Linda Proud
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Linda Proud (born July 9th, 1949) is an English writer on cultural and philosophical themes, including The Botticelli Trilogy – three novels set in Renaissance Florence.
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[edit] Biography
The only child of William Wilfred Proud and Sybil Grace Proud, her childhood solitude fostered a lively imagination which, by the age of twelve, was expressing itself in a historical novel. Born in Hertfordshire, she grew up in Essex and from her first painting book developed a passion for art. Guided into a career by pragmatic people, she was persuaded to train in display and exhibition (for which she gained diplomas at the College of Distributive Trades, London, 1967). But after being a window dresser for about six months she walked away from a life being determined by practical considerations. Once free, she followed a more creative path and began to move towards graphic design. In 1972, however, the sudden onset of agoraphobia caused her to return home. In this period of darkness, art and all creative activities were abandoned; when she emerged again a year later, it was as a writer.
She took up a career as a picture researcher in publishing and by 1975 was freelance. The previous year had seen the birth of her trilogy as an idea and, at the same time, she began a study of philosophy. For the next three decades she wrote and studied, and was one of the top picture researchers of her generation. Her work on the Cultural Atlas series, published by Equinox/Phaidon, took her to Russia, France and Israel in search of original material. She also worked regularly for Time Life.
In the twentieth century she was an only child and a single woman. All that changed with the new millennium and by the end of the year 2000 she had met and married David Smith and, via the internet, had been contacted by a previously unsuspected half-sister, Teresa. She now has five step-children, three step-grandchildren (so far), a step-brother and sister-in-law, a half-brother-in-law, two half-nephews, and numerous other relations which, in a mythic fashion, she is unable to count. Picture research was abandoned with great regret when new technology robbed the job of its skill and pleasure. She now teaches creative writing to students of Sarah Lawrence College (Oxford programme) and acts as an editor for a major literary consultancy. She lectures frequently both on creative writing and the Renaissance, and often leads study tours in Italy. With her husband she founded Godstow Press in 2003 to publish creative literature that chimes with their philosophy.
[edit] Philosophy
Linda Proud’s independent thinking sits well with a westernised form of Advaita Vedanta, which, for her, is a contemporary equivalent of neoplatonism. This ‘philosophy of unity’, in which all things are an expression of the One, allows her to find common ground with people of all faiths and denominations. That her life has turned out so well given its start of low expectations, that she has fulfilled all ambitions, that she teaches at university level without any qualifications other than her published works, she gives credit to philosophy and the daily practice of meditation.
[edit] The Botticelli Trilogy
During the period of agoraphobia, the only thing that she found of interest was the work of Sandro Botticelli (1444-1510). Having read several works of art history, she turned to the social and political history of the age of Lorenzo de’ Medici. Reading in 1974 about 1474, the embers of interest flared up in a bonfire of passion. Without any formal education worthy of the name, she embarked on a programme of research into the period which would take eleven years and necessitate familiarity with Latin and Italian. The first draft of a novel was so unwieldy that she immediately split the story into three.
A Tabernacle for the Sun deals with 1472-1478 and the Pazzi Conspiracy. Pallas and the Centaur is set in the following two years, when the Medici family and Florence were under severe threat. The final novel, The Rebirth of Venus, covers the period of the exile of the Medici and the rise of Savonarola. Each book is narrated by a fictional character, Tommaso de’ Maffei, but almost every other character is historical. Linda Proud goes to extraordinary lengths to harmonise accuracy of detail with the power of story-telling, and her achievement in this is highly acclaimed by the academic community (‘A historical writer of genius’ - Dr Pamela Tudor-Craig). The first book was originally published by Allison and Busby, but its reprint and the subsequent volumes are published by Godstow Press.
The historical character that Linda Proud connected with most powerfully was not Botticelli but the poet, fellow Cancerian Angelo Poliziano. ‘Through him I gained my education,’ she says. Botticelli, however, is a consistent thread in all three novels, each of which is inspired by one of his mythological paintings: Primavera, Pallas and the Centaur, The Birth of Venus.
[edit] Bibliography
Non-fiction
- Consider England, with Valerie Petts (1994) ISBN 0-85683-145-X
- 2000 Years of Christianity (1999) ISBN 0-85372-932-8
- Icons – a sacred art (2000) ISBN 0-85372-990-5
- Angels (2001) ISBN 1-84165-041-2
- Designing with Photographs, with Peter Bonnici ISBN 978-2880463533
Children’s fiction
- Knights of the Grail (1995, 2003)ISBN 1-903843-16-2
The Botticelli Trilogy
- A Tabernacle for the Sun (1997, 2005) ISBN 978-0-9547367-2-9
- Pallas and the Centaur (2004) ISBN 978-0-9547367-0-5
- The Rebirth of Venus (2008) ISBN 978-0-9547367-6-7
[edit] Influences
Linda Proud’s novels have been inspired by, and often compared to, the work of Mary Renault, Marguerite Youcenar and H.F.M. Prescott.
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