- Coco and Igor
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Coco and Igor 
Cover of paperback editionAuthor(s) Chris Greenhalgh Country United Kingdom Language English Genre(s) Fiction Publisher Headline Review Publication date 1 July 2002 Media type Print (Hardcover) Pages 311pp (first edition, HB) ISBN ISBN 0-7553-0086-6 (first edition, HB) OCLC Number 49394049 Coco and Igor is a 2002 novel by Chris Greenhalgh.
Set mainly in Paris in 1920, the novel is based on a possible real-life affair between Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky.
Contents
Plot summary
Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring has its Paris premiere on 29 May 1913. Coco is mesmerized by the power of Igor’s composition, but the audience is scandalized by its discordant, rhythmic music and Nijinsky's primitive choreography.
Coco finally meets Igor seven years later, at a dinner hosted by Sergei Diaghilev, impresario of the Ballets Russes. Igor has been forced to flee Russia – with his wife and four children – following the Russian Revolution. Coco invites him to bring his family to stay with her at her villa in Garches – 'Bel Respiro'.
Couturière and composer soon begin an affair. Both experience a surge of creativity; while Coco creates Chanel No. 5 (with perfumer Ernest Beaux), Igor’s compositions display a new, liberated style. But Igor’s wife, Katerina, becomes ill with consumption and an unbearable tension takes hold of 'Bel Respiro' and its occupants.
Structure
The piano keyboard operates as a framework for the novel. There are eighty-eight chapters, corresponding to the number of keys on a piano.
Reviews
- Coco and Igor, Review at Vogue (11 June 2002)
- "Eau de rancour" by Peter Conrad, The Observer (30 June 2002)
- "Books: Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky" by Stephanie Green, The Washington Post (6 December 2009)
Film adaptation
Greenhalgh adapted his novel for the 2009 film Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky, directed by Jan Kounen and starring Anna Mouglalis and Mads Mikkelsen.[1] The film was selected to occupy the prestigious closing slot at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival on 24 May 2009.[2]
Editions
English
- UK hardback: Headline Review, 1 July 2002 (ISBN 0-7553-0086-6)
- UK paperback: Headline Review, 7 July 2003 (ISBN 978-0755300877)
- US trade paperback: Riverhead Books (an imprint of Penguin USA), 1 December 2009 (ISBN 978-1594484551)
Translations
Coco and Igor has been translated into several languages, including:
- French: 'Coco et Igor' – Calmann-Levy, 8 April 2009, translated by Elsa Maggion (ISBN 978-2702139813)
- Russian: 'Villa Bel Respiro' – Symposium, 1 June 2009 (ISBN 978-8-87-4966851)
- Polish: 'Coco i Igor' – Wydawnictwo Amber, 2002, translated by Barbara Przbylowska (ISBN 83-241-0170-5)
- Greek: 'Coco and Igor' – Empeiria, November 2003, translated by Persa Koumoutsi (ISBN 960-417-044-9)
- Chinese: 'Coco and Igor' – Sun Color Culture Publishing Co. Ltd, October 2009 (ISBN 978-9862291764)
References
- ^ Cole, Olivia (24 April 2009). "Teacher writes finale to Cannes in school hols". Evening Standard. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23680620-details/Teacher+writes+finale+to+Cannes+in+school+hols/article.do.
- ^ "Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/10904957/year/2009.html. Retrieved 15 May 2009.
Categories:- 2002 novels
- Fashion in fiction
- British historical novels
- Novels set in Paris
- British novels adapted into films
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