Šta vam je prva asocijacija na Marilyn Monroe? Najpoželjnija žena na svetu, stereotipna plavuša, seks simbol, potcenjena glumica? Za života osporavan, danas je konačno priznat njen glumački talenat, čiji odsjaj možemo da vidimo između replika koje izgovaraju njene junakinje, recimo Lorelaj Li u filmu „Gentlemen Prefer Blondes“ u kojem igra lik pohlepne, naivno šarmantne žene, gde se iza jednog metanivoa, punog namigivanja i suptilnih nagoveštaja, krije neosporni genij.
Mnogima je, koji su bliže upoznati sa njenom biografijom, poznato to da je Monroe bila strastvena čitateljka. Iza zavodljivog pogleda i napućenih usana, ispod harizme kojom je osvajala svet, Monroe je bila intelektualka sa kućnom bibliotekom na kojoj bi joj pozavideli mnogi.
Monroe je volela je da čita. Beleženo je da bi, između snimanja na filmskim setovima, pronalazila miran kutak i uranjala u knjige, čitajući ozbiljna dela svetske književnosti. Godine 1999. aukcijska kuća Kristi organizovala je prodaju njenih ličnih stvari, među kojima i sadržaj njene privatne biblioteke. Monroe je tokom života sakupljala knjige, gde je u svom poslednjem domu u Brentvudu posedovala kolekciju od preko 400 naslova.
U biblioteci Marylin Monroe pronađni su klasici poput Velikog Getsbija i Noć je nežna F. Skota Ficdžeralda, Avanture Haklberija Fina Marka Tvena, kao i Tramvaj zvani želja Tenesija Vilijamsa, ispunjena beleškama pisanih rukom. U njenoj kolekciji našli su se brojni romani Ernesta Hemingveja, kao i dela D. H. Lorensa, koji je bio jedan od njenih omiljenih autora. Posedovala je dela Oskara Vajlda i Vilijama Blejka, zbirke poezije Šelija i Roberta Brauninga, a bili su tu i neki neobični naslovi iz tada literarne kontrakulture – roman Na putu Džeka Keruaka i eksperimentalna poezija Volta Vitmena i Rajnera Marije Rilkea.
Monroe je bila zainteresovana i za psihologiju, sakupljala je tekstove Sigmunda Frojda i istraživala dela Alberta Kamija. Volela je i Uliksa Džejmsa Džojsa, a u njenoj kolekciji našle su se moderne drame (bila je udata za dramskog pisca Artura Milera), romani sa posvetama autora, klasični ruski romani, velika američka književna dela, viktorijanska poezija, francuski filozofi, biblijske studije i još mnogo toga. Ali ono što je njenu kolekciju činilo posebnom, i što je dostiglo visoke cene na aukciji, bile su njene rukom pisane beleške, razbacane po stranicama. Pisala je po marginama i podvlačila pasuse, ostavljajući tragove svog živahnog i inteligentnog uma koji njena era nikada nije u potpunosti prepoznala.
