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This Long Pursuit: Reflections of a Romantic Biographer
A confessional chronicle and pilgrimage that takes biographer Richard Holmes across three centuries, through much of Europe and into both his intellectual passions as well as the lively company of many earlier biographers. Central to his book is a powerful evocation of the lives of women – both scientific and literary.
‘If our world is to be saved, we must understand it both scientifically and imaginatively’. So writes biographer Richard Holmes in This Long Pursuit, a kaleidoscope of stories and meditations in which he revisits two hundred working notebooks, and celebrates his beloved art of biography, calling it the vital ‘handshake across time, cultures, beliefs, disciplines and genders.
Ranging widely over art, science and poetry, Holmes confesses to a lifetime’s obsession with his Romantic subjects – a pursuit or pilgrimage of the heart that takes him across three centuries, through much of Europe and into the lively company of many earlier biographers.
Central to this quest is a powerful and tender evocation of the lives of women, both scientific and literary – some well-known and some almost lost: Margaret Cavendish, Mary Somerville, Germaine de Staël, Mary Wollstonecraft and the Dutch intellectual, Zèlide.
The book also reviews the controversial reputations of some favourite Romantic figures: the love-stunned Keats, the water-logged poet Shelley, the chocolate-box painter Thomas Lawrence, the opium-soaked genius Coleridge, and the mad-visionary bard, William Blake.
The diversity of Holmes’s material is testimony to his empathy, his erudition and his enquiring spirit; and also sometimes to his mischief. He offers a unique insider’s account of a biographer at work: travelling, teaching, researching, fantasising, forgetting, and even ballooning. From this great chronicler of the Romantics now comes a chronicle of himself and his intellectual passions. This Long Pursuit contains his most personal and seductive writing.
‘If our world is to be saved, we must understand it both scientifically and imaginatively’. So writes biographer Richard Holmes in This Long Pursuit, a kaleidoscope of stories and meditations in which he revisits two hundred working notebooks, and celebrates his beloved art of biography, calling it the vital ‘handshake across time, cultures, beliefs, disciplines and genders.
Ranging widely over art, science and poetry, Holmes confesses to a lifetime’s obsession with his Romantic subjects – a pursuit or pilgrimage of the heart that takes him across three centuries, through much of Europe and into the lively company of many earlier biographers.
Central to this quest is a powerful and tender evocation of the lives of women, both scientific and literary – some well-known and some almost lost: Margaret Cavendish, Mary Somerville, Germaine de Staël, Mary Wollstonecraft and the Dutch intellectual, Zèlide.
The book also reviews the controversial reputations of some favourite Romantic figures: the love-stunned Keats, the water-logged poet Shelley, the chocolate-box painter Thomas Lawrence, the opium-soaked genius Coleridge, and the mad-visionary bard, William Blake.
The diversity of Holmes’s material is testimony to his empathy, his erudition and his enquiring spirit; and also sometimes to his mischief. He offers a unique insider’s account of a biographer at work: travelling, teaching, researching, fantasising, forgetting, and even ballooning. From this great chronicler of the Romantics now comes a chronicle of himself and his intellectual passions. This Long Pursuit contains his most personal and seductive writing.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published March 7, 2017
About the author
Richard Holmes
31 books263 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
See this thread for more information.
Biographer Richard Holmes was born in London, England on 5 November 1945 and educated at Downside School and Churchill College, Cambridge. His first book, Shelley:The Pursuit, was published in 1974 and won a Somerset Maugham Award. The first volume of his biography of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Coleridge: Early Visions, was published in 1989 and won the Whitbread Book of the Year award. Dr Johnson & Mr Savage (1993), an account of Johnson's undocumented friendship with the notorious poet Richard Savage, won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for biography) in 1993. The second volume of his study of Coleridge, Coleridge: Darker Reflections, was published in 1998. It won the Duff Cooper Prize, the Heinemann Award and was shortlisted for the first Samuel Johnson Prize awarded in 1999.
Richard Holmes writes and reviews regularly for various journals and newspapers, including the New York Review of Books. His most recent book, Sidetracks: Explorations of a Romantic Biographer (2000), continues the exploration of his own highly original biographical method that he first wrote about in Footsteps: Adventures of a Romantic Biographer (1985). He is also editor of a new series of editions of classic English biographies that includes work by Samuel Johnson, Daniel Defoe and William Godwin.
