John Gay: A Profession of Friendship

by David Nokes

This major biography is the first full-length life of John Gay (1685-1732) for over fifty years. David Nokes's detailed and extensive research has unearthed several new discoveries, including hitherto unpublished letters, and possible attributions. Presenting Gay as a complex character, torn
between the hopes of court preferment and the assertion of literary independence, this book is at once a lively and readable biography for the non-specialist, as well as a comprehensive and scholarly study.

578 pages, Hardcover

First published April 13, 1995

About the author

A scholar of 18th-century English literature, David Nokes, FRSL, was Professor of English Literature at King's College London. He attended King's College School, Wimbledon, London. He received an MA from Christ's College, Cambridge in 1972 and a Ph.D. in 1974.

Reviews

[Willy Marz Thiessam]

A good biography about a tragic success.