Description

Book Synopsis

A Daily Telegraph, Times, Evening Standard, TLS and Spectator Book of the Year.

Winner of the Hawthornden Prize.

Edward Lear is well-loved for his nonsenses', from joyous limericks to great love songs, and for his wonderful natural history paintings, landscapes and travel writing. But although Lear belongs to the age of Darwin and Dickens, his genius for the absurd and his dazzling word-play make him a very modern spirit. He was also a man of great simplicity and charm children loved him yet his humour masked epilepsy, depression and loneliness. Jenny Uglow's beautifully illustrated biography brings us his swooping moods, passionate friendships and restless travels. Above all it shows how this uniquely gifted man lived all his life on the boundaries of disciplines and desires an exile of the heart.

Mr Lear A Life of Art and Nonsense

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    A Paperback / softback by Jenny Uglow

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      Publisher: Faber & Faber
      Publication Date: 17/10/2019
      ISBN13: 9780571269556, 978-0571269556
      ISBN10: 0571269559
      Also in:
      ELT & Literary Studies Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 Literary studies: poetry and poets Literature: history and criticism

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      A Daily Telegraph, Times, Evening Standard, TLS and Spectator Book of the Year.

      Winner of the Hawthornden Prize.

      Edward Lear is well-loved for his nonsenses', from joyous limericks to great love songs, and for his wonderful natural history paintings, landscapes and travel writing. But although Lear belongs to the age of Darwin and Dickens, his genius for the absurd and his dazzling word-play make him a very modern spirit. He was also a man of great simplicity and charm children loved him yet his humour masked epilepsy, depression and loneliness. Jenny Uglow's beautifully illustrated       biography brings us his swooping moods, passionate friendships and restless travels. Above all it shows how this uniquely gifted man lived all his life on the boundaries of disciplines and desires an exile of the heart.

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