His latest book, The Age of Wonder (2008), is an examination of the life and work of the scientists of the Romantic age who laid the foundations of modern science. It was shortlisted for the 2009 Samuel Johnson Prize.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Fellow of the British Academy and was awarded an OBE in 1992. He was awarded an honorary Litt.D. in 2000 by the University of East Anglia, where he was appointed Professor of Biographical Studies in September 2001.
See this thread for more information.
Biographer Richard Holmes was born in London, England on 5 November 1945 and educated at Downside School and Churchill College, Cambridge. His first book, Shelley:The Pursuit, was published in 1974 and won a Somerset Maugham Award. The first volume of his biography of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Coleridge: Early Visions, was published in 1989 and won the Whitbread Book of the Year award. Dr Johnson & Mr Savage (1993), an account of Johnson's undocumented friendship with the notorious poet Richard Savage, won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for biography) in 1993. The second volume of his study of Coleridge, Coleridge: Darker Reflections, was published in 1998. It won the Duff Cooper Prize, the Heinemann Award and was shortlisted for the first Samuel Johnson Prize awarded in 1999.
Richard Holmes writes and reviews regularly for various journals and newspapers, including the New York Review of Books. His most recent book, Sidetracks: Explorations of a Romantic Biographer (2000), continues the exploration of his own highly original biographical method that he first wrote about in Footsteps: Adventures of a Romantic Biographer (1985). He is also editor of a new series of editions of classic English biographies that includes work by Samuel Johnson, Daniel Defoe and William Godwin.
His latest book, The Age of Wonder (2008), is an examination of the life and work of the scientists of the Romantic age who laid the foundations of modern science. It was shortlisted for the 2009 Samuel Johnson Prize.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Fellow of the British Academy and was awarded an OBE in 1992. He was awarded an honorary Litt.D. in 2000 by the University of East Anglia, where he was appointed Professor of Biographical Studies in September 2001.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
November 14, 2016
I hesitate to say it but I know this review, and by extension this book, will be of interest to a very few selection of people. Not many study Romanticism, and those that do don’t often look into the lives of one of its foremost modern biographers. That being said though, I do recommend this book to any interested in the art of writing biography and the Romantic poets it discusses. So if that’s you, please continue and hear my praise for my favourite biographer.
Whenever I write on an author for an essay I always buy or make reference to at least two biographies. I find it helps to understand the text when you can see the position the author wrote it from; it allows you to interpret it and put it into context. Many biographies are dreadfully dull, some even excruciatingly so. I suppose it depends on how interesting the subject of the biographies life is but that being said an exciting life can be made dull if it’s told in dry prose.
The point is Richard Holmes is my favourite biographer. I love the way he writes. He puts as much attention to detail in his work as you’d expect to see in an actual novel. With him it’s more than a simple recounting of facts; it’s a narrative eloquently told by a man who has researched his topic to death. He travels in the footsteps of the men he writes on; he visits the locations of their deaths and where they spent their days, and because of this his writing is rich in expression and feeling.
‘If our world is to be saved, we must understand it both scientifically and imaginatively’
His biography on Shelley is stunning. I do have a few problems with aspects of it such as the way he considers the poet’s vegetarianism as “cranky” and slightly estranged. He never fully explores the full impact of it on his intellectual process. Few biographers rarely do; it is often overlooked, but it was a huge part of the poet’s psyche and political belief. Not many see it. This, however, is an autobiography of the man behind the work. He includes many essays, some previously published, on the Romantic poets- Shelley, Keats, Blake and Coleridge included. It’s a deeply personal book.
Whenever I write on an author for an essay I always buy or make reference to at least two biographies. I find it helps to understand the text when you can see the position the author wrote it from; it allows you to interpret it and put it into context. Many biographies are dreadfully dull, some even excruciatingly so. I suppose it depends on how interesting the subject of the biographies life is but that being said an exciting life can be made dull if it’s told in dry prose.
The point is Richard Holmes is my favourite biographer. I love the way he writes. He puts as much attention to detail in his work as you’d expect to see in an actual novel. With him it’s more than a simple recounting of facts; it’s a narrative eloquently told by a man who has researched his topic to death. He travels in the footsteps of the men he writes on; he visits the locations of their deaths and where they spent their days, and because of this his writing is rich in expression and feeling.
