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A Profane Wit: The Life of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester
A biography of the poet and libertine the Earl of Rochester.
Of the glittering, licentious court around King Charles II, John Wilmot, the second Earl of Rochester, was the most notorious. Simultaneously admired and vilified, he personified the rake-hell. Libertine, profane, promiscuous, heshocked his pious contemporaries with his doubts about religion and his blunt verses that dealt with sex or vicious satiric assaults on the high and mighty of the court. This account of Rochester and his times provides the facts behind his legendary reputation as a rake and his deathbed repentance. However, it also demonstrates that he was a loving if unfaithful husband, a devoted father, a loyal friend, a serious scholar, a social critic, and an aspiring patriot.
An Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Rochester, James William Johnson is the author or editor of nine books and many articles treating British and American Literature.
Of the glittering, licentious court around King Charles II, John Wilmot, the second Earl of Rochester, was the most notorious. Simultaneously admired and vilified, he personified the rake-hell. Libertine, profane, promiscuous, heshocked his pious contemporaries with his doubts about religion and his blunt verses that dealt with sex or vicious satiric assaults on the high and mighty of the court. This account of Rochester and his times provides the facts behind his legendary reputation as a rake and his deathbed repentance. However, it also demonstrates that he was a loving if unfaithful husband, a devoted father, a loyal friend, a serious scholar, a social critic, and an aspiring patriot.
An Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Rochester, James William Johnson is the author or editor of nine books and many articles treating British and American Literature.
478 pages, Hardcover
First published January 11, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 23, 2014
I'll be honest, here: I LIKE boys. By 'boys,' however, I truly mean 'men,' so let there be no misunderstanding, but sometimes I prefer to refer to the bad ones as 'boys' as in the old standby, "bad boys." There is something about bad boys that redeems them, and in spite of everything bad about the subject of James William Johnson's biography of the Earl of Rochester, there is good, too.
This was a case of movie-sparks-an-interest-in-true-story, and after catching Johnny Depp's performance in The Libertine, my curiosity was piqued. Just who was this earl, and was he truly as bad as what Depp depicts him? While A Profane Wit sometimes reads like a textbook -- lots of history, and the spark must come from the student -- the history was necessary, or at least for this student, me. So little I know of the period of Charles II, aside from what we do get from our textbooks or coursework, or a film here and there.
Enjoyed A Profane Wit as much, or more, than what Depp even portrayed in the film, largely in part because I always find myself rallying for an underdog, and the Earl of Rochester, in spite of his wealth and position, was an underdog -- if only to the rank of his King, Charles II. But, the earl accomplishes much, if only in getting across that while he may be 'bad,' he does have revealing qualities, the least of which is hardly that he is brilliant. He is. This Libertine thinks circles around the circles into which his class and station often confine him.
For the history buff, a good read. For the women who like 'bad boys,' a great read.
This was a case of movie-sparks-an-interest-in-true-story, and after catching Johnny Depp's performance in The Libertine, my curiosity was piqued. Just who was this earl, and was he truly as bad as what Depp depicts him? While A Profane Wit sometimes reads like a textbook -- lots of history, and the spark must come from the student -- the history was necessary, or at least for this student, me. So little I know of the period of Charles II, aside from what we do get from our textbooks or coursework, or a film here and there.
Enjoyed A Profane Wit as much, or more, than what Depp even portrayed in the film, largely in part because I always find myself rallying for an underdog, and the Earl of Rochester, in spite of his wealth and position, was an underdog -- if only to the rank of his King, Charles II. But, the earl accomplishes much, if only in getting across that while he may be 'bad,' he does have revealing qualities, the least of which is hardly that he is brilliant. He is. This Libertine thinks circles around the circles into which his class and station often confine him.
For the history buff, a good read. For the women who like 'bad boys,' a great read.
June 25, 2016
Rochester has been ill-served by biographers to date so this is a welcome scholarly life which places John Wilmot at the centre of Restoration culture and mores. Johnson `reads' Rochester's life from a range of primary sources, and is particularly good at drawing a convincing narrative from the various letters which circulated between Rochester and his wife, and his libertine friends.
This isn't perfect and depends on some rather old-fashioned frameworks: Freudian readings, for example, that posit various older men as father-substitutes for Rochester; a dependency on modern paradigms of sexuality (`homosexual', `bisexual') in a culture with a more fluid and less fixed understanding of `sexuality' than ours; reading poetic texts as if they're bits of autobiography, almost snippets from a secret diary bequeathed to us.
Despite these flaws, however, the overall work is so well-written, so rich in atmosphere, detail and empathy, that it's easy to forgive the minor niggles.
This isn't perfect and depends on some rather old-fashioned frameworks: Freudian readings, for example, that posit various older men as father-substitutes for Rochester; a dependency on modern paradigms of sexuality (`homosexual', `bisexual') in a culture with a more fluid and less fixed understanding of `sexuality' than ours; reading poetic texts as if they're bits of autobiography, almost snippets from a secret diary bequeathed to us.
Despite these flaws, however, the overall work is so well-written, so rich in atmosphere, detail and empathy, that it's easy to forgive the minor niggles.
November 14, 2019
This had stretches of tedium, but it is the best biography of Rochester one can hope for. It is not as Freudian as I feared. The life is fully told, the poetry less so.
October 21, 2012
Rochester was a rake, a douche, and an amazing wit. Because of the wit, it's possible to forgive his outlandish behavior. (Or...at least some of it.) I think of Rochester as the gateway drug that turned me on to Dryden.
This is very thorough scholarship, very well placed in history...and very dry. It took me ages to finish, because I kept putting it aside to read other books. It's a very useful biography, but not for the easily distracted, the faint of heart, or the Restoration dilettante, which I am -- I had to do a lot of side research to really understand what was going on.
This is very thorough scholarship, very well placed in history...and very dry. It took me ages to finish, because I kept putting it aside to read other books. It's a very useful biography, but not for the easily distracted, the faint of heart, or the Restoration dilettante, which I am -- I had to do a lot of side research to really understand what was going on.
July 9, 2009
The narrative and the facts are excellent, but a psychosexual approach is so antiquated that some of the insights are ridiculous
August 27, 2011
A Genius pure and simple :) wilmot is the comedian with a conscience of the Early modern period :) If you ever have the wits to realise what the sub-text is ;)
Want to read
July 26, 2015Rochester is such a badass. I reaaaaally need to read this.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews