cover image Bride of the Wind

Bride of the Wind

Susanne Keegan. Viking Books, $25 (368pp) ISBN 978-0-670-80513-6

Alma seems to exert an endless fascination on biographers, as she did on the notable men who were her husbands and lovers during her long (1879-1964) and turbulent life. Following Alma Mahler by Francoise Giroud (Nonfiction Forecasts, Jan. 20), this book is much more scholarly--and perhaps a mite less entertaining. It places Alma more firmly in her cultural context, with the turn-of-the-century Viennese scene more richly detailed, and Keegan, a British journalist, had the benefit of conversations with Alma's daughter Anna and her husband. No one ever quite elucidates the mystery of Alma's exotic personality, however--her odd mixture of sensitivity and coarseness, her swoons and intense practicality, her grandeur and pettiness. It is diffcult to bring much fresh insight to bear on her relationships with spouses Gustav Mahler, Walter Gropius and Franz Werfel, and, foremost among her many lovers, Oscar Kokoschka; but Keegan tells the story reliably and thoroughly. If there is any fault to find it is that she makes rather too little of Alma's declining years in Hollywood and New York. Illustrations. (Sept.)