THE LIVES OF THE MUSES: NINE WOMEN AND THE ARTISTS THEY INSPIRED (2002)

''Rather than thanking the muses for doing their demanding, important jobs, we tend to be jealous of them...'' Prose writes in this compendium, a lively and compassionate meditation on the creative relationship between a nonet of uncommon women and the remarkable men they inspired. The title echoes the notion of ''lives of the saints,'' and although there's some saintliness involved in the service of genius, Prose is more interested in all that was particular and complex between her muses and their men. Among the duos: Alice Liddell and Lewis Carroll; Yoko Ono and John Lennon; and ''serial muse'' Lou Andreas-Salome and Rilke, Nietzsche, and Freud in turn.