‘If our world is to be saved, we must understand it both scientifically and imaginatively’
His biography on Shelley is stunning. I do have a few problems with aspects of it such as the way he considers the poet’s vegetarianism as “cranky” and slightly estranged. He never fully explores the full impact of it on his intellectual process. Few biographers rarely do; it is often overlooked, but it was a huge part of the poet’s psyche and political belief. Not many see it. This, however, is an autobiography of the man behind the work. He includes many essays, some previously published, on the Romantic poets- Shelley, Keats, Blake and Coleridge included. It’s a deeply personal book.
December 25, 2016
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b084w3lg
Description: A meditation on the art of biography from a master of the genre. Ranging widely over art, science and poetry, Richard Holmes confesses to a lifetime's obsession with his Romantic subjects - a pursuit and pilgrimage that takes him across three centuries, through much of Europe and into the lively company of many earlier biographers.
In this first episode he sets out his two rules of biography. Firstly, the importance of following in the footsteps of his subjects - where they grew up, where they worked, lived, traveled and died. And secondly, the habit of double entry note-keeping - separating the facts from the speculations.
The diversity of Holmes's material is testimony to his empathy, his erudition and his enquiring spirit - and also sometimes to his mischief. He offers a unique insider's account of a biographer at work, traveling, teaching, researching, fantasising, remembering.
4* The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science
3* Falling Upwards: How We Took to the Air
3* This Long Pursuit: Reflections of a Romantic Biographer
April 30, 2017
This was marvelous, but, as always when I "read with my ears" (a perfect expression I stole from a friend!), I'm finding it hard to express Why I loved it.
Holmes really captured me at the fourth essay/chapter, which is on memory (and, appropriately, titled "Forgetting"), but the earlier pieces, on various aspects of his work as a biographer -- "Travelling," "Experimenting," "Teaching" -- were already quite engaging. He really helped me appreciate the art of biography writing, and the later chapters, in which he offers "mini biographies" of Romantic era figures and illustrates how various biographers have shaped our understanding of them, delightfully illustrate the points he makes in the early ones.
He profiles five Romantic era women and five men: Margaret Cavendish, Zelide, Madame de Stael, Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Somerville, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Thomas Lawrence, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and William Blake. My interest flagged a bit during the chapters on Zelide and Madame de Stael, but otherwise I found them all fascinating. While I was quite familiar with several of the figures going in, Holmes's deep knowledge of this period, combined with his knack for the well chosen story, held my interest even for the often told stories of Shelley's drowning and Keats's tubercular demise. His focus, on how these lives have been handled by biographers, as well as on the efforts, motivations, and trials of the biographers themselves, provides an intriguing and unusual perspective. A delightful book, and one which should add another level of appreciation to my reading of biographies in the future!
Holmes really captured me at the fourth essay/chapter, which is on memory (and, appropriately, titled "Forgetting"), but the earlier pieces, on various aspects of his work as a biographer -- "Travelling," "Experimenting," "Teaching" -- were already quite engaging. He really helped me appreciate the art of biography writing, and the later chapters, in which he offers "mini biographies" of Romantic era figures and illustrates how various biographers have shaped our understanding of them, delightfully illustrate the points he makes in the early ones.
He profiles five Romantic era women and five men: Margaret Cavendish, Zelide, Madame de Stael, Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Somerville, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Thomas Lawrence, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and William Blake. My interest flagged a bit during the chapters on Zelide and Madame de Stael, but otherwise I found them all fascinating. While I was quite familiar with several of the figures going in, Holmes's deep knowledge of this period, combined with his knack for the well chosen story, held my interest even for the often told stories of Shelley's drowning and Keats's tubercular demise. His focus, on how these lives have been handled by biographers, as well as on the efforts, motivations, and trials of the biographers themselves, provides an intriguing and unusual perspective. A delightful book, and one which should add another level of appreciation to my reading of biographies in the future!
October 19, 2016
A birthday present to myself: one of my most beloved scholars. Well, his latest tome, anyway!