LISTA KNJIGA MARILYN MONROE
Let’s Make Love – Matthew Andrews
How To Travel Incognito – Ludwig Bemelmans
To The One I Love Best – Ludwig Bemelmans
Thurber Country – James Thurber
The Fall – Albert Camus
Marilyn Monroe – George Carpozi
Camille – Alexander Dumas
Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison
The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book – Fannie Merritt-Farmer
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
From Russia With Love – Ian Fleming
The Art Of Loving – Erich Fromm
The Prophet – Kahlil Gibran
Ulysses – James Joyce
Stoned Like A Statue: A Complete Survey Of Drinking Cliches, Primitive, Classical & Modern – Howard Kandel & Don Safran, sa uvodnikom Deana Martina
The Last Temptation Of Christ – Nikos Kazantzakis
On The Road – Jack Kerouac
Selected Poems – D.H. Lawrence
Sons And Lovers – D.H. Lawrence
The Portable – DH Lawrence
DH Lawrence: A Basic Study Of His Ideas – Mary Freeman
The Assistant – Bernard Malamud
The Magic Barrel – Bernard Malamud
Death In Venice & Seven Other Stories – Thomas Mann
Last Essays – Thomas Mann
The Thomas Mann Reader
Hawaii – James Michener
Red Roses For Me – Sean O’Casey
I Knock At The Door – Sean O’Casey
Selected Plays – Sean O’Casey
The Green Crow – Sean O’Casey
Golden Boy – Clifford Odets
Clash By Night – Clifford Odets
The Country Girl – Clifford Odets
6 Plays Of Clifford Odets
The Cat With 2 Faces – Gordon Young
Long Day’s Journey Into Night – Eugene O’Neill
Part Of A Long Story: Eugene O’Neill As A Young Man In Love – Agnes Boulton
The Little Engine That Could – Piper Watty
The New Joy Of Cooking – Irma S. Rombauer & Marion Rombauer-Becker
Selected Plays Of George Bernard Shaw
Ellen Terry And Bernard Shaw — A Correspondence
Bernard Shaw & Mrs Patrick Campbell — Their Correspondence
The Short Reigh Of Pippin IV – John Steinbeck
Once There Was A War – John Steinbeck
Set This House On Fire – William Styron
Lie Down In Darkness
The Roman Spring Of Mrs Stone – Tennessee Williams
Camino Real – Tennessee Williams
A Streetcar Named Desire – Tennessee Williams
The Flower In Drama And Glamour – Stark Young
Tender Is The Night – F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Story Of A Novel – Thomas Wolfe
Look Homeward Angel – Thomas Wolfe
A Stone, A Leaf, A Door (Thomas Wolfe?)
Thomas Wolfe’s Letters To His Mother, ed. John Skally Terry
A Farewell To Arms – Ernest Hemingway
The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway
Winesburg, Ohio – Sherwood Anderson
Sister Carrie – Theodore Dreiser
Tortilla Flat – John Steinbeck
The American Claimant & Other Stories & Sketches – Mark Twain
In Defense of Harriet Shelley & Other Essays
The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
Roughing It – Mark Twain
The Magic Christian – Terry Southern
A Death In The Family – James Agee
The War Lover – John Hersey
Don’t Call Me By My Right Name & Other Stories – James Purdy
Malcolm – James Purdy
The Portable Irish Reader (pub. Viking)
The Portable Poe — Edgar Allen Poe
The Portable Walt Whitman
This Week’s Short Stories (New York, 1953)
Bedside Book Of Famous Short Stories
Short Novels Of Colette
Short Story Masterpieces (New York, 1960)
The Passionate Playgoer – George Oppenheimer
Fancies And Goodnights – John Collier
Evergreen Review, Vol 2, No. 6
The Medal & Other Stories – Luigi Pirandello
Max Weber
Renoir – Albert Skira
Max – Giovannetti Pericle
The Family Of Man – Carl Sandburg
Horizon, A Magazine Of The Arts
Jean Dubuffet – Daniel Cordier
The Summing Up – W. Somerset Maugham
Close To Colette – Maurice Goudeket
This Demi-Paradise – Margaret Halsey
God Protect Me From My Friends – Gavin Maxwell
Minister Of Death: The Adolf Eichmann Story – Quentin Reynolds, Ephraim Katz i Zwy Aldouby
Dance To The Piper – Agnes DeMille
Goodness Had Nothing To Do With It – Mae West
Act One – Moss Hart
Science And Health With Key To The Scriptures – Mary Baker Eddy
Poems, Including Christ And Christmas – Mary Baker Eddy
2 Plays: Peace And Lysistrata – Aristophanes
Of The Nature Of Things – Lucretius
The Philosophy Of Plato
Mythology – Edith Hamilton
Theory Of Poetry And Fine Art – Aristotle
Metaphysics – Aristotle
Plutarch’s Lives, Vols 3–6 only (of 6) – William and John Langhorne
Bound For Glory – Woody Guthrie
The Support Of The Mysteries – Paul Breslow
Paris Blues – Harold Flender
The Shook-Up Generation – Harrison E. Salisbury
An Mands Ansigt – Arthur Miller
Independent People – Halldor Laxness
Mujer – Lina Rolan
The Havamal, ed. D.E. Martin Clarke
Yuan Mei: 18th Century Chinese Poet – Arthur Waley
