Wine and dine with Victorian London's literati in a heatwave in one of the first ever group biographies, introduced by Francesca Wade (author of Square Haunting). Though she loved the heat she could do nothing but lie on the sofa and drink lemonade and read Monte Cristo ... June 1846. As London swelters - sunstroke strikes, meat rots, ice is coveted - a glamorous coterie of writers and artists indulge in decadent parties. With her ringletted 'face of an Egyptian cat goddess', Elizabeth Barrett is courted by her secret fiancé, the poet Robert Browning, who plots their elopement to Italy; Keats roams the Heath; Wordsworth visits the zoo; Dickens is intrigued by Tom Thumb; the Carlyles suffer a marital crisis. But when the visionary painter Benjamin Robert Haydon commits suicide, their lives begin to spiral around the tragedy ... One of the first group biographies, inspired by the "Pop Artists", Althea Hayter's glorious A Sultry Month was a groundbreaking feat of creative non-fiction in 1965 - and as radical today. "An experiment in the art of biography that has [been] never bettered." -- Guardian "A form which was so new as to lack a name ... A masterpiece." -- Anthony Burgess
Alethea Hayter Libros
Esta autora explora las complejidades de la naturaleza humana a través de su obra literaria, centrándose a menudo en temas de identidad y desarraigo. Su estilo se caracteriza por un lenguaje preciso y una profunda perspicacia psicológica, que sumerge a los lectores en la vida interior de sus personajes. Las obras de la autora reflejan sus experiencias personales de vivir en diversos entornos culturales y su profundo compromiso con el arte y los valores sociales. A través de su escritura, ofrece una perspectiva única del mundo que es a la vez íntima y universal.
The Pleasures and Pains of Opium
- 64 páginas
- 3 horas de lectura
One of 60 low-priced classic texts published to celebrate Penguin's 60th anniversary. All the titles are extracts from "Penguin Classics" titles.
HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. 'I here present you, courteous reader, with the record of a remarkable period in my life . . . ' The Confessions of an English Opium Eater is both a classic of the English autobiographical genre and a hard-nosed study of the effects of drugs on an artistic mind. A close associate of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the brilliant but troubled de Quincey recounts both the pleasures and pain of opium addiction in captivating prose. The result is by turns enlightened, nightmarish and witty - a faithful mirror of the drug itself.