Summary
Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967), soldier, poet, and witness to a century of war, is an icon of the twentieth century;Jean Moorcroft Wilsonis the leading authority on him. In this two-volume biography, she offers her definitive analysis of his life and works. The first critically acclaimed volume, covering Sassoon's life up until the end of the Great War, offers rich material on his poetry, his patriotism, and his anti-war stance. In volume two, Moorcroft Wilson reveals the truth of Sassoon's life after the armistice, when most people thought he was dead; the story includes a series of love affairs with such larger-than-life characters as Queen Victoria's great-grandson, Prince Phillip of Hesse, the flamboyant Ivor Novello, and the exotic and bejeweled Stephen Tennant. But this was also the period of Sassoon's close friendships with the greatest literary figures of the age, including Hardy, Beerbohm, E.M. Forster, and T.E. Lawrence. Written with the cooperation of Siegfried Sassoon's familyand friends, and with access to a mass of private and unpublished material, poems, diaries, letters, and photographs, this meticulously researched biography will be the standard work on Sassoon's life and legacy.
Table of Contents
List of Plates |
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vii | |
Introduction |
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1 | (242) |
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7 | (22) |
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2. Childhood in the Garden, 1886-1895 |
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29 | (24) |
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3. Lutes and Nightingales, 1895-1900 |
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53 | (30) |
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4. 'Harum-Scarum Schoolboy', 1900-1904 |
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83 | (24) |
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5. The Chancellor's Muddle, 1904-1907 |
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107 | (22) |
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6. Sporting Squire and Gentleman Writer, 1907-1914 |
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129 | (36) |
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7. Big London Where Poets Live, May-July 1914 |
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165 | (14) |
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8. The Happy Warrior, August 1914-November 1915 |
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179 | (30) |
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9. 'Goodbye to Galahad', November 1915-March 1916 |
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209 | (34) |
10. 'At the Edge of the World', March-July 1916 |
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243 | (38) |
11. 'My Killed Friends are With Me', August 1916-January 1917 |
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281 | (40) |
12. The Wounded Hero, February-April 1917 |
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321 | (30) |
13. 'Love Drove Me to Rebel', April-July 1917 |
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351 | (36) |
14. Strange Meeting, July-November 1917 |
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387 | (40) |
15. 'Love Drives Me Back', November 1917-May 1918 |
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427 | (34) |
16. The Good Soldier, May-July 1918 |
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461 | (28) |
17. 'A Loathsome Ending', July-November 1918 |
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489 | (36) |
Afterword |
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525 | (2) |
Family Trees |
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527 | (2) |
Acknowledgements |
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529 | (2) |
Endnotes |
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531 | (52) |
A Select Bibliography |
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583 | (4) |
Index |
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587 | |