Prima Donna: The Psychology of Maria Callas

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Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Prima Donna Assoluta: Psychological Mysteries
Chapter 3: From Olive Groves to Hell's Kitchen
Chapter 4: Product of Her Mother's Imagination
Chapter 5: An Athenian Interlude
Chapter 6: A Marriage of Mutual Convenience
Chapter 7: I Gave You Everything
Chapter 8: A Matter of the Heart
Chapter 9: Nothing Left to Give
Chapter 10: Epilogue

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Prima Donna: The Psychology of Maria Callas explores the psychological mechanisms underlying the hypnotic power of Callas's artistry and the unfolding of her tragic life story. Although precipitated by the trauma and shame that followed her abandonment by Aristotle Onassis and the rapid deterioration of her voice, Callas's midlife disintegration reflects deep psychological vulnerabilities. In this book, Wink utilizes cutting-edge advances in research on developmental psychology and narcissism to shed light on Callas's puzzling personal deterioration during the last nine years of her life. Lacking a cohesive and integrated sense of self, Callas sought affirmation and vitality from adoring audiences and older men including her husband Battista Meneghini and her long-term partner Onassis. The propensity to fuse her identity with stage roles contributed to her artistic greatness, but envy and the lack of an intrinsic sense of meaning and worth intensified her vulnerability to life's vicissitudes. Prima Donna is both a powerful study of Callas's life and a contribution to the greater body of work on the psychology of artists.

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Wink's reading is broadly sympathetic and provides a compelling mixture of confidence and insecurity that was such a puzzling feature of Callas's personality. This is a gripping read - an engagingly written and very human story to be wolfed down in a couple of sittings

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