Parallel Lives

‘It is, of course, one of life’s persistent disappointments that a great moral crisis in my life is nothing but matter for gossip in yours.’

A book that Nora Ephron read every four or five years, Parallel Lives is an essential work of non-fiction about marriage, intimacy, power – and the search for more complex plots.

In Parallel Lives, the academic and writer Phyllis Rose examines five famous Victorian marriages, from Charles Dickens’ disastrous marriage to Catherine Hogarth to George Eliot’s joyful and unwed union with George Henry Lewes. In an age where divorce was scandalous and ‘until death do us part’ was taken literally, the subjects of Rose’s book found inventive and surprising ways to co-exist together. As she describes these fascinating parallel lives in detail, Rose shows how desire, fantasy, power and control continue to play out in our most intimate relationships.

„Desigur, una dintre dezamagirile persistente ale vietii este ca o mare criza morala din viata mea nu este altceva decat o chestiune de barfa in a ta.” O carte pe care Nora Ephron o citeste la fiecare patru sau cinci ani, Parallel Lives este o lucrare esentiala de non-fictiune despre casatorie, intimitate, putere - si cautarea unor comploturi mai complexe. In Parallel Lives, academicianul si scriitorul Phyllis Rose examineaza cinci celebri Casatoriile victoriene, de la casatoria dezastruoasa a lui Charles Dickens cu Catherine Hogarth la unirea vesela si nedorita a lui George Eliot cu George Henry Lewes.