Bøger i Critical Lives serien

A thoroughly researched, balanced new biography of author, journalist and adventurer Ernest Hemingway.

Arthur Schopenhauer devoted his adult life to the articulation of a philosophy for the world, a philosophy that would benefit mankind by providing a solution to the riddle of existence. This biography provides an introduction to the life and work of the nineteenth-century German philosopher.

A musical composer who dabbled in the Dada movement, a Bohemian gymnopediste of fin-de-siecle Montmartre, and a legendary dresser known as The Velvet Gentleman for his sartorial choices, Erik Satie was nearly unprecedented in technique, style and philosophy among European composers in the early twentieth century. This book tells his story.

A critical biography of a major novelist and art critic from the late nineteenth-century French decadent movement. J.-K. Huysmans (1848-1907) is often hailed as a forerunner of modernist letters. While his novel À rebours / Against Nature remains infamous for its reclusive protagonist retreating into a realm of artifice and dreams, Huysmans's literary contributions are far-reaching. Ruth Antosh explores Huysmans's life and work, illustrating how both reflect an uneasy era of profound social and artistic change. In this context, Huysmans's correspondence, early fiction, art criticism, and surrealist novel En rade / Stranded demand greater critical attention. Antosh argues that Huysmans's life should be understood as an unwavering quest for spiritual and aesthetic fulfillment.

"The celebrated art nouveau architect Antoni Gaudâi was a contradictory figure: deeply religious and politically right-wing, he nevertheless created revolutionaly, lyrical buildings. This book explores Gaudâi's life, work and influences, from Catalan nationalism to the Industrial Revolution. Michael Eaude expertly guides readers through Gaudâi's great works--including the Sagrada Famâilia, which attracts millions of tourists to Barcelona each year--and examines his monumental life, from the architect's provincial upbringing in Reus to his time in Barcelona, where he became a dandy whose only attempt at marriage was rejected. Gaudâi later suffered a nervous breakdown, became obsessively religious, and fused Gothic, Baroque and Orientalist architecture into his unique style" --

The life, work, and legacy of one of the twentieth century's most published African American women. This book explores the life and legacy of Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960), the most-published African American woman of the first half of the twentieth century. Famous today as the author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston was also an anthropologist and a folklorist. In this new biography, Cheryl Hopson casts Hurston as a modern woman on the move, particularly as a collector of stories in and around the Jim Crow South. Hopson details her rejection by the Harlem Renaissance as well as her recovery by Black feminists such as Alice Walker years after her death. The result is an accessible and fresh account of the celebrated writer's life and work.

A biography of the revolutionary philosopher and psychiatrist. Doctor, militant, essayist, ambassador, teacher, journalist, pan-Africanist, Frantz Fanon sought to decolonize mid-twentieth-century culture as he embodied a new kind of intellectual. Born in colonial Martinique, he fought for France during World War II but later renounced his citizenship and fought in the Algerian War of Independence. This book emphasizes Fanon's gift for self-invention and performance as it follows his short but extraordinary life and explores how his pioneering work in psychiatry influenced his revolutionary philosophy.

"H.D. (Hilda Doolittle, 1886-1961) was one of the first writers of free verse in English, best known for her sparse Imagist poems. For over forty years she wrote poetry that resurrected forgotten ancient goddesses, and autobiographical prose that explored her trauma, her desires, and the unique struggles of a twentieth-century woman writer. She was also a scholar of religion, mythology and history, a translator of ancient Greek, and worked in early avant-garde film. Dubbed the 'perfect bi-' by Sigmund Freud, she placed issues of sexuality and gender at the centre of her writings. This new biography explores the fascinating life and work of this important modernist figure, once written out of literary history but now receiving the attention she deserves."--

A biography of the provocative nineteenth-century English naturalist. Brilliant, hard-working, and immensely productive, the naturalist Richard Owen was a great ambassador for science and played an outsized role in shaping London's Natural History Museum. Still, Owen was a provocative bully, accused of plagiarism, and the only man Charles Darwin claimed to hate since Owen staunchly opposed his ideas about natural selection despite sharing similar views himself. This biography gives an account of Owen's life and work and offers some speculation about the reasons behind his controversial behavior and strained relationships.

"Ford Madox Ford (1873-1939) lived among several of the most important artists and writers of his time. Raised by Pre-Raphaelites and friends with Henry James, H. G. Wells, and Joseph Conrad, Ford was a leading figure of the avant-garde in pre-WWI London, responsible for publishing Ezra Pound, Wyndham Lewis, and D. H. Lawrence. After the war, he moved to Paris, published Gertrude Stein, and discovered Ernest Hemingway. A prolific writer in his own right, Ford wrote the modernist triumph The Good Soldier (1915) as well as one of the finest war stories in English, the Parade's End tetralogy (1924-1928). Drawing on newly discovered letters and photographs, this critical biography further demonstrates Ford's vital contribution to modern fiction, poetry, and criticism"--

"In this book, David Ellis traces Lord Byron's life from rented lodgings in Aberdeen and the crumbling splendors of Newstead Abbey to his final grand tour of Asia. Describing his exile from England as well as his subsequent travels in Italy and Greece, Ellis shows just how completely Byron's experiences colored both his serious and comic writings, such as Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and The Corsair. This is a fresh, concise, and clear-eyed account of the flamboyant poet's life and work."--

A critical biography of America's most influential postmodern poet. Mysterious, esoteric, and baffling, John Ashbery is notorious for the seeming difficulty of his work. But Ashbery is also entertaining, humorous, even charming, and ever responsive to his shifting social and political contexts. This biography charts Ashbery's rise from a minor avant-garde figure to the most important poet of his generation. Jess Cotton provides a legible and accessible roadmap to Ashbery's work that draws connections between his poetry, New York artists, and mid-century politics. Cotton paints an image of a more approachable and socially engaged Ashbery that will appeal to anyone interested in American poetry, queer lives, and twentieth-century American history.

An engaging and accessible biography of Sigmund Freud.

A concise yet comprehensive survey of one of classical music's most popular composers.

The action-packed life of the polymath and 'First American', Benjamin Franklin.

A fresh, up-to-date account of the life and work of Charles Darwin.

A new biogrpahy of one of the 20th-century's most influential political thinkers, Hannah Arendt.

A timely new biography of one of the 20th century's most provocative intellectuals.

A new, critical biography of the innovative and influential French artist Henri Matisse.

A new account of the short yet extraordinary life of Rosa Luxemburg.

An original interpretation of Joseph Conrad's life of writing.

A concise, readable account of the life and work of Ludwig Wittgenstein, one of the greatest and most original philosophers of the twentieth century

New in the Critical Lives series, this is the first new biography of Walter Benjamin in more than a decade.

An insightful biography of Leo Tolstoy, one of the greatest novelists of all time.

A critical biography of German novelist, playwright and poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

An insightful and compelling biography of celebrated French storyteller Guy de Maupassant.

A vivid, absorbing new biography of Dmitry Shostakovich.

A timely reappraisal of Indian writer, composer, musician, artist and activist Rabindranath Tagore.

A new critical biography of the singular writer Stendhal.

An illuminating reappraisal of Belgian surrealist artist Rene Magritte.