Overview

""Inventing Edward Lear is an exceptional, valuable, original study, presenting new materials on aspects of Lear's life and work."" -Jenny Uglow, author of Mr. Lear and The Lunar Men 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.

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9780674971158

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Reviews

This is a dazzling book, certainly the best study of Lear yet written.--Richard Cronin, University of Glasgow Inventing Edward Lear is an exceptional, valuable, original study, presenting new materials on aspects of Lear's life and work.--Jenny Uglow, author of Mr Lear: A Life of Art and Nonsense

This is a dazzling book, certainly the best study of Lear yet written.--Richard Cronin, University of Glasgow Edward Lear is one of those figures that everyone knows but few know much about. Lodge's book represents a delightfully crisp and engaging introduction to Lear's whole artistic career without losing sight of the humour and zest that keep him close to the hearts of adults and children alike. Never did nonsense make so much sense.--Jon Mee, University of York Brilliantly original and deeply researched, Sara Lodge's account of Lear's tragicomic life and work will confirm his standing among the greatest of the Victorians.--Dinah Birch, University of Liverpool Inventing Edward Lear is an exceptional, valuable, original study, presenting new materials on aspects of Lear's life and work.--Jenny Uglow, author of Mr Lear and The Lunar Men

This is a dazzling book, certainly the best study of Lear yet written.--Richard Cronin, University of Glasgow Brilliantly original and deeply researched, Sara Lodge's account of Lear's tragicomic life and work will confirm his standing among the greatest of the Victorians.--Dinah Birch, University of Liverpool Edward Lear is one of those figures that everyone knows but few know much about. Lodge's book represents a delightfully crisp and engaging introduction to Lear's whole artistic career without losing sight of the humour and zest that keep him close to the hearts of adults and children alike. Never did nonsense make so much sense.--Jon Mee, University of York Inventing Edward Lear is an exceptional, valuable, original study, presenting new materials on aspects of Lear's life and work.--Jenny Uglow, author of Mr Lear and The Lunar Men

Author Information

Sara Lodge is Senior Lecturer in the School of English at the University of St Andrews, specializing in nineteenth-century literature and culture. She is the author of Thomas Hood and Nineteenth-Century Poetry and Jane Eyre: A Reader’s Guide to Criticism. Lodge has also worked as a speechwriter for the United Nations Secretary-General in New York and, as a journalist, writes regularly for the British and American press.

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