★ Reviews for Graves,_Richard

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Book reviews for "Graves,_Richard_Perceval" sorted by average review score:

A. E. Housman : the scholar-poet

Published in Unknown Binding by Routledge & K. Paul ()

Author: Richard Perceval Graves

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Superb Biography

A spuperb bio of the scholar poet. The structure is interesting. First, the author presents a chronological look at Housman's life with some salient facts, emphasizing the most important influences in his life. The latter part of the book is devoted to closer scrutiny of the different aspects of his work and personal affairs taken separately: classical studies, family relationships, friendships, etc.

I read this in preparation for seeing the new Tom Stoppard play, " Invention of Love " which deals with Housman's somewhat tortured, but extremely productive life. Glad that I did. The book stands by itself as top biography.

Robert Graves and the White Goddess 1940-85

Published in Hardcover by Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd (1996)

Authors: Richard Pereval Graves and Richard Perceval Graves

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fascinating look into the creative life

The third book on the life of poet and novelist Robert Graves is the story of his achievement of great public success, and then what? So many poets have achieved greatness only to spend the rest of their lives in a hapless chase to regain it. Graves' unique pursuit of his path should be a salutory example to all that it need not be so. Along the way we also find out about his new muses and other new relationships both with his growing family as well as with the world. Particularly interesting are his lectures and synopses of his remarks on other poets including Lawrence, Hopkins, Yeats, Pound, Eliot, Auden, Thomas and Byron, most of whom earned his displeasure to a greater or lesser degree. There are also amusing vignettes such as Graves' introducing J.R.R. Tolkien to Ava Gardner when neither one had ever heard of the other. Although Graves' last decade is almost too sad and his pursuit of younger women sometimes a bit pathetic, overall it is always a moving, intriguing and enjoyable story. The second volume of this work does not seem to be on Amazon, which I find a horrible omission.

Robert Graves: The Assault Heroic 1895-1926

Published in Hardcover by Penguin USA (1987)

Author: Richard Perceval Graves

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Wonderful story of the early life of a poet

When one reads or views Graves' poetry or his wonderful novel I, CLAUDIUS, one can only wonder whence came such talent. This book is the answer, detailing his fascinating family background and upbringing, as well as his impressive struggles with schooling, with family and in the trenches of France in the First World War. Nor did his married life and early career become any easier, the life of a young poet paying as well as you might imagine, particularly a poet with four young children. Still, Graves is truly inspirational in the way he always followed his own path and refused to waver, despite considerable pressures. Tempered by these experiences and never forgetting to work hard, he prepared for the astounded beginnings of success described in the next book in the series, The Years With Laura Riding. That this latter book is not on Amazon is a horrible omission.

Good-Bye to All That: An Autobiography

Published in Paperback by Berghahn Books (1995)

Authors: Robert Graves, Richard Perceval Graver, and Richard Perceval Graves

Amazon base price: $19.95

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Is Oxford what it used to be?

Even though parts of the book read like therapy-writing, this is the only account of Graves by himself, and as such it should be highly valued. Enter Britain at the beginning of the century: Public Schools, Oxford and -preeminent in the narrative- World War I at the french front. Graves was courageous, shell-shocked and always artistic. Back at Oxford as a neurasthenic veteran he still had enough brains left to entertain T.E. Lawrence. I admire Graves deeply and I regret he decided not to continue his autobiography past his time as a Professor of Literature at the University of Cairo. Those interested in his years in Majorca could follow Graves to Deja with the biography written by his friend Seymour-Smith.

Graves in retrospect......

This is Robert Graves' tell all autobiography, or at least the "revised second edition" which doesn't quite tell all. At the time of writing Graves was only 33 yet already had about 30 publications to his name, mostly poetry collections & essays. He had rubbed shoulders with such writers as Edward Marsh, Robert Frost, Siegfried Sasson, T.E. Lawrence, Ezra Pound & Edith Sitwell. Graves had served as a Royal Welsh Fusiler for almost the entire duration of WW1 & been severely wounded, even pronounced dead, before being demobilized. After the war Graves went on to receive his B Litt. degree from Oxford & eventually found a position as the Professor of English Literature at the Royal Egyptian University in Cairo. All this & numerous other stories, events & anecdote are given here in full detail.

Goodbye To All That is most famous for it's graphic & realistic depiction of life in the trenches of WW1. Graves goes into all the details of his military experience. We aren't spared a single battle or a single death. He captures the horror & awe of the war with a roughness that made the book one of the most popular written accounts of WW1. We are presented with scenes of atrocities, suicides, murders & heroic rescues one after another until we can almost feel the emotional change that Graves himself felt as he went from innocent schoolboy to professional soldier. The physical & emotional damage caused by this change are themes that Graves would return to again & again for the remainder of his life.

Oddly enough the man who is most famous as a romantic poet talks very little of his poetry in his autobiography. Despite having several volumes of poetry published by this time, Graves turns away from this & spends more time dealing with the war & problems both on the front & at home in England. Poetry, romance & even love seemed to play a very little part in Graves' life during these years. He mentions his 1st wife Nancy only near the end of the book & offers us only a one dimensional image of her as the devout feminist whom he loved but whom he probably shouldn't have married. Laura Riding doesn't appear in the book at all despite the fact that Graves had known her for 3 years by the time he wrote Goodbye. Other writers or poets who do turn up tend to be there only fleetingly to provide a particular anecdote or to justify Graves' opinion of them. Graves seldom goes into any great depth about their works or their personalities.

Overall, Goodbye To All That is a odd book that sits on the fence between a typical war book & a biography of a literary man. It can't be placed neatly into either category & this is what makes it such interesting reading for the fans of either type. Graves stands out as one of the few literary men who could display his intelligence & education even while dishing out the most brutal scenes of warfare.

Moving report on the end of an era

I spotted this remarkable book on ... Top 100 Non-Fiction Books of the Century list. In "Good-bye to All That, " the British poet Robert Graves (1895-1985), best known to American readers as the author of the novel of ancient Rome, "I Claudius," writes the autobiography of his youth, justifiably famous for its eloquent but straight-forward depiction of the horrors of WWI, during which Graves spent years in the trenches of France as an army captain.

More than the war, however, Graves' topic is the passing of an era: the class-ridden and naïve culture of the Edwardian upper classes, a culture did not survive the war. Graves came from a landed family and received a classic boarding-school education. Even in the trenches officers like Graves had personal servants and took offense when they had to dine with officers of 'the wrong sort' (promoted from the lower classes).

Graves' narrative itself barely survives the end of the war; the post-war chapters seem listless and shell-shocked, emotionally detached. The battles he survived are written about with precision, gravity, and emotional impact; but Graves' marriage and the birth of his children seem like newspaper reports. Surprisingly, he doesn't even talk of his poetry much. This, surely, is not a defect of the book but a genuine reflection of his feelings at the time: After the War, nothing meant much to him.

Graves' literary style is very matter-of-fact--the opposite of the imagistic, adjective-driven language one might expect of a poet. Instead, he had a gift for the right details: in only a sentence or two, by careful description, he can perfectly describe a fellow-soldier or give the exact sense of 'being there' in battle. The book is a remarkable achievement worth reading even for those who may be glad the old days were left behind.