I really loved this, as someone who has read Holmes' major biographies, and as someone who is fascinated by literary biography. If you are either or both, I recommend you gobble up this deliciousness just as soon as you can.
I really loved this, as someone who has read Holmes' major biographies, and as someone who is fascinated by literary biography. If you are either or both, I recommend you gobble up this deliciousness just as soon as you can.
December 11, 2016
From BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week:
A meditation on the art of biography from a master of the genre. Ranging widely over art, science and poetry, Richard Holmes confesses to a lifetime's obsession with his Romantic subjects - a pursuit and pilgrimage that takes him across three centuries, through much of Europe and into the lively company of many earlier biographers.
In this first episode he sets out his two rules of biography. Firstly, the importance of following in the footsteps of his subjects - where they grew up, where they worked, lived, travelled and died. And secondly, the habit of double entry notekeeping - separating the facts from the speculations.
The diversity of Holmes's material is testimony to his empathy, his erudition and his enquiring spirit - and also sometimes to his mischief. He offers a unique insider's account of a biographer at work, travelling, teaching, researching, fantasising, remembering.
Written by Richard Holmes
Read by Patrick Malahide
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b084w3lg
A meditation on the art of biography from a master of the genre. Ranging widely over art, science and poetry, Richard Holmes confesses to a lifetime's obsession with his Romantic subjects - a pursuit and pilgrimage that takes him across three centuries, through much of Europe and into the lively company of many earlier biographers.
In this first episode he sets out his two rules of biography. Firstly, the importance of following in the footsteps of his subjects - where they grew up, where they worked, lived, travelled and died. And secondly, the habit of double entry notekeeping - separating the facts from the speculations.
The diversity of Holmes's material is testimony to his empathy, his erudition and his enquiring spirit - and also sometimes to his mischief. He offers a unique insider's account of a biographer at work, travelling, teaching, researching, fantasising, remembering.
Written by Richard Holmes
Read by Patrick Malahide
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b084w3lg
March 17, 2018
Really 4.5 stars. The third - and latest as of this date - in a series of autobiographical biographical sketches by the foremost Romantic biographer of his generation. The first five sketches tackle travelling to the remote sites where his subjects made some of their poetic discoveries, teaching biography, the experimenting of his subjects, remembering and forgetting in biography, and the background on his exploration of the origins of ballooning. The middle five sketches restore the reputations of five Romantic women: Magaret Cavendish, Zelide, Madame de Stael, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Mary Somerville with suitable insights into the craft of biography. The final five - and my personal favorite - are the examinations of the biographical afterlives of Keats, Shelley, Thomas Lawrence, Coleridge, and Blake. How did Keats come to be remembered and placed in the pantheon of poets? Finally, and at last, how and why did Shelley die? Why should we ultimately remember Coleridge's literary lectures as triumphs rather than the disasters they have always been claimed to be? And how was William Blake's reputation established by an obscure Victorian biographer who died before he could write the bulk of the biography and gather most of the disparate primary materials? Holmes triumphs yet again in revealing hidden corners of hidden authors, bringing to light the hidden truths of biography. If you loved Footsteps and Sidetracks, this is essential. Or if any of the above subjects interest you, those chapters at the very least are required reading.
June 18, 2017
The master biographer Richard Holmes provides some great insights on the nature and art of biography. These were my favorite parts of the book. As a biographer myself, I took lots of notes and did quite a bit of underlining. In the second half of the book, he includes a series of short biographical sketches on people such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Blake, and Mary Wollstonecraft. I got the impression that these were notes he had compiled over the years -- not enough on each one person to constitute a book, but enough that he could throw together in this collection. As a result, the book has a hodgepodge tone.
January 16, 2018
Review in process.
May 9, 2018
I picked this up to read before visiting Keats and Shelley at the Protestant Cemetery in Rome -- though I'm not well-versed in Romantic poetry (or any poetry at all, really), I'm absolutely fascinated with the lives of the poets themselves. This book, the third in a trilogy of sorts, is part memoir, part meditation on the art of biography, and part collection of short biographical essays, and it was exactly what I wanted to read. In addition to the Keats and Shelley chapters, I particularly enjoyed essays on Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Somerville. Highly recommended, and I'm looking forward to diving into the rest of Holmes' oeuvre.
