"Art is a staple, like bread or wine or a warm coat in winter. Man's spirit grows hungry for art in the same way his stomach growls for food."
American Novelist
1903 - 1989
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| Lust for Life A novel about the life of Vincent Van Gogh |
Commentary
Many people treat the creative spirit as a luxury, something that is not needed to live life. And they are quite wrong. Creativity is a crucial part of living. If I did not have an outlet for my creativity, I would either go crazy or die. Creativity is at the very core of who I am. If I go too long without writing, without putting words on paper, I begin to feel a hunger growing inside me. I have a strong need to create, to produce something either through writing or painting. It is as important to my life as water, air, food, shelter and companionship. Without it my spirit would shrivel and die. We need food for the body and food for the spirit. Creativity provides the food for the spirit.
Biography
Irving Stone was born Irving Tannenbaum in San Francisco, CA. When he was seven, his parents divorced. When he was a senior in high school, his mother remarried and Irving legally changed his last name to that of his stepfather. His mother instilled in him a passion for reading. He received a bachelor's degree from Berkeley in 1923 and his masters from the University of Southern California in 1924. In the early writing years he supported himself by writing detective stories. He married Jean Factor, his editor, 1934.
Irving Stone is one of his best known for his biographical novels. He called them bio-histories. His first novel, Lust for Life, about the life of Vincent Van Gogh was published in 1934 after being rejected by 17 publishers. Lust for Life is probably his best known and most famous novel. Stone did exhaustive and detailed research of the lives of his famous characters, reading original letters and documents. Several of his novels have been made into movies.
Besides Van Gogh, Stone wrote novels based on the lives of Jack London, Clarence Darrow, Earl Warren, Eugene Debs, Michelangelo, Sigmund Freud, Charles Darwin and Camille Pissarro. He also wrote three novels based on the marriages of three American presidents: Andrew and Rachel Jackson, Abe and Mary Lincoln, and John and Abigail Adams.
Video:
Here an interview with Irving Stone. He is very articulate.
Many people treat the creative spirit as a luxury, something that is not needed to live life. And they are quite wrong. Creativity is a crucial part of living. If I did not have an outlet for my creativity, I would either go crazy or die. Creativity is at the very core of who I am. If I go too long without writing, without putting words on paper, I begin to feel a hunger growing inside me. I have a strong need to create, to produce something either through writing or painting. It is as important to my life as water, air, food, shelter and companionship. Without it my spirit would shrivel and die. We need food for the body and food for the spirit. Creativity provides the food for the spirit.
Biography
Irving Stone was born Irving Tannenbaum in San Francisco, CA. When he was seven, his parents divorced. When he was a senior in high school, his mother remarried and Irving legally changed his last name to that of his stepfather. His mother instilled in him a passion for reading. He received a bachelor's degree from Berkeley in 1923 and his masters from the University of Southern California in 1924. In the early writing years he supported himself by writing detective stories. He married Jean Factor, his editor, 1934.
Irving Stone is one of his best known for his biographical novels. He called them bio-histories. His first novel, Lust for Life, about the life of Vincent Van Gogh was published in 1934 after being rejected by 17 publishers. Lust for Life is probably his best known and most famous novel. Stone did exhaustive and detailed research of the lives of his famous characters, reading original letters and documents. Several of his novels have been made into movies.
Besides Van Gogh, Stone wrote novels based on the lives of Jack London, Clarence Darrow, Earl Warren, Eugene Debs, Michelangelo, Sigmund Freud, Charles Darwin and Camille Pissarro. He also wrote three novels based on the marriages of three American presidents: Andrew and Rachel Jackson, Abe and Mary Lincoln, and John and Abigail Adams.
Video:
Here an interview with Irving Stone. He is very articulate.
