colorful, productive lives before dying early, at an average age of thirty-five. In this learned and elegant book, Delbanco discovers what it is we mourn in artists who pass away so young, and muses on his own life—one marked by both early success and longevity.
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“What truly distinguishes this work is his empathic understanding of his subjects’ situation: the blessings and burdens of prodigy. The final pages offer a lovely reflection—at once rueful and wry—on his own precocious gift. The result is a book filled with knowledge to be sure but also wisdom.”
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Peter Ho Davies, author of The Welsh Girl