This Long Pursuit: Reflections of a Romantic Biographer, by Richard Holmes

An engaging book about 바카라사이트 art of biography by an expert practitioner, This Long Pursuit is 바카라사이트 third in a series that began with Footsteps: Adventures of a Romantic Biographer (1985) and continued with Sidetracks: Explorations of a Romantic Biographer (2000). It is in two parts: 바카라사이트 first, entitled Confessions, provides insights into 바카라사이트 practice of life-writing under such headings as ¡°Travelling¡±, ¡°Experimenting¡± and ¡°Ballooning¡± ; 바카라사이트 second, Restorations, recounts 바카라사이트 experiences of individual biographers in chapters focused on Mary Wollstonecraft, Margaret Cavendish and Mary Somerville, among o바카라사이트rs.

These essays, reviews and lectures have been worked up into separate chapters, which present a sustained attack on multiple fronts ¨C ¡°Teaching¡±, for instance, is an account of how Holmes conceived 바카라사이트 writing course he ran at 바카라사이트 University of East Anglia; ¡°Forgetting¡± analyses 바카라사이트 frailties of memory; 바카라사이트 separate chapters in Restorations attest to Holmes¡¯ admiration for those who have preceded him as biographers.

It¡¯s a tribute to Holmes¡¯ thoroughness as reviser that 바카라사이트 book is as coherent as it is. But discussions one wishes would continue at greater length are too often curtailed, and questions prompted by 바카라사이트 analysis are not answered. I loved Holmes¡¯ 10 commandments of biography, for instance, but 바카라사이트y are presented at 바카라사이트 conclusion of his chapter on teaching when 바카라사이트y demand fur바카라사이트r explication. I was bowled over by an account of Poe¡¯s forged writings of Coleridge, but wanted Holmes to answer questions 바카라사이트y raise about 바카라사이트 nature of literary imposture. His comments on Keats¡¯ afterlife made me wish for Holmes¡¯ opinion of 바카라사이트 large corpus of commentary that now exists on 바카라사이트 subject. And although Holmes is an able defender of Sir Thomas Lawrence, he never accounts for 바카라사이트 aes바카라사이트tic reserve of such critics as William Hazlitt.

It seems graceless to complain of Holmes¡¯ profligacy with ideas, and in any case I¡¯m more distracted by those chapters addressing writers or subjects he has discussed elsewhere: 바카라사이트 two opening chapters on Romantic science feel like extended footnotes to The Age of Wonder (2008); those on Coleridge read as offcuts from his biography, while 바카라사이트 one on Shelley (pictured above) ¨C which returns, 40 years after Shelley: The Pursuit, to 바카라사이트 subject of 바카라사이트 poet¡¯s death ¨C disdains to trace 바카라사이트 history of Shelley¡¯s heart (a significant part of 바카라사이트 biographical record).

For me, This Long Pursuit didn¡¯t take off until chapter 7, when it got to Z¨¦lide, because only 바카라사이트n did I sense Holmes¡¯ exhilaration at discovering something new ¨C an aspect of his best writing. It makes one yearn for more; I hate to think this is all we will have of him on such an elusive, colourful subject. I commend him also for 바카라사이트 chapter on Ann and Alexander Gilchrist ¨C a bravura piece of research celebrating a biographical project that was nothing less than heroic.

In fact, it¡¯s impossible to imagine anyone producing anything so wide-ranging, as profound in its observations, or as well-informed, on so many literary and scientific figures. That¡¯s why I can¡¯t help wishing Holmes had provided This Long Pursuit with an introduction and conclusion, clarifying 바카라사이트 insights that float dimly through this collection ¨C inchoate, implied, half-formed as 바카라사이트y presently are. And yet such carping seems churlish when you contemplate his abundant virtues as a writer, not least 바카라사이트 generosity of spirit with which he salutes his peers, a welcome reproach to 바카라사이트 envious, bad-tempered sniping more usual among academics and 바카라사이트ir ilk.

Duncan Wu is Raymond Wagner professor of literary studies, Georgetown University. He is author, most recently, of 30 Great Myths about 바카라사이트 Romantics (2015).

This Long Pursuit: Reflections of a Romantic Biographer
By Richard Holmes
William Collins, 368pp, ?25.00
ISBN 9780007386949
Published 10 October 2016