Shelley: The Pursuit

Richard Holmes

Editions

Review

At more than 600 pages, this classic work of literary biography is not a page too long.  The minute research into the poet's life nowhere obscures his vitality.  On the contrary, we are treated to a gloriously vivid portrait of the man as he turns from youthful firebrand into an increasingly disillusioned, unknown (but still young) exile in Italy.  Always illuminating on the poetry and the pamphleteering, Holmes also addresses Shelley's complex relationships with women without prurience or moralising.  The places, social issues and people with which he became involved are brilliantly brought to life, as are the moral questions raised by his beliefs and behaviour.  The picture of Shelley's desperate efforts to mediate between Byron and Claire Clairmont over their unfortunate daughter Allegra, for example, is particularly haunting when considered alongside his own and Mary's heart-rending trail of dead babies.  But it is as a portrait of the workings of a poet that this book must stand or fall - and it is perhaps the best biography of a poet ever written. - review by Johnny de Falbe