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Radiant: The Dancer, The Scientist, and a Friendship Forged in Light
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64/99
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30/99
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About This Book
Part hidden history, part love letter to creative innovation, this is the "imaginative and immersive" ( The Star Tribune ) true story of an unlikely friendship between a dancer, Loie Fuller, and a scientist, Marie Curie, brought together by an illuminating discovery. At the turn of the century, Paris was a hotbed of creativity. Technology boomed, delivering to the world electric light, the automobile, and new ways to treat disease, while imagination blossomed, creating Art Nouveau, motion pictures, and modernist literature. A pivotal figure during this time, yet largely forgotten today, Loie Fuller was an American performance artist who became a living symbol of the Art Nouveau movement with her hypnotic dances and stunning theatrical effects. Credited today as the pioneer of modern dance, she was perennially broke, never took no for an answer, spent most of her life with a female partner, and never questioned her drive. She was a visionary, a renegade, and a loyal friend. In the early 1900s, she heard about Marie Curie's discovery of a glowing blue element and dreamed of using it to dazzle audiences on stage. While Loie's dream wouldn't be realized, her connection with Marie and their shared fascination with radium endured. Radiant is the true story of Marie Curie and Loie Fuller, two revolutionary women drawn together at the dawn of a new era by a singular discovery, and the lifelong friendship that grew out of their shared passion for enlightenment.
Reviews
"[an] imaginative and immersive dual biography ..."
"Heinecke has captured their lives, their times, and their friendship in a beautifully crafted work of creative nonfiction as gripping as any novel of Belle Epoch Paris ..."
"Heinecke's fresh take on Curie is welcome, and her portrayal of the too-little-known Fuller is revelatory."
"The approach is bold, using imaginary dialogue and inner thoughts to flesh out the women's stories, but the narrative tone flips uneasily between novelistic dramatization and biographical info-dumping."
"The author's careful attention to history—especially as it pertains to the struggle creative women like Curie and Fuller faced for acceptance as creative equals to men—helps round out the text with feminist insights."
"With rich evocations of Belle Époque Paris and accessible introductions to the era's artistic and scientific breakthroughs, this inspirational portrait of two trailblazing women soars."
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