- Hardcover: 334 pages
- Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc (16 Nov 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0195096088
- ISBN-13: 978-0195096088
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.5 x 3.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,287,470 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Composition in Black and White
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Product Description
Review
"For nearly forty years, Philippa Schuyler has remained fixed in my imagination as the brilliant musical child prodigy I heard so much about in the 1950s. In this thoroughly researched and insightful biography, Kathryn Talalay gives us a picture of Philippa Schuyler as artist, as feminist, as international observer and correspondent, struggling always with racial barriers as well as with issues of her bi-racial identity. As she overcomes these external and internal boundaries, Schuyler seems very much a woman of the 1990s."--Mary Helen Washington
"Philippa Duke Schuyler was one of the most talented, glamorous, and intriguing American women of the century. This brilliantly researched and lucidly written biography reads like a novel as it unwraps the secrets of a life simultaneously dark and lustrous."--Richard Newman, W.E.B. Du Bois Institute, Harvard University
Publishers Weekly
"an incisive and readable biography of an intriguing figure"
--This text refers to the
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First Sentence
At 6:35 a.m., on August 2, 1931, a hot and humid Sunday, Philippa Duke Schuyler was born at home, in Harlem. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
At 6:35 a.m., on August 2, 1931, a hot and humid Sunday, Philippa Duke Schuyler was born at home, in Harlem. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I am very glad I read this book but the story made me very sad for you see, Philippa was my first cousin, once removed. Daniel Calhoun Cogdell, was her grandfather and my great grandfather. I was 30 years old when Philippa died and I would love to have known her. The family never discussed Josephine Cogdell, Philippa's mother, except to say she was eccentric and died young. How sad they missed out on so much and so did I for I did not know she even existed. Yes, very sad indeed.
Format:Hardcover
I had a newspaper cut out of the picture that is on the cover of this book for years. It is faded and delicate but I never rid myself of it because I found the beautiful face that was on it so enchanting. All I knew was that this girl was called Philippa. I thought she was Indian or an old Bollywood star. Then I saw the photo again but on the cover of a biography in a bookshop called Foyles in London.
Composition in Black and White: Life of Philippa Schuyler by Kathryn M. Talalay is a very well written and comprehensively researched biography about a child prodigy. The opening chapters are compelling and written with such confidence that it suggests that this biography is going to be a classic. Unfortunatly the subject matter lets Talalay down as the middle section of the book demonstrates because it is simply an extended list of her engagements and travels. That said the book sparks back into to life in the later chapters as the mature Philippa is explored. I would like to have known when she had her first real sexual encounter, as this would have put the later exploration into her sex life into context.
There are some questions that are left unresolved which I supposed adds too the mystery of this difficult character. Also as Philippa grows she becomes more selfish and self-centred. Less sympathetic. Her world really does revolve around her and only her even if she is in a war-zone. My personal view is that in latter life she became something of a Machiavellian sexual predator. I can't see how she can be labelled a humanitarian. Her main concerns were solely for herself. She had an abortion simply because the baby came from a Blackman. Yes she was brave, talented and beautiful yet she was also cruel, stupid and brutal. Someone who had too much emotion baggage to be around for long.
Where is Philippa's music now? Was it really any good? Are there any recordings of it?
I can find none available. Maybe that speaks for itself.
Composition in Black and White: Life of Philippa Schuyler by Kathryn M. Talalay is a very well written and comprehensively researched biography about a child prodigy. The opening chapters are compelling and written with such confidence that it suggests that this biography is going to be a classic. Unfortunatly the subject matter lets Talalay down as the middle section of the book demonstrates because it is simply an extended list of her engagements and travels. That said the book sparks back into to life in the later chapters as the mature Philippa is explored. I would like to have known when she had her first real sexual encounter, as this would have put the later exploration into her sex life into context.
There are some questions that are left unresolved which I supposed adds too the mystery of this difficult character. Also as Philippa grows she becomes more selfish and self-centred. Less sympathetic. Her world really does revolve around her and only her even if she is in a war-zone. My personal view is that in latter life she became something of a Machiavellian sexual predator. I can't see how she can be labelled a humanitarian. Her main concerns were solely for herself. She had an abortion simply because the baby came from a Blackman. Yes she was brave, talented and beautiful yet she was also cruel, stupid and brutal. Someone who had too much emotion baggage to be around for long.
Where is Philippa's music now? Was it really any good? Are there any recordings of it?
I can find none available. Maybe that speaks for itself.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
10 reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
I enjoyed the book very much.
29 April 1999
Format:Hardcover
I am very glad I read this book but the story made me very sad for you see, Philippa was my first cousin, once removed. Daniel Calhoun Cogdell, was her grandfather and my great grandfather. I was 30 years old when Philippa died and I would love to have known her. The family never discussed Josephine Cogdell, Philippa's mother, except to say she was eccentric and died young. How sad they missed out on so much and so did I for I did not know she even existed. Yes, very sad indeed.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
All you need to know about Phillipa's life.
12 Aug 2005
Format:Paperback
This book is PACKED with details. The author really did her homework on this book. The author takes you on a journey beginning with the lives of her parents, Phillipa crossing the world on adventures and finally ending in pure tragedy. Phillipa was a very gifted child pianist. She grew up in New York as a multi-racial child. Her mother was a white southern heiress, her father was a talented black journalist. The two fell in love in a time where inter-racial couples were worse than taboo.
Phillipa traveled the world performing for royalty. Sometimes at dilapidated venues in fourth world counties. Although some times were rough for Phillipa (when she was older) she continued touring to get away from her demanding mother.
The book is packed with dates, locations, pictures and names. You can tell that the author, Kathryn Talalay, put a lot of effort into this book to give you the full picture of this girl's life. This is the reason why I gave it 3 stars and not 4 or 5. From reading so much info the book kind of lost its momentum.
NOTE: Be on the look out for the motion picture of "Composition in Black and White" staring Alicia Keys as Phillipa.
Phillipa traveled the world performing for royalty. Sometimes at dilapidated venues in fourth world counties. Although some times were rough for Phillipa (when she was older) she continued touring to get away from her demanding mother.
The book is packed with dates, locations, pictures and names. You can tell that the author, Kathryn Talalay, put a lot of effort into this book to give you the full picture of this girl's life. This is the reason why I gave it 3 stars and not 4 or 5. From reading so much info the book kind of lost its momentum.
NOTE: Be on the look out for the motion picture of "Composition in Black and White" staring Alicia Keys as Phillipa.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Partly dark but riveting story of a mulatoo virtuoso
1 Sep 1999
Format:Hardcover
As a social historian and african-american writer I enthralled when I read the NY Times Book Review of Kathryn Talalay's bio of phillippa Schuyler. Schuyler made her mark as a musical child prodigy and later, as an adult, a celebrated composer-pianist. Schuyler's life as an international performer in one sense mirrors that of another but more recognized "tragic mulatoo", Dorthy Dandridge. And her last career as a grounbreaking war correspondent in South Vietnam is particularly entriguing. Overall, Talalay's book is marvelous but the high brow and sordid realities of Schuyler's life are especially deserving of a major made-for-cable TV treatment. Similiarly to what recently afforded Dandridge. That way Talalay's thought provoking examination of Schuyler's achievements could be made accessible to a greater number of african-americans and others alike.
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