'What had happened to the lost manuscripts, what train of chances took Rolfe to his death in Venice? The Quest continued'
One summer afternoon A.J.A. Symons is handed a peculiar, eccentric novel that he cannot forget and, captivated by this unknown masterpiece, determines to learn everything he can about its mysterious author. The object of his search is Frederick Rolfe, self-titled Baron Corvo - artist, rejected candidate for priesthood and author of serially autobiographical fictions - and its story is told in this 'experiment in biography': a beguiling portrait of an insoluble tangle of talents, frustrated ambitions and self-destruction.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
Part detective story, part spiritual journey, and part meditation on biography. Steeped in arcane learning, queer encounters, and fanciful symbolist prose, it is a very peculiar operation indeed, leaving he reader unconvinced that there was ever such a real person as Frederick Rolfe - or, possibly, his biographer -- Hermione Lee A slender book, an odd book, a completely original book ... a masterpiece * Wall Street Journal * One of the genre's most notable - if also quirkiest - triumphs * New Criterion * Extraordinary ... a new template for twentieth-century biography * Times Literary Supplement *
Reihe
Sprache
Verlagsort
Dateigröße
ISBN-13
978-0-241-31300-8 (9780241313008)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
The short life of A.J.A. Symons (1900-41) was described by his biographer as an intricate and largely harmless confidence trick. His many interests included the collection of musical boxes and rare books as well as the study and practice of forgery; they left him time to edit an anthology of Edwardian verse and compose studies of H.M. Stanley and other notable figures. He is remembered for The Quest for Corvo, one of the most remarkable biographies ever written, and for co-founding the Wine and Food Society.
