ECU Libraries Catalog

Inventing Edward Lear / Sara Lodge.

Author/creator Lodge, Sara (Sara J.) author.
Format Book and Print
Publication Info Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2019.
Copyright Notice ©2019
Description436 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm
Subject(s)
Contents Returning to Lear: music and memory -- Nonsense and nonconformity -- Queer beasts -- Dreamwork: Lear's visual language -- Inventing Edward Lear.
Abstract An original and lively account of one of the most influential figures of the Victorian age. Edward Lear wrote some of the best-loved poems in English, including "The Owl and the Pussycat," but the father of nonsense was far more than a poet. He was a naturalist, a brilliant landscape painter, an experimental travel writer, and an accomplished composer. Sara Lodge presents the fullest account yet of Lear's passionate engagement in the intellectual, social, and cultural life of his times. Lear had a difficult start in life. He was epileptic, asthmatic, and depressive, but even as a child a consummate performer who projected himself into others' affections. He became, by John James Audubon's estimate, one of the greatest ornithological artists of the age. Queen Victoria--an admirer--chose him to be her painting teacher. He popularized the limerick, set Tennyson's verse to music, and opened fresh doors for children and adults to share fantasies of magical escape. Lodge draws on diaries, letters, and new archival sources to paint a vivid picture of Lear that explores his musical influences, his religious nonconformity, his relationship with the Pre-Raphaelite movement, and the connections between his scientific and artistic work. He invented himself as a character: awkward but funny, absurdly sympathetic. In Lodge's hands, Lear emerges as a dynamic and irreverent polymath whose conversation continues to draw us in. Inventing Edward Lear is an original and moving account of one of the most intriguing and creative of all Victorians.--Provided by publsher.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 383-424) and index.
Genre/formBiography.
Genre/formBiographies.
LCCN 2018015474
ISBN9780674971158 (hardcover alkaline paper)
ISBN0674971159 (hardcover alkaline paper)
Standard identifier# 99978963055
Standard identifier# 40028658640
Stock number15152112

Available Items

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Joyner General Stacks PR4879 .L2 Z75 2019 ✔ Available Place Hold