Anita Brookner Biography

Anita Brookner, Historian
Occup.Historian
FromUnited Kingdom
BornJuly 16, 1938
Herne Hill, London, England
DiedMarch 10, 2016
London, England
Aged77 years
Early Life and Education
Anita Brookner was born on July 16, 1938, in Herne Hill, a suburb of London, England. She was the only kid of Newson Bruckner, a Polish immigrant who worked in the tobacco market, and Maude Schiska, a singer who later on ran her family's service. Maturing in a well-to-do Jewish family, Brookner was raised in an atmosphere of intellectual and cultural elegance.

Brookner attended James Allen's Girls' School in Dulwich, where she excelled in her studies. She then went on to study History at King's College London, where she established a passion for French art and culture, ultimately earning a bachelor's degree with first-rate honors. After finishing, Brookner pursued a doctorate in Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art under the assistance of renowned art historian Anthony Blunt.

Academic and Art Historical Career
After completing her Ph.D., Brookner began her career as a lecturer in Art History at the University of Reading. She then went back to the Courtauld Institute to teach and carry out research, focusing primarily on French art and culture of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Brookner's competence in this area led her to publish a number of well-received books, including her influential works, "The Genius of the Future: Studies in French Art Criticism" (1971), "Greuze: The Rise and Fall of an Eighteenth-Century Phenomenon" (1972), and "Jacques-Louis David" (1980).

In 1987, Brookner became the first female to hold the Slade Chair of Fine Art at the University of Cambridge, a significant turning point in a primarily male-dominated field. Her dedication to the discipline and her remarkable scholarship resulted in her being granted both the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and the Légion d'honneur by the French government.

Literary Career
In addition to her successful scholastic profession, Brookner also pursued her love of literature, which bloomed throughout her years as a student. It was in her early fifties that she released her very first book, "A Start in Life" in 1981. The book portrays a young woman's battle to understand and discover her location in a significantly complex world.

This launching marked the beginning of a respected literary career that would see Brookner publish a total of 24 novels throughout her life, in addition to various essays and reviews. Her writing frequently concentrated on styles of loneliness, social seclusion, and the obstacles dealt with by ladies in the contemporary world. Her limited yet incisive prose style made her comparisons to terrific authors such as Jane Austen and Henry James.

Among her most renowned works, "Hotel du Lac" (1984), made Brookner the prominent Booker Prize for Fiction. The unique informs the story of a love author who looks for refuge at a Swiss hotel to get away a scandal, just to be confronted with her own sense of identity and desire for love.

Personal Life and Death
Anita Brookner never ever married and remained extremely personal about her individual life. She resided in a little flat in London's Chelsea area, where she invested much of her time reading, composing, and going to art galleries and museums.

Brookner died on March 10, 2016, at the age of 87. Her work continues to be celebrated for its classy prose, intense psychological insight, and its special expedition of the female experience in the modern-day world.

Our collection contains 25 quotes who is written / told by Anita.

Related authors: Henry James (Writer), Jane Austen (Writer), James Allen (Author), Lawrence Taylor (Athlete)

Source / external links:

25 Famous quotes by Anita Brookner

Small: Real love is a pilgrimage. It happens when there is no strategy, but it is very rare because most peopl
"Real love is a pilgrimage. It happens when there is no strategy, but it is very rare because most people are strategists"
Small: It is my contention that Aesop was writing for the tortoise market. hares have no time to read
"It is my contention that Aesop was writing for the tortoise market. hares have no time to read"
Small: In real life, it is the hare who wins. Every time. Look around you. And in any case it is my contention
"In real life, it is the hare who wins. Every time. Look around you. And in any case it is my contention that Aesop was writing for the tortoise market. Hares have no time to read. They are too busy winning the game"
Small: Life... is not simply a series of exciting new ventures. The future is not always a whole new ball game
"Life... is not simply a series of exciting new ventures. The future is not always a whole new ball game. There tends to be unfinished business. One trails all sorts of things around with one, things that simply won't be got rid of"
Small: In real life, of course, it is the hare that wins. Every time. Look around you
"In real life, of course, it is the hare that wins. Every time. Look around you"
Small: Writing novels preserves you in a state of innocence - a lot passes you by - simply because your attent
"Writing novels preserves you in a state of innocence - a lot passes you by - simply because your attention is otherwise diverted"
Small: What is interesting about self-analysis is that it leads nowhere - it is an art form in itself
"What is interesting about self-analysis is that it leads nowhere - it is an art form in itself"
Small: There are moments when you feel free, moments when you have energy, moments when you have hope, but you
"There are moments when you feel free, moments when you have energy, moments when you have hope, but you can't rely on any of these things to see you through. Circumstances do that"
Small: The lessons taught in great books are misleading. The commerce in life is rarely so simple and never so
"The lessons taught in great books are misleading. The commerce in life is rarely so simple and never so just"
Small: It will be a pity if women in the more conventional mould are to be phased out, for there will never be
"It will be a pity if women in the more conventional mould are to be phased out, for there will never be anyone to go home to"
Small: You never know what you will learn till you start writing. Then you discover truths you never knew exis
"You never know what you will learn till you start writing. Then you discover truths you never knew existed"
Small: You can never betray the people who are dead, so you go on being a public Jew the dead cant answer slur
"You can never betray the people who are dead, so you go on being a public Jew; the dead can't answer slurs, but I'm here. I would love to think that Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, but he doesn't"
Small: You have no idea how promising the world begins to look once you have decided to have it all for yourse
"You have no idea how promising the world begins to look once you have decided to have it all for yourself. And how much healthier your decisions are once they become entirely selfish"
Small: All good fortune is a gift of the gods, and you dont win the favor of the ancient gods by being good, b
"All good fortune is a gift of the gods, and you don't win the favor of the ancient gods by being good, but by being bold"
Small: A complete woman is probably not a very admirable creature. She is manipulative, uses other people to g
"A complete woman is probably not a very admirable creature. She is manipulative, uses other people to get her own way, and works within whatever system she is in"
Small: The essence of romantic love is that wonderful beginning, after which sadness and impossibility may bec
"The essence of romantic love is that wonderful beginning, after which sadness and impossibility may become the rule"
Small: Like many rich men, he thought in anecdotes like many simple women, she thought in terms of biography
"Like many rich men, he thought in anecdotes; like many simple women, she thought in terms of biography"
Small: Accountability in friendship is the equivalent of love without strategy
"Accountability in friendship is the equivalent of love without strategy"
Small: A man of such obvious and exemplary charm must be a liar
"A man of such obvious and exemplary charm must be a liar"
Small: No blame should attach to telling the truth. But it does, it does
"No blame should attach to telling the truth. But it does, it does"
Small: Good women always think it is their fault when someone else is being offensive. Bad women never take th
"Good women always think it is their fault when someone else is being offensive. Bad women never take the blame for anything"
Small: Old men should have more care to end life well than to live long
"Old men should have more care to end life well than to live long"
Small: Great writers are the saints for the godless
"Great writers are the saints for the godless"
Small: Existentialism is about being a saint without God being your own hero, without all the sanction and sup
"Existentialism is about being a saint without God; being your own hero, without all the sanction and support of religion or society"
Small: Time misspent in youth is sometimes all the freedom one ever has
"Time misspent in youth is sometimes all the freedom one ever has"