Andrew Marvell: The Chameleon - Softcover

Smith, Nigel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0300181965 ISBN 13: 9780300181968

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2012

Synopsis

The seventeenth-century poet Andrew Marvell (1621–1678) is one of the most intriguing figures in English literature. A noted civil servant under Cromwell’s Protectorate, he has been variously identified as a patriot, spy, conspirator, concealed homosexual, father to the liberal tradition, and incendiary satirical pamphleteer and freethinker. But while Marvell’s poetry and prose has attracted a wide modern following, his prose is known only to specialists, and much of his personal life remains shrouded in mystery.

Nigel Smith’s pivotal biography provides an unparalleled look into Marvell’s life, from his early employment as a tutor and gentleman’s companion to his suspicious death, reputedly a politically fueled poisoning. Drawing on exhaustive archival research, the voluminous corpus of Marvell’s previously little known writing, and recent scholarship across several disciplines, Smith’s portrait becomes the definitive account of this elusive life.

About this title

About the Author:

Nigel Smith is professor of English and codirector of the Center for the Study of Books and Media at Princeton University.

Review:

"Superlative. . . . The fullest portrait we have to date."—David Yezzi, The Wall Street Journal
(David Yezzi The Wall Street Journal)

"Nigel Smith. . . has certainly mastered everything that can be learned about this elusive, shadowy and very private man."—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post
(Michael Dirda The Washington Post)

"Smith asks the right questions about Marvell's life and time, and he works assiduously in helping to lay 'a new foundation of the documentary knowledge.' . . . [A] worthy biography."—Megan Buskey, The New York Times Book Review (Megan Buskey The New York Times Book Review)

"He offers the fullest available account of Marvell's political activities, fully contextualized. . . . [An] indispensible guide."—Paul Dean, The New Criterion (Paul Dean The New Criterion)

"Nigel Smith attends skillfully to the poetry, but he also provides extensive information about the period as well as the complicated development of Marvell's political and religious views. . . . [Smith's] is probably the most complete biography of Marvell we are likely to see."—Jerome Donnelly, America (Jerome Donnelly America)

"Smith delivers fresh insights into Marvell’s experiences and character.... a fascinating psychological portrait of Marvell."—Helen Hackett, Times Literary Supplement (Helen Hackett Times Literary Supplement 2011-01-14)

"From reclusive poet to undercover pamphleteer, Andrew Marvell has always been a mystery man. But nobody knows him better than Nigel Smith, who now follows his definitive edition of the poetry with an up-to-date and state-of-the-art biography."—Annabel Patterson, Yale University (Annabel Patterson)

"The remarkable depth of Nigel Smith's research makes new sense of a celebratedly elusive writer."—David Norbrook, author of Poetry and Politics in the English Renaissance (David Norbrook)

‘Nigel Smith's definitive biography of Marvell is a gripping read, opening up a world of surprisingly intense interactions between poetry and politics in England's most turbulent modern century.  Smith brilliantly illuminates the two sides of Marvell's poetical character--the engaged, parliamentary brawler and controversialist, and the weirdly detached observer of the world--but he also shows how the mysteriousness of Marvell's character resides at last in the very independence and privacy for which Marvell so publicly fought."—Gordon Teskey, Harvard University (Gordon Teskey)

"Rich in detail and impeccably lucid, this remarkable study allows us to understand the subtle poet and elusive politician as we never have before. If Marvell was a mirror to the world, as one of the book's sources says, Nigel Smith is the perfect guide to the mirror and its world, master of the difficult art of looking-glass history."—Michael Wood, Princeton University (Michael Wood)

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0300181965
• ISBN 13: 9780300181968
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416