October 31, 2024
Massive fan of the man, who single handedly wrote the definitive biographies of both Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Percy Bysshe Shelley and the magisterial, unsurpassed chronicle of the enlightenment era in the West; The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science; this was a dream to read, the man recounts his own experiences, his writings and his life dedicated to historical biography.
February 23, 2018
This book sits with 'Footsteps' and 'Sidetracks', two earlier collections where Holmes explores the art of biography and his role in it. But he explores his art by performing it, so what you get are a series of essays. The first five offer insight into the earlier biographies. The second section contains works on five women, their biographies, their biographers and their reputations. Holmes follows his interest in the interaction between the Romantic poets and contemporary science, and the often forgotten role of women in both. The last section considers the after lives of Keats, Shelley, Coleridge, Blake and Thomas Lawrence.
If this sounds dry it isn't. Holmes can make the writing of Blake's first biography into a fascinating narrative. He rewrites Shelley's life by reconsidering his death and the effect it had on his biographers. The chapters on Margaret Cavendish and Mary Somerville not only illuminate the problems faced by intelligent women in a male dominated society (Mary Somerville couldn't attend university, but her first book became compulsory reading for undergraduates) but give credit where it's due.
The individual chapters can be read alone, for pleasure and information, but the whole book builds into a provocative reflection on the difficult art of biography.
I think I've read all the books this man has written and I've yet to read one I didn't like.
If this sounds dry it isn't. Holmes can make the writing of Blake's first biography into a fascinating narrative. He rewrites Shelley's life by reconsidering his death and the effect it had on his biographers. The chapters on Margaret Cavendish and Mary Somerville not only illuminate the problems faced by intelligent women in a male dominated society (Mary Somerville couldn't attend university, but her first book became compulsory reading for undergraduates) but give credit where it's due.
The individual chapters can be read alone, for pleasure and information, but the whole book builds into a provocative reflection on the difficult art of biography.
I think I've read all the books this man has written and I've yet to read one I didn't like.
December 4, 2017
Noted biographer (Shelly, Coleridge) continues to explore the "art and science" of biography in this memoir/biography. He is a wonderful writer in that the reader feels as if there were a wonderful conversation taking place.
In this book, Holmes explores how he has approached biography and, in writing about his master's class on biography, the nature of writing biography. It is interesting to think how a biography reflects the writer's point of view and time as much as the subject. For example, he writes about how Shelly's drowning is often an important element in biographies but Holmes, himself, chose not to cover it.
Blake was almost completely forgotten (and in fact hardly known in his lifetime), when Alexander Gilchrist came across his art and decided to write a biography. It is hard to imagine British school children not singing "Jerusalem," yet it was almost lost.
Holmes writes about several women who deserve to be resurrected. One in particular--Mary Somerville--wrote a popular science book for the general public--"On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences." The idea of a general science book was surprising, and one written by a woman even more so.
And so..I continue to read biographies!
In this book, Holmes explores how he has approached biography and, in writing about his master's class on biography, the nature of writing biography. It is interesting to think how a biography reflects the writer's point of view and time as much as the subject. For example, he writes about how Shelly's drowning is often an important element in biographies but Holmes, himself, chose not to cover it.
Blake was almost completely forgotten (and in fact hardly known in his lifetime), when Alexander Gilchrist came across his art and decided to write a biography. It is hard to imagine British school children not singing "Jerusalem," yet it was almost lost.
Holmes writes about several women who deserve to be resurrected. One in particular--Mary Somerville--wrote a popular science book for the general public--"On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences." The idea of a general science book was surprising, and one written by a woman even more so.
And so..I continue to read biographies!
June 19, 2017
A fascinating insight into the mind of the biographer and the relationship between biographer and subject, told through a series of snippets on the lives of a handful of notable men and women from the Romantic era. A worthwhile read for anyone interested in the art of biography and/or the lives of the Romantics.
