I had an original copy of this book 30 years ago, when it first came out (I think it was in 1977 or 1978) - at the time, I was living in Berkley, California and read about 1/3 of the book and put it down.
I liked it then but lost interest.
However, I decided, for my own reasons, to read it again, and bought a copy less than a month ago and am almost done and I have to say that I believe this book is really a channelled view of what Paul Cezanne thought about while he painted.
I think it's fair to say that Cezanne, himself, might not have talked nearly as much about his work as what's in the book - but the book is not Cezanne talking - it's his World View of paintings - and Jane Roberts, though some curious circumstance - happened to channel that World View.
I myself, as an artist who knows a lot about Paul Cezanne - am struck by the subtle insights that could not possibly have come from Jane Roberts.
But did it come from Paul Cezanne? In a sense, Yes. We can't really evaluate a book like this in the normal way - you have to pick it up and make sense of it yourself.
I for one, do recommend this book to artists interested in what Cezanne was actually thinking while he painted.
I'll be in Aix in a couple of days and will visit Paul Cezanne's studio and hopefully, what I read in this book will complement my trip.
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