Peter Levi

Edward Lear (eBook, PDF)

A Life

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

"Children swarmed to him like settlers. He became a land." - W.H. Auden

Edward Lear - beloved nonsense poet, author of such adored poems as The Owl and the Pussycat, inventor of otherworldly characters like Quangle-Wangles and of the modern limerick; lauded artist and illustrator - was a genius who defies classification. Gregarious and popular, Lear had a wide circle of friends, but was often lonely and subject to frequent bouts of depression and debilitating epilepsy, the shame of which he struggled with all his life.

In this captivating biography, fellow poet Peter Levi renders descriptions of Lear's sketches and watercolours (of which he painted some 10,000 in the course of his career) and provides incisive portraits of his classic poems, such as The Jumblies, The Owl and the Pussycat and The Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo, setting them in the wider context of traditional nursery rhymes.

Lear belonged to the great tradition of adventurous British travellers, undertaking extensive journeys in Italy and Greece, in Albania, Turkey, Egypt, Palestine and India and these always-eventful journeys are related here, alongside extracts and quotations from his letters and diaries. This is an essential biography for all lovers of this remarkable British literary figure and now recognised as one of the greatest 19th century landscape painters.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury UK
• Seitenzahl: 400
• Erscheinungstermin: 3. Oktober 2013
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780857722997
• Artikelnr.: 40343299

Autorenporträt

Peter Levi, FSA, FRSL, (1931-2000) was a poet, archaeologist, Jesuit priest, travel writer, scholar, biographer and critic. Professor of Poetry at Oxford from 1984-89, Levi also worked for The Times, travelled with Bruce Chatwin in Afghanistan and wrote over 60 highly acclaimed biographies and works of travel, including The Light Garden of the Angel King.

Inhaltsangabe

List of Illustrations 'How Pleasant to Know Mr Lear'
Foreword by Robin Hanbury-Tenison
INTRODUCTION
1. BOYHOOD
2. THE PAINTER OF BIRDS
3. THE LITHOGRAPHER
4. INTIMATE INTERLUDES
5. ITALY
6. SOUTHERN ITALY
7. A TASTE OF GREEK LANDS
8. LEAR AT FORTY
9. CORFU
10. THE DEATH OF ANN
11. GREECE
12. CRETE
13. SUCCESS
14. THE HOUSE AT SAN REMO
15. TO SEA IN A SIEVE
16. INDIA
17. THE FALL OF A HOUSE OF CARDS
18. THE VILLA TENNYSON
19. THE DEATH OF EDWARD
Appendix A: The plants in Lear's garden
Appendix B: Children of Jeremiah Lear and Ann Skerritt
Notes and References
Bibliography