Book description
Between Christmas and new year of 1817 the eccentric painter, B. R.
Haydon, gave a famous dinner party. His guests included three of the
greatest literary stars of the age: the poets John Keats and William
Wordsworth and the essayist and wit Charles Lamb. They recited poetry,
took part in ridiculous antics, indulged in high-minded discussions -
with such displays of brilliance that the party became known as the
Immortal Dinner.
Penelope Hughes-Hallett celebrates this famous evening, setting it
against a backdrop of change, reflected in the preoccupations of the
illustrious diners. A compelling and sympathetic picture emerges of
these rare spirits and the age which created them.
Penelope Hughes-Hallett was born in 1927 and spent her childhood at
Steventon, Hampshire, where Jane Austen was brought up. Her books
include
'My Dear Cassandra': Illustrated Letters of Jane Austen
and
Home at Grasmere: The Wordsworths and the Lakes
. She was a tutor and lecturer with the Open University, subsequently
becoming one of its governors, a patron of the Wordsworth Trust and
trustee of the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation. She died in 2010.