June 18, 2017
An interesting exploration of various nineteenth century English poets, writers, and scientists. It's divided into parts - the first one contains essays mostly about Holmes' thinking as a biographer, the second is a group of essays about almost-forgotten women writers and intellectuals who did really amazing things we never hear about anymore, the third is a series of essays about specific English poets who have been misunderstood (Blake, Coleridge) or unexpectedly well-beloved (Keats) or misinterpreted (the death of Shelley). If you're not interested in literature, but are interested in the history of intelligent women, just read the middle section. Mary Somerville? Zélide? Madame de Staël? The essay on Mary Wollstonecraft jumps off from the controversy over her husband's memoir of her published after her death and whether it does her a disservice or not. I read his biography of Shelley (written when he wasn't even thirty) and found it even-handed and smart, so this caught my eye on Goodreads. It was worth my time.
June 16, 2017
Once I started this book, I believed I would probably never finish it. Nevertheless, Holmes's engaging style of writing, as well as the individuals he discussed from the Era of Romantic Poetry, held my attention over the course of a month. Make no mistake, this is a scholarly work. Indeed, I suspect it was drawn from Holmes's lectures over his career as a noted biographer. His ability to summarize how his various subjects had been treated by their biographers added greatly to my interest in finding out Holmes's "take" on each individual.
Of course, he treats of big names from the era--Keats, Shelley, Coleridge--but he's also drawn to women who were non-comformists, like Mary Wollstonecraft and Madame de Stael, and especially to women who excelled in science in that era that accorded little recognition.
This book was extremely well suited to my interests and tastes. Whether it will appeal to others is an open question.
Of course, he treats of big names from the era--Keats, Shelley, Coleridge--but he's also drawn to women who were non-comformists, like Mary Wollstonecraft and Madame de Stael, and especially to women who excelled in science in that era that accorded little recognition.
This book was extremely well suited to my interests and tastes. Whether it will appeal to others is an open question.
May 19, 2025
I knew of the high regard Holmes was held as a biographer but had never read anything he had written as his focus on the Romantic era doesn't align with my personal interest in late 19th and early 20th century culture. But I heard that this book, his third "autobiography", was especially good for those with an interest in writing biography so I checked it out.
Holmes awakened me to some things I had been missing. While he writes about himself and his pursuits in writing biographies, he also includes short biographies on different people, including several women (like every woman predating, maybe, now) whose contributions to science, writing, the arts, the world, were overlooked. He also looks at the evolvement of biography, examining how the perceptions of individuals change over time based on research and the era.
It's an incredibly fascinating book, both in content and structure, and has added some more books to my reading list.
Holmes awakened me to some things I had been missing. While he writes about himself and his pursuits in writing biographies, he also includes short biographies on different people, including several women (like every woman predating, maybe, now) whose contributions to science, writing, the arts, the world, were overlooked. He also looks at the evolvement of biography, examining how the perceptions of individuals change over time based on research and the era.
It's an incredibly fascinating book, both in content and structure, and has added some more books to my reading list.
October 21, 2025
I intended to read this tour de force by Richard Holmes almost a decade ago when it first appeared in the bookshops. Luckily, I did not. My appreciation of the author’s achievement is much greater than it would have been back then. Holmes’ understanding of the genre, after half-a-century of writing biographies, is nuanced and recognised by Ian McKewan in his latest novel, What We Can Know, which justly pays homage.
Holmes’ reflections on Robert Louis Stevenson, Coleridge & Blake in this book are particularly delightful and fascinating. I learnt a great deal about the history of writing about each. The chapter on the portrait painter Thomas Lawrence has come at just the right time (but that is another story).
There are few people I would like to chat with more than Holmes! In lieu of that, I look forward to reading his latest, The Boundless Deep, a biography of Tennyson!
Holmes’ reflections on Robert Louis Stevenson, Coleridge & Blake in this book are particularly delightful and fascinating. I learnt a great deal about the history of writing about each. The chapter on the portrait painter Thomas Lawrence has come at just the right time (but that is another story).
There are few people I would like to chat with more than Holmes! In lieu of that, I look forward to reading his latest, The Boundless Deep, a biography of Tennyson!
September 16, 2022
Holmes is an excellent biographer and his passion for his subjects is palpable. His reflections on the death of Shelley was inspired, and his weaving the narrative of many different historical peoples is engaging and expertly written. I came by way of his work by my Shelley-obsessed partner, whose thirst for Shelleyan biographers led him to Holmes' The Pursuit. He found in Holmes a brilliant biographer, and I have taken Holmes into my own collection with just as vehement an avidity. Holmes is truly a brilliant writer and lover of Shelley, and his careful and diligent detailing of the lives of Shelley, Wollstonecraft, Keats, Coleridge and many others, was an engaging reflection that I could not put down. I would highly recommend!
