Author Description

Product Description In this informative new biography of Arthur Symons (1865-1945), the first since 1963, Karl Beckson mines much previously unpublished material to reveal new dimensions of Symon's life and art. As a critic and poet, Symons was a important influence in the development of early Modernism inEngland, and the impact of his major work, The Symbolist Movement in Literature (1899), and his personal relationships with such figures as Walter Pater, Paul Verlaine, W.B. Yeats, Joseph Conrad, and James Joyce, have assured him an important place in literary history. At the time of his mentalbreakdown in 1908--here told in harrowing detail--Yeats called him "the best critic of his generation." This stunning biography provides not only an account of Symons's career that confirms Yeats's judgment, but also the fullest record of his life to date. Review ' Professor Beckson captures all of the magic of the man, his friends, his period, his short, terrifying madness and his long, sober recovery... in a well-balanced biography which provides at last a wreath worthy to be laid with pride on a small grave at Wittersham.' Contemporary Review' a vivid picture of the man, his era and his contribution to it.' The Times Literary Supplement' unravelling what Symons wrote... this colossally difficult task Beckson has addressed with extraordinary competence and clarity, and anyone concerned with Symons's writing will be permanently indebted to him for this' Durham University Journal' This is a useful book, almost a guide to the Nineties' Notes and Queries'Beckson writes well about Pater and Symons, and this book is filled with careful scholarship.' Notes and Queries'definitive biography... The years of preparation have resulted in a biography that is scrupulously detailed and yet concise.' Peter Faulkner, University of Exeter. Modern Language Review About the Author Karl Beckson, Professor of English, Brooklyn College, City University of New York.