From Library Journal:
This second biographical volume on Robert Graves, written by his nephew Richard, is essential and informative for anyone who wishes to understand Graves's life and work. During the years covered Robert wrote his successful Goodbye to All That; I, Claudius; Lawrence and the Arabs; and Collected Poems. He also began a 14-year literary association and complicated personal relationship with Laura Riding, a young American poet of distinction and originality, which resulted in much of the most distinguished work by both of them. Richard Graves bases his balanced, objective account on massive documentation, including diaries, personal memoirs, portraits, photographs, collections of papers, correspondence, and eyewitness contacts. Riding is given her due, but in the end is seen as highly manipulative, a woman who was "first Graves' salvation, but ultimately came close to destroying him." This book is a follow-up to The Assault Heroic: 1895-1926 ( LJ 12/15/86). A third and final volume is promised; judging by its predecessors, one can anticipate a careful, painstaking, graceful, and sympathetic biography of the first and finest order. For Graves's own writing, see Robert Graves's Between Moon and Moon and Poems About War, reviewed in this issue, p. 91.--Ed.
- Addie Lee Bracy, Atwood Lib., Beaver Coll., Glenside, Pa.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Publishers Weekly:
This incisively told, compelling story focuses on the passionate relationship between two leading poets of our time, Robert Graves and Laura Riding. A sequel to Robert Graves: The Assault Heroic 1895-1926 , it begins with the slightly shell-shocked WW I veteran Graves, a close friend of T. E. Lawrence, setting off for a teaching stint in Egypt accompanied by his wife and Laura, a menage a trois. The Mallorca years follow, a period that sees the production of much of Graves's best work, including Good-bye to All That , I, Claudius and Collected Poems ; the breakup of his marriage; and finally the defection of his fiery (also bossy) muse. Richard Graves writes of his uncle with cool objectivity, letting the emotionally and intellectually surcharged facts speak for themselves. Readers will look forward to the concluding volume of the trilogy. Photos.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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