Prima Donna

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 ondevelopmental 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 herlong-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.

Readers unfamiliar with Callas's life and work will get a sufficient grounding to satisfy their curiosity, but individuals more familiar with her life and particularly her recording and performance history will also appreciate Wink's analysis., 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., Wink's astute conclusion, with worthy awe and empathy, recognizes both triumph and tragedy in Callas's fate. He agrees with a noted developmental psychologist that no artist 'searching for the self' can expect artistry to heal 'the underlying lack of sense of self'. But, in Wink's view of Callas, 'this doomed quest offers a royal road to artistic greatness', Prima Donna does not purport to be a comprehensive biography. The emphasis of this book is Maria Callas's psychology. Her admirers might fear that something ineffable about her magical gift has been reduced here to psychopathology. On the other hand, the author's conclusions are logical, well thought out and clear. This is a useful contribution to exploring the unconscious conflicts that underlie art, and to our appreciation of a performer with enduring appeal., Long before Beyonce, Madonna, or Cher, there was Maria Callas. Wink explores the depthless fragility behind the greatest diva of all time. In reconciling the vulnerable Maria with the imperial Callas, he elucidates both the mystery of opera's most galvanizing figure and the inner workings of narcissism in human psychology. Prima Donna is a tour de force worthy of its majestic subject.

Paul Wink is Professor of Psychology and the Nellie Zuckerman Cohen & Anne Cohen Heller Professor in Health Science at Wellesley College. He is a leading researcher in the area of adult development with numerous publications on narcissism, aging, and religion and spirituality. He is the co-author of In the Course of a Lifetime: Tracing Religious Belief, Practice, and Change, and a co-editor of books on the psychology of retirement andspirituality in a diverse world.