Mr Lear

A Life of Art and Nonsense

Jenny Uglow, Jenny Uglow

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English

Faber & Faber
03 December 2019

Biography; Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 ; Literary studies: poetry & poets

Edward Lear's poems follow and break the rules. They abide by the logic of syntax, the linking of rhyme and the dance of rhythm, and these 'nonsenses' are full of joy - yet set against darkness. Where do these human-like animals and birds and these odd adventures - some gentle, some violent, some musical, some wild - come from? His many drawings that accompany his verse are almost hyper-real, as if he wants to free the creatures from the page. They exist nowhere else in literature, springing only from Lear's imagination.

Lear lived all his life on the borders of rules and structures, of disciplines and desires. He vowed to ignore politics yet trembled with passionate sympathies. He depended on patrons and moved in establishment circles, yet he never belonged among them and mocked imperial attitudes. He loved men yet dreamed of marriage - but remained, it seems, celibate, wrapped in himself. Even in his family he was marginal, at once accepted and rejected. Surrounded by friends, he was alone.

If we follow him across land and sea - to Italy, Greece and Albania, to The Levant and Egypt and India - and to the borderlands of spirit and self, art and desire, can we see, in the end, if the nonsense makes sense? This is what Jenny Uglow has set sail to find out.

By: Jenny Uglow, Jenny Uglow
Imprint: Faber & Faber
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: Main
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 129mm, Spine: 40mm
Weight: 550g
ISBN: 9780571269556
ISBN 10: 0571269559
Pages: 608
Publication Date: 03 December 2019
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Jenny Uglow 's books include prize-winning biographies of Elizabeth Gaskell, William Hogarth and Sarah Losh. The Lunar Men, published in 2002, was described by Richard Holmes as 'an extraordinarily gripping account', while Nature's Engraver: A Life of Thomas Bewick, won the National Arts Writers Award and A Gambling Man: Charles II and the Restoration was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize. Her most recent book is In These Times: Living in Britain through Napoleon's Wars, 1793-1815. She lives in Canterbury.

Reviews for Mr Lear: A Life of Art and Nonsense

"""A splendid portrait of this remarkable man."" --SundayTimes ""A wonderfully sharp and sympathetic biography.""--Mail on Sunday ""Jenny Uglow has written a great life about an artist with half a life, a biography that might break your heart.""-- Robert McCrum, Observer ""Jenny Uglow, Edward Lear's most sensitive biographer to date, does him proud.""-- A. N.Wilson, Literary Review ""Quite wonderful.""-- Guardian"