Book description
Winner of the 1989 Whitbread Prize for Book of the Year, this is the
first volume of Holmes's seminal two-part examination of Samuel Taylor
Coleridge, one of Britain's greatest poets.
'Coleridge: Early Visions' is the first part of Holmes's classic
biography of Coleridge that forever transformed our view of the poet of
'Kubla Khan' and his place in the Romantic Movement. Dismissed by much
recent scholarship as an opium addict, plagiarist, political apostate
and mystic charlatan, Richard Holmes's Coleridge leaps out of the page
as a brilliant, animated and endlessly provoking figure who invades the imagination.
This is an act of biographical recreation which brings back to life
Coleridge's poetry and encyclopaedic thought, his creative energy and
physical presence. He is vivid and unexpected. Holmes draws the reader
into the labyrinthine complications of his subject's personality and
literary power, and faces us with profound questions about the nature of
creativity, the relations between sexuality and friendship, and the
shifting grounds of political and religious belief.
Note that it has not been possible to include the same picture content
that appeared in the original print version. 'Dazzling…Holmes has not
merely reinterpreted Coleridge; he has recreated him, and his biography
has the aura of fiction, the shimmer of an authentic portrait…a
biography like few I have ever read.' James Wood, Guardian
'A deeply moving life of a troubled genius. From a great mountain of
research, Holmes has fashioned a compelling narrative which inspires
considerable affection and respect for Coleridge. This stimulating book
is one of the most enjoyable biographies I have read.' Michael Shelden,
Daily Telegraph
'Coleridge lives, and talks and loves…in these pages as never before.'
Michael Foot, Independent Richard Holmes is Professor of Biographical
Studies at the University of East Anglia, and editor of the Harper
Perennial series Classic Biographies launched in 2004. His is a Fellow
of the British Academy, has honorary doctorates from UEA and the
Tavistock Institute, and was awarded an OBE in 1992.
His first book, 'Shelley: The Pursuit', won the Somerset Maugham Prize
in 1974. 'Coleridge: Early Visions' won the 1989 Whitbread Book of the
Year, and 'Dr Johnson & Mr Savage' won the James Tait Black Prize.
'Coleridge: Darker Reflections', won the Duff Cooper Prize and the
Heinemann Award. He has published two studies of European biography,
'Footsteps: Adventures of a Romantic Biographer' in 1985, and
'Sidetracks: Explorations of a Romantic Biographer' in 2000. His most
recent book 'The Romantic Poets and their Circle' was published by the
National Portrait Gallery in 2005. He lives in London and Norwich with
the novelist Rose Tremain.
