Camille Claudel: A Novel
by Alma Bond / Available on Amazon
Camille Claudel, an old lady confined to the Asylum for the Insane in Montdevergues, France, reviews her life. She says, “I hope my memoir will illustrate the heights of passion Rodin and I reached, and unravel the mystery of why they were transformed into vinegar and ashes.” The tragedy is not only hers, she adds, but that of many female artists who found it impossible to achieve the success of men artists of lesser ability. The book illuminates her childhood and the rise of her career in the setting of her ecstatic life with Rodin. Their ten years of bliss are followed by the disintegration of her love for him, and its evolution into hatred and psychosis. The last third of the book describes the horrors of Claudel’s life in the asylum, ending with the highly original manner in which she comes to terms psychologically with Rodin and the other important figures in her life.
REVIEWS
“He brought great joy to his Maman, and Camille loved him dearly. ” Sandra Heptinstall
“It may open some interesting college campus discussions and debates between art students and even historians. ” W. H. McDonald Jr.
“I found this to be a fascinating story, and although the memoirs have been fictionalized, the events from real history shine through. ”
About the Author
Alma H. Bond, PhD, is a psychoanalyst and the author of 19 published books. She received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Columbia University, graduated from the post-doctoral program in psychoanalysis at the Freudian Society, and was a psychoanalyst in private practice for thirty-seven years in New York City. She ”retired” to become a full-time writer, but now maintains a small practice in addition to writing. Her last book, Margaret Mahler, a Biography of the Psychoanalyst, received two awards: Best Books Award Finalist, USA Book News; and Foreword Magazine s Book of the Year Finalist.Her Maria Callas book, The Autobiography of Maria Callas: A Novel, was first runner-up in the Hemingway Days novel contest.
Her sixteen other published books include: Camille Claude: A Novel; Old Age is a Terminal Illness; Who Killed Virginia Woolf?: A Psychobiography; Tales of Psychology: Short Stories to Make You Wise; I Married Dr. Jekyll and Woke Up Mrs. Hyde; Is There Life After Analysis?; On Becoming a Grandparent; America’s First Woman Warrior: The Story of Deborah Sampson (with Lucy Freeman); and a children’s book, The Tree That Could Fly.
See a complete list of Dr. Bond’s books.
Dr. Bond also wrote the play, Maria, about the life and loves of Maria Callas, which was produced off-off Broadway and is currently touring Florida.
Dr. Bond is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the Dramatists Guild, and the Authors Guild, as well as a fellow and faculty member of the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, the International Psychoanalytic Association, and the American Psychological Association.
Dr. Bond is the widow of Rudy Bond, the acclaimed stage, screen, and television actor, and author of I Rode a Streetcar Named Desire. She is the mother of three children, Zane P. Bond, Jonathan H. Bond, and Janet Bond Brill, all of whom are published authors, and she is the proud grandmother of eight, none of whom has published a book . . . yet. But, as a wise friend of Alma’s put it, ”In her family, it’s pretty much publish or perish.”
For more information, Alma Bond’s website: alma_bond.tripod.com/