September 6, 2019
“Little is taught by contest or dispute, everything by sympathy and love”, Coleridge is quoted as saying at the start of this beautiful set of essays, sketches and miniature biographies. It’s familiar territory for Holmes - Romantic poets and the end of the fun when the Victorians show up - but here he adds some excellent insight into forgotten characters, many of them female, and it adds up to be a compelling meditation on memory itself:
“There is a goddess of memory, Mnemosyne; but none of Forgetting. Yet there should be, as they are twin sisters, twin powers, and walk on either side of us, disputing for sovereignty over us and who we are, all the way until death.”
“There is a goddess of memory, Mnemosyne; but none of Forgetting. Yet there should be, as they are twin sisters, twin powers, and walk on either side of us, disputing for sovereignty over us and who we are, all the way until death.”
May 4, 2023
So, I nearly didn’t give this five stars, despite the fact I thoroughly enjoyed it, as it was not quite one thing, nor another. It was in part a scamper through all the biographies that Richard Holmes has written and researched; part of history of biographies; and part musings on the art of biography. Because it was anecdotal in nature, good night, some of the academic rigour of Holmes’ purely biographical work. But my goodness it was excellent. And I now want to read about another 10 biographies, if not more.
July 31, 2023
Thoughtfully and interestingly written as a biographer of writers of the Romantic period reexamines his work and that of others. Divided in three parts, the first being his own methods and relations to the work, the second "Restorations" of important women of the period often overlooked. I found these especially interesting as Mary Wollstonecraft was the only one I know much about: Margaret Cavendish, Zelide, de Stael (I skimmed), and Mary Somerville were the others. "Afterlives" addressed Keats, Shelley, Thomas Lawrence (I skipped), Coleridge, and William Blake. Highly recommended!
June 26, 2017
Disclaimer: Goodreads giveaway.
This book is very different than my usual reads, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. A biographer (the author) gives us insight into what goes into writing biography (in his experience) - while also giving insight into other aspects of biography. He describes famous biographers' work, and also conglomerates different sources into a condensed biography. Very interesting, and very educational.
This book is very different than my usual reads, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. A biographer (the author) gives us insight into what goes into writing biography (in his experience) - while also giving insight into other aspects of biography. He describes famous biographers' work, and also conglomerates different sources into a condensed biography. Very interesting, and very educational.
July 29, 2017
I enjoyed this collection of reflections (and it is), especially the short biographical pieces on the Shelleys. For some reason I was hoping to read more about the process of the actual writing of the biography--not the research (which sounds fun), but the actual laying down of the track. I admire anyone who could endure what must be an extremely tedious exercise, at least at times.
January 30, 2018
Sir Richard Holmes considers the Romantic poets, scientists and their biographers, plus others (spoiler, women) who should have their stories told, while all the time telling his own story as a biographer who has been studiously freelance for most of his career. Niche but great. And surprisingly lightly and deftly written.
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August 1, 2022Richard Holmes was the first tutor at UEA to develop an MA course in biography and life writing. He developed his course based on his own experience of writing biographies and a close study of its development as a genre in its own right.
Fascinating to anyone who is interested in the writing of biography and the ways that it has been developed.
Fascinating to anyone who is interested in the writing of biography and the ways that it has been developed.
August 27, 2019
Excellent examination into the mind of a biographer - if you love literature, you will love this book. And it provides lots of ideas for further reading. I’m thinking next year I may read all biographies!
November 9, 2020
A nice collection of short pieces of a biographical nature. Holmes talks about writing biography, teaching biographical wiriting, and includes pieces mostly written for talks and lectures, concerning Mary Somerville, Margaret Cavendish, Keats, Blake, and Coleridge etc.
March 11, 2021
A discourse on the art of biography and, "a luminous testimony to Holme's empathy, erudition and inquiring spirit." Amen. Fascinating critiques of many author's works. See also: "The Age of Wonder" and "Falling Upward."
Want to Read
March 26, 2017NY Times book review 3/26/17
October 30, 2017
Great background on how to write a biography and very useful primer on the romantic period.
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