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Richard Aldington
Vivien Whelpton
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Description for Richard Aldington
Paperback. A new and insightful biography of the war poet and novelist Richard Aldington, exploring his pre-war, wartime and post-war experiences, writings and relationships. Num Pages: 414 pages, 59 Black & White. BIC Classification: BGL. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 234 x 156 x 23. Weight in Grams: 654.
This is a literary biography of Richard Aldington, founding member of the Imagist Movement, poet of the First World War, author of 'Death of a Hero' and a biography of D.H. Lawrence. Aldington's is an extraordinary human story dealing with contemporary issues, such as confrontation of sexual mores of the day and the impact of his soldier experience on his life and work. There hasn't been a recent biography of Aldington, the only one of the war poets not to have one. With the interest in the First World War increasing as we near the centenary, the time is right ... Read morefor this book. This biography explores the relationships of Aldington with other prominent literary figures: Ezra Pound, Herbert Read, T.S. Eliot, D.H. Lawrence, and his unsuccessful marriage with H.D. This first instalment of a hopefully two-volume biography covers Aldington's life and work up to 1929. It investigates the years 1911-1915 in which Aldington helped found Modernism and formed relationships with other Modernists, the years 1916-19 when his life fell apart after his soldier experience, the years 1920-28 when he tried to re-establish his literary career, laid the foundations of modern literary criticism, and his writing of Death of a Hero at the end of the decade, a blistering attack on all that had made the war possible. Offical Blurb: The story of Richard Aldington, outstanding Imagist poet and author of the bestselling war novel, Death of a Hero (1929), takes place against the backdrop of some of the most turbulent and creative years of the twentieth century. Vivien Whelpton provides a remarkably detailed and sensitive portrayal of the writer from early adolescence. His life as a stalwart of the pre-war London literary scene, as a soldier, and in the difficult aftermath of the First World War is deftly rendered through a careful and detailed analysis of the novels, poems and letters of the writer himself and his close circle of acquaintance. The complexities of London's Bohemia, with its scandalous relationships, social grandstanding and incredible creative output, are masterfully untangled, and the spotlight placed firmly on the talented group of poets christened by Ezra Pound as 'Imagistes'. The author demonstrates profound psychological insight into Aldington's character and childhood in her nuanced analysis of his post-war survivor's guilt, and consideration of the three most influential women in his life: his wife, the gifted American poet, H.D.; Dorothy Yorke, the woman he left her for; and Brigit Patmore, his brilliant and fascinating older mistress.Richard Aldington: Poet, Soldier and Lover vividly reveals Aldington's warm and passionate nature and the vitality which characterised his life and works, concluding with his triumphant personal and literary resurrection with the publication of Death of a Hero. Show Less
Product Details
Publisher
James Clarke & Co Ltd United Kingdom
Place of Publication
Cambridge, United Kingdom
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 15 to 20 working days
About Vivien Whelpton
A retired teacher of English and Media Studies with a special interest in the literature of the First World War, Vivien Whelpton has published journal articles and monographs in this field and conducted battlefield tours. She is an active member of: The Guild of Battlefield Guides; The Western Front Association; The War Poets Association; The Wilfred Owen Association (currently a ... Read moremember of the sub-committee planning the International Wilfred Owen Conference in 2018); The Siegfried Sassoon Fellowship; The Biographers' Club and The Gallipoli Association. Show Less
Reviews for Richard Aldington
"... To describe Aldington as a complicated individual is an understatement, and to call his relationships with other people complex is equally inadequate. It is one of the strengths of Whelpton's biography that she examines these complexities with great patience, clarity and objectivity... Whelpton is scrupulous in distinguishing between documented fact and fictionalized reconstruction and hypothesis... To read this biography ... Read moreis to be convicted that Aldington still deserves and important place in the history of English literature and literary life of the twentieth century. Vivien Whelpton has thus written a challenging book about an author most publishers still prefer to ignore, and Lutterworth Press is to be congratulated for publishing it" Adrian Barlow, The Use of English, Vol. 65 N. 3 Summer 2014 "Whelpton has done her own research. She gives a good sense of the complexities of this and Aldington's many other relationships." Robert Crawford, in "London Review of Books", vol.37, issue 2, 22 January 2015 "This is an absorbing and thorough discussion of Aldington's life and work, and illuminates the cultural life of London throughout the period.[...]The research is thorough and presented with a remarkably light touch, considering the level of detail here. Vivien Whelpton is to be congratulated on a very substantial achievement in a book which will long resonate with its readers." Alliance Of Literary Society Newsletter, Summer 2014 "This is a skilfully written biography. The writer displays a huge knowledge of the life of her subject and a very good grasp of the contemporary literature and other artistic expressions of the age." Marysa Demoor, English Literature in Transition vol 58 issue 4, 2015 "Whelpton's account is formidably thorough, and a valuable addition to the biographical resources previously available to the Aldington scholar; it will also be useful to students of the First World War, modernist literature and the early twentieth century...Vivien Whelpton has made an important contribution to Aldington scholarship, and I await the proposed volumes detailing Aldington's early and late years with interest." Andrew Frayn, New Canterbury Literary Society News, Vol. 43, Issue 1, Spring 2015 Show Less