Dove, Rita / Sonata Mulattica: A Life in Five Movements and a Short Play
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Rita Dove, Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. Poet Laureate, is the only poet honored with both the National Humanities Medal and the National Medal of Arts. A professor of creative writing at the University of Virginia, she lives in Charlottesville.
In a book-length lyric narrative inspired by history and imagination, a much celebrated poet re-creates the life of a 19th-century virtuoso violinist.
The son of a white woman and an "African Prince," George Polgreen Bridgetower (1780-1860) travels to Vienna to meet "bad-boy" genius Ludwig van Beethoven. The great composer's subsequent sonata is originally dedicated to the young mulatto, but George, exuberant with acclaim, offends Beethoven over a woman. From this crucial encounter evolves a grandiose yet melancholy poetic tale.
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9780393338935
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September 2010
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Dove, Rita / Sonata Mulattica: A Life in Five Movements and a Short Play