Books in the Wiley Blackwell Critical Biographies series

W.B. Yeats is widely regarded as the greatest English-language poet of the twentieth century. This new critical biography seeks to tell the story of his life as it unfolded in the various contexts in which Yeats worked as an artist and as public figure.

The Life of Robert Frost presents a unique and rich approach to the poet that includes original genealogical research concerning Frost s ancestors, and a demonstration of how mental illness plagued the Frost family and heavily influenced Frost s poetry.

Drawing especially on the many scholarly discoveries of recent years, this biography examines the life - and death - of one of the greatest Romantic poets. Based on sceptical historical investigation and featuring an in-depth look at Shelley's personal, financial and familial situation, it builds a compelling narrative about a controversial writer and thinker whose personal and philosophical convictions caused much turmoil during his short yet extraordinarily influential life.The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley reveals sides of the author not often studied. It looks at Shelley as an intensely loving, thoughtful and responsible man and father, who (except in one case) took exemplary care of the women he loved and who fell in love with him. It shows how significant his status as a gentleman was; it examines his poetry, letters, notebooks and discursive prose so that readers can comprehend the most important concerns of his life; it explores the financial and medical grounds for his years of exile; it is also the first biography to take account of his recently discovered early long poem the Poetical Essay on the Existing State of Things.This biography offers readers a unique look at a famous poet, scholar, gentleman, democrat, atheist and tragic icon of English Romanticism.

This is a reassessment which uses and develops recent theories about the relationship between writing and historical experience, language and social change, to draw a detailed portrait of the place and times William Faulkner inhabited.

Although Samuel Johnson succeeded in becoming one of the leading literary figures of his age, he always suffered from a heightened sense of failure. In this account of his life, DeMaria describes his subject in terms of Johnson's own personal and professional hopes for himself.

* Offers major critical coverage of all Hardya s published work* Provides unique insight into the importance for Hardy of his interest in classical literature* Presents Hardya s character and humanity in all their complexity. .

The Life of Daniel Defoe examines the entire range of Defoe's writing in the context of what is known about his life and opinions. * A critical study of the writing of Daniel Defoe. * Features extended and detailed commentaries on Defoe's political and religious journalism, as well as on his narrative fictions.

This text argues that, for Henry Fielding, storytelling was - whether in play, essay, or novel - a covert means of expressing his own experiences. The author posits that it is impossible to overlook the directly autobiographical elements in Fielding's writings; they form and inform his work.

This biography explores the controversial life and work of 20th-century French novelist Louis-Ferdinand Celine, through the places and times in which he lived and in which he grounded his fiction. It also sheds light on crucial areas of French cultural, social, and political history.

Complete with fresh perspectives, and drawing on the latest scholarship and biographical sources, The Life of D.H. Lawrence spans the full range of his intellectual interests and creative output to offer new insights into Lawrence s life, work, and legacy.

* A major account of the life and work of Samuel Taylor Coleridge* Author an authority on Anglo--German cultural connections in the 19th century -- so this book is particularly strong and very accessible too on the German philosophical and literary background. .

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is Germany's most celebrated, prolific and versatile writer. This book sets Goethe's creative work in the context of his biography and of the literary and political movements of his time.

John Milton's many and various works include magnificent poems, polemics, history, theology, and treatises on political, ecclesiastical, educational, and social issues. This title provides analysis of his prose and poetry, focusing on the development of his ideas and his art.

In this biography, Douglas Patey follows Evelyn Waugh's career from the comfortable middle-class home he was anxious to flee, through his escapades at Oxford, his adventures in South America and Africa, his experience of war, to his last years as veiled autobiographer.

aeo A major account of Scotta s life and work which removes many layers of the myth. aeo Original contribution to our knowledge of Scotta s disastrous business affairs. aeo An accessible yet thorough account of a major cultural figure in the evolution of the novel.

This important new critical biography traces in carefully considered detail what is known of Geoffrey Chaucer's personal life while exploring the fascinating relationship between the man of affairs, who made so many 'improvisations and accommodations' to ensure his own survival, and the poet.

aeo Only book published in the last 50 years that treats chronologically and at length the whole Browning corpus. aeo Questions the idea that Browning was an objective, dramatic poet, whose works are distinct and separate from himself. aeo Relates Browning the poet to Browning the man. .

By examining the family and financial circumstances of Wordsworth s early years, this illuminating biography reshapes our understanding of the great Romantic poet s most creative period of life and writing.