Literary Essays: Lytton Strachey's Finest Critical Essays on Shakespeare and English Letter Writers

by Lytton Strachey

A companion volume to Biographical Essays, this collection of twenty-five pieces includes two of Strachey's finest critical essays, "Shakespeare's Final Period" and "English Letter Writers." Index.

Genres: Essays, Literary Criticism

308 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

Giles Lytton Strachey was a British writer and critic. He is best known for establishing a new form of biography in which psychological insight and sympathy are combined with irreverence and wit. His 1921 biography Queen Victoria was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

Reviews

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know if any of you are familiar with Lytton Strachey, a member of the well-known Strachey family of London whose members include John, who became one of the earliest interpreters of Freud's theories, and Julia, Pearl, and other eminences in addition to Lytton. However, if you've not read any of Lytton's work I strongly suggest you do so. Famous for his method in writing biography, Strachey is memorable for his style, which is never less than perfect. Even when writing about what would seem the driest of subjects, he can keep the reader moving along, marveling at the grace of the prose.

In this book of essays about authors and their letters, books, and poetry Strachey takes us from Shakespeare through the sedate and enlightened 18th century, and finishes with Keats, Shelley, Byron, and Lamb. HIs knowledge of both English and French literature amazed me; as I read I found myself regretting that I'd not studied harder when I took French in high school and that I didn't study it in college. Strachey includes a great many quotes from French authors and poets that I was unable to understand. O, ignorance!!

Each of these essays is excellent, and if you've read any of the authors and works being discussed you're certain to learn a great deal from the texts. And when you've completed your reading of this book you will I think, like me, hunger for more.

Oh, dear! I've forgotten to mention that Lytton Strachey was among Virginia Woolf's closest friends, and was an early member of the Bloomsbury group. He died, sadly, in 1932 at a relatively young age, of gastric carcinoma. Although Strachey was most clearly homosexual, the artist, Carrington, had dedicated her life to him and maintained their home, Ham Spray. Week or two after Lytton's death, the young Carrington committed suicide; apparently she wasn't able to face life without him.

[Eric Byrd · Rating 4 out of 5]

The NYRB Classics should bundle these two volumes. Very entertaining.