Maryann D'Agincourt – författare

From the author of National Book Award-nominated Journal of Eva Morelli, this insightful collection of short stories takes the reader on a journey through a diverse array of lives and relationships, from a journalist finding new love after the death of her husband to a schoolgirl shocked to discover her mother's secrets. D'Agincourt delves deep into the emotional lives of her characters and sheds light on the mysteries of human decisions and the significance of art and music in our lives. Inspired by Oscar Kokoschka's masterpiece Two Nudes (Lovers), 1913, D'Agincourt writes in the unique literary genre of art fiction. All MOST, is the second work of fiction in Maryann D’Agincourt’s Art Fiction series. What is Art Fiction? Maryann D’Agincourt has merged her passions for art and literature into a unique and powerful form of storytelling. Art Fiction is a literary genre in which art is not solely an object, but is a reflection of what is human in all of us. Other examples are:

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy ChevalierTo the Lighthouse by Virginia WoolfMay Name is Asher Lev by Chaim PotokMoon and Sixpence by Somerset MaughamThe Shadow Catcher by Marianne WigginsThe Real Thing by Henry JamesThe Gold Finch by Donna TarttThe Art Forger by B.A. ShapiroThe Birth of Venus by Sarah DunantThe Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland

Maryann D'Agincourt's stunning novel in sketches follows Jocelyn from childhood to middle age, starting at the moment in her youth when she first hears the name of the mysterious Canadian painter, Alex Martaine, whispered by her parents. Each of them-Jocelyn, her art-loving mother, and her literary father-has a unique relationship with the artist, and he does, in ways the child could never imagine, turn each of their lives around.

The effects of World War II resonate through the lives of two families - one American and one European - living outside of Boston. As Jenny grows up in the shadow of her parents' dark experiences in Trieste during the war, she is pulled to the haunting art and ironic gaze of her next-door neighbor Jonas, whose own father, preparing for deployment as an army medic, died before he was born. But when the mysterious Eric Stram enters her life unexpectedly, she learns how her parents' past is not behind them but will continue to push her life in unforeseen - and possibly unwanted - directions. From the author of Journal of Eva Morelli, this poignant tale of the echoes of the past and the complications of the present explores the tensions between duty to family, and the desires of the individual, and the striking way that art can draw disparate lives together. 

D'Agincourt writes in the unique literary genre of Art Fiction. Shade and Light is the fifth work of fiction in Maryann D’Agincourt’s Art Fiction series. What is Art Fiction? 

Journal of Eva Morelli is the first work of literary fiction in Maryann D’Agincourt’s Art Fiction series. Who are these two figures in the undergrowth? Why are they there? How mysterious they look as they blend into the landscape. Vincent Van Gogh does not provide clues to these question in Undergrowth with Two Figures, 1890 which graces the cover of Journal of Eva Morelli. Maryann D’Agincourt has merged her passions for art and literature into a unique and powerful form of storytelling. Art Fiction is a literary genre in which art is not solely an object, but is a reflection of what is human in all of us. 

In All Most, the second in her Art Fiction series, Maryann D'Agincourt writes an insightful collection of short stories inspired by Oskar Kokoschka’s Two Nudes (Lovers),1913. Women’s fiction at its finest, Ms. D’Agincourt delves deep into the emotional lives of her characters and sheds light on the mysteries of human decisions and the significance of art and music in our lives. A work of art precedes each story as a vivid portrayal of how art inspires literature. 

Glimpses of Gauguin, a novel in sketches, is the third work of fiction in Maryann D’Agincourt’s Art Fiction series. Ms. D’Agincourt has been viewing Paul Gauguin’s masterpiece Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?, 1897-1898 from her early childhood visits to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston to the present, providing inspiration for her stunning novel in sketches. Reflecting the themes evident in Paul Gauguin’s painting, Ms D’Agincourt explores the growth of a young woman facing the challenges of family life, school, relationships, love and marriage. 

Printz is a novel about a man named Jacob Printz who lost his purpose in life. The one constant in Jacob’s life is the image of de Kooning's Seated Woman, c.1940 he first viewed as a much younger person, an image he comes back to over and over to make sense of the loves and losses in his life. This image symbolizes the world Jacob Printz inhabits, first with his sister Catherine and later with his lover Greta. And who is Jacob?  Amedeo Modigliani's Portrait of Henri Laurens, sitting, 1915 captures him best. 

Maryann D’Agincourt is an author who is inspired by art and artists. She often visited the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston as a young girl and merged her love of literature and art into the literary genre of art fiction. 

Shade and Light is Book 5 in her Art Fiction series.

In August 1984, Jenny and her second husband Jonas take a belated honeymoon on the Ligurian coast. They stay in the same hotel her late first husband Eric had frequented for business where she unexpectedly discovers clues to Eric''s boyhood trauma during the war. This knowledge jolts her view of Eric, her view of herself, and her relationship with Jonas. August is a novel about the power of secrets to transform lives. A sequel to Maryann D''Agincourt evocative novel Shade and Light.

How does your family''s history define you?

Jenny considers herself American, independent, and in control of her own destiny, yet she struggles to escape her European parents'' experience in Trieste during World War II, a time when painful choices were necessary and deep trauma occurred--trauma they have always avoided speaking of to their daughter. As she moves into an unsettling marriage, she finds herself challenged by the lines between past and present, family and self, until a tragic accident forces her to reevaluate her own identity.

Years later, as Jenny travels to the Riviera with a new love, echoes of the past return to blur the present, casting shadows on some memories and illuminating others. She must finally come to terms with her place in her family''s history and decide whether it will define her.

Marriage of the Smila-Hoffmans brings together Maryann D''Agincourt''s insightful novels Shade and Light and August. Now finally available together in a single volume with a new prologue and interlude by the author, they present a sweeping story of love, history, trauma, and art that readers will not want to miss.

Who is Jacob Printz? Is he detached and cynical or warm and melancholic? In Maryann D''Agincourt''s striking novel, readers come to know Jacob through the eyes of Greta Hatler as the two travelers, separated by age and background, meet unexpectedly in the midst of their own personal sorrows in Paris. Impressions of Jacob rise to the surface through haunting memories of his younger sister, Catherine. As in much of D''Agincourt''s fiction, a character''s truth lies in his or her response to a work of art. A new preface situates the novel within the genre of art fiction.