Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This is probably one of the most useless biographies of Rochester in print. The bibliography is rather dismal and, while the scholarship is adequate, there is nothing available in it that cannot be better found in Greene's Lord Rochester's Monkey or The Debt to Pleasure.
Most galling is the author's chronic harping on Rochester's alcoholism as a means to understand his verse. Last time I was in any institution of higher learning, fanciful modern analysis did not equate to literary criticism. Yes, we all know Rochester was a prodigious drinker in a time of prodigious drinkers. Lamb goes on for pages as though explaining what portion of the AA banner Rochester falls under can really pinpoint his genius. He forgets that the 17th century was a world of drink. Farmers started their day with a pound of bacon and pints of small beer. When observed in context with his time, Lamb utterly fails to make his case, saying more about himself, perhaps, than Rochester.
While his "findings" may have some small merit, they are not by any means the 'way' to either understand Rochester in the context of his world, or his poetry, which is transcendent of time, drink, or illness, venereal or otherwise.
Worse, there is a smug misogeny throughout the entire volume that set my teeth completely on edge. Lamb refers to "female students" and "women readers" with a condescension that is deplorable. His editor should be catisgated for not expurging such passages. I do not recall that gender had any bearing on scholarly literary analysis.
All in all, as a serious student of Rochester's poetry, I was insulted and felt swindled by a book that purports to be a biography and reads like a 12-step advertisement.
Pass on this and instead, read Lord Rochester's Monkey and The Debt to Pleasure. This is a waste of money.
Click Here to see more reviews about: So Idle a Rogue: The Life and Death of Lord Rochester
One of the brightest and most outrageous luminaries at the court of Charles II, he was to drink himself to death by the age of 33. Famous for the obscenity of his amorous poems, he may also penned some of the most moving, witty and lyrical love poetry of all time. Lamb rescues the man who blazed through his short life in glory and tragedy, genius and despair.
Click here for more information about So Idle a Rogue: The Life and Death of Lord Rochester
No comments:
Post a Comment