Description
Book SynopsisParagon of youthful beauty, romantic symbol of a lost England, and precociously gifted poet, Rupert Chawner Brooke died in a hospital ship off the Aegean island of Skyros in April 1915, aged just 27. All England mourned his passing. But behind the glow of myth lies a darker reality. At the height of his promise a disappointment in love triggered a mental and physical collapse that brought his inner complexities to the surface. Letters reveal a man who was sexually ambivalent, misogynistic, anti-Semitic – and sometimes alarmingly unstable. This revised edition of Nigel Jones's admired biography, including an account of a previously unknown affair of Brooke's, reveals a more conflicted and troubled individual than the gilded Adonis of English literary myth.
Trade ReviewIntelligent, witty and definitive: this is literary biography at its best -- Andrew Roberts
This book is more than another contribution to the Great War centenary... This is a big book about a short life that has a great deal to say about those who ran the Empire' * The Herald *
Poignant and illuminating, this is a fascinating study of the poet, his era, and the creation of a myth' * Editor's Choice for the Good Book Guide *
Jones's shocking 1990 biography is updated but is still the myth-buster to beat all myth-busters * Sunday Herald *
This closely observed account of the poet and his privileged milieu is an absorbing read * The Independent *
