James Joyce: A Biography

In almost every recent poll, Ulysses has been acclaimed the greatest novel of the twentieth century. It is generally regarded as one of the outstanding landmarks of literary modernism, as important as T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land in expressing the experimental and international spirit of post-war Europe in the 1920s. Of all the modernists, James Joyce has had probably the most lasting effect on serious fiction. Indeed, Eliot said he had 'killed the nineteenth century'. Joyce's life followed the classic 'flight into exile' path taken by many creative writers in search of a broader vision. His fight against Irish parochial prejudices and censoriousness, his self-imposed exile from the country he loved, his stoical endurance of near-blindness, cast him in a heroic light. He was fine singer who could have had a successful career in opera and the concert hall. His dedication to authorship also picks him out as a writer in the romantic tradition of total commitment, suffering near-poverty and financial dependency for much of his life in his determination simply to write. He was fortunate in his benefactors.Four women in particular (Harriet Shaw Weaver, Margaret Anderson, Sylvia Beach and Adrienne Monnier), through their generosity, ensured that Joyce was able to focus fully and continuously on his great literary projects, Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. Richard Ellmann's much admired biography of Joyce first appeared in 1959 and was republished in 1982. But new material continues to emerge, and this new biography draws on that and attempts to get beyond the exterior life to explore the inner landscape of a writer who continues to influence and fascinate, well over a century after his birth.

Gordon Bowker

George Weidenfeld & Nicholson

Big Brother, Newspeak, Room 101, Doublethink. Few writers can boast the brilliant legacy of George Orwell, both in his numerous additions to the English language and in his profound influence on world literature. This book attempts to bring to life the man behind the words. It explores the influence of his childhood and Eton education, his experience as a policeman in Burma, his deliberate plunge into poverty and his experiences in the Spanish Civil War in the creation of the consciousness of the man who produced Animal Farm and 1984. The book includes new material on Orwell's complex and sometimes reckless sex life, new evidence of his being hunted and spied on in Spain, his paranoia about possible assassination, the strange circumstances of his first marriage and his deathbed wedding to a woman fifteen years his junior. This new material enables this biographer to cast new light on Orwell, the inner man, as well as on Orwell, the great author.

Inside George Orwell: A Biography

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

PALGRAVE~MACMILLAN

One of the greatest writers of the 20th century, George Orwell left an enduring mark on our language and culture, with concepts such as "Big Brother", "Room 101", "Newspeak", and "Doublethink". His reputation rests not only on his political shrewdness and his sharp satires ("Animal Farm" and "Nineteen Eighty-Four") but also on his clear writing style and his essays. Gordon Bowker's biography, written to coincide with Orwell's centenary, includes material which brings the writer's life into unfamiliar focus. Bowker writes revealingly about Orwell's family background; the lasting influence of Eton on his work and character; his superstitious streak and youthful flirtation with black magic; and his chaotic and reckless sex life, which included at least one homoerotic relationship. It highlights the strange circumstances of his first marriage and provides evidence of his experiences in Spain and their nightmarish consequences. It also offers a fresh look at his peculiar deathbed marriage to a woman 15 years his junior.

George Orwell

Little Brown Hardbacks (a & C)

An authoritative biography of the author of Under the Volcano traces Lowry's turbulent life, from his travels around the world and in and out of bars, clinics, and jail, to his final period of literary activity.

Pursued By Furies

Long-awaited and comprehensive biography of the great Irish author James Joyce  James Joyce was one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, but he was not immediately recognised as such; rather he lived in exile in the cosmopolitan Europe of the 1920s in a bid to escape the suffocating atmosphere and parochial prejudices of his native Dublin. His unstinting dedication to authorship picks him out as a writer in the romantic tradition. He battled poverty and financial dependency for much of his adult life, as well as near-blindness from 1917 and the grief of his daughter Lucia's mental illness. He suffered too the slings and arrows of uncomprehending critics especially for his influential Ulysses, which was banned in both Britain and America. Drawing on considerable new material that has only recently become available, Gordon Bowker's biography attempts to get beyond the exterior life to explore the inner landscape of an extraordinary writer who continues to influence and fascinate, well over a century after his birth.

Phoenix

Through Dark Labyrinth

Sinclair-Stevenson

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gordon Bowker. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Gordon Bowker

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gordon Bowker. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

James Joyce: A Biography

Inside George Orwell: A Biography

George Orwell

Pursued By Furies

James Joyce: A Biography

Through Dark Labyrinth