Extáze - Román o Almě Mahlerové – Sharrattová Mary (2018)

Alma Mahler-Schindler. A soulful muse, a reserved lady, or a hedonistic nymphomaniac? Alma, a controversial figure at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, a fateful woman, friend and lover to many Art Nouveau artists, and wife to giants Gustav Mahler, Walter Gropius, and Franz Werfel. Was she a soulful muse, a reserved lady, or a hedonistic nymphomaniac, collecting successful men like trophies? Mary Sharratt's novel introduces us to the life of Alma Mahler-Schindler from ages 19 to 31. Beautiful, intelligent, and musically gifted, Alma senses new opportunities for women at the end of the 19th century, breaking free from the roles of wives and building her own career. However, her dream of studying at a prestigious conservatory is thwarted by her parents, who decide to secure her future with a suitable marriage. She is allowed to privately study music with the young composer Zemlinsky, whom she falls in love with. Her parents dissuade her from the relationship – Zemlinsky is too poor. Then Alma meets the nearly 20 years older composer, conductor, and director of the Vienna Opera, Gustav Mahler. A fateful passion ignites like a fire, leading to a marriage filled with ecstatic highs and falls to the very bottom. The jealous husband does not want Alma to develop her talent. Set against the backdrop of Art Nouveau and...