A Literary History of Cambridge

At Cambridge Milton was whipped and Tennyson got drunk, Tennyson met Arthur Hallam and Ted Hughes met Sylvia Plath, Macaulay was hit by a dead cat and Henry James was nearly concussed by a punt pole. Nowhere in England outside London is richer in literary associations than Cambridge, yet this is the first complete history of creative writers in the town and University. In addition to providing an affectionate, amusing, but unsentimental account of an important part of England's literary history, numerous appendices, a detailed bibliography and over 60 illustrations help make it a valuable reference work as well. First published in 1985, this revised edition contains much new or corrected material and a Foreword by Peter Ackroyd. A Literary History of Cambridge will appeal to everyone with a taste for literary anecdote, as well as those interested in how a single place can have inspired so much hatred and so much love in so many talents.

At Cambridge Milton was whipped and Tennyson got drunk, Tennyson met Arthur Hallam and Ted Hughes met Sylvia Plath, Macaulay was hit by a dead cat and Henry James was nearly concussed by a punt pole. Nowhere in England outside London is richer in literary associations. First published in 1985, the 1994 revised edition contains much new or corrected material and a Foreword by Peter Ackroyd.