The Rise and Fall of the Man of Letters - by John Gross (Paperback)

About the Book

A new edition of this landmark book which traces the shifting fortunes of the men who shaped literary opinion in England since 1800. With a new Introduction and Afterword by the author. "A brilliant account of English literary culture which is as engaging as it is illuminating." -Lionel Trilling.

Book Synopsis

In this new edition of his landmark book, John Gross traces the shifting fortunes of the men who shaped literary opinion in England during the Victorian, Edwardian, and contemporary eras. He brings together famous or forgotten critics and editors-prophets, aesthetes, statesmen, dons, radicals, social climbers, idealists, gossipmongers, and literary lions-and explores not only their critical ideas but also their personalities, careers, social backgrounds, and politics. He looks at "the higher journalism;" the expansion of the reading public, the byways of British liberalism, and the rise of literature as an academic subject, and the impact of modernism. In all a remarkable survey, to which Mr. Gross has now added updates on several literary careers, the new style of critics who have evolved from the universities, and the dominant role of the media. "A brilliant account of English literary culture which is as engaging as it is illuminating"-Lionel Trilling. "Extremely readable.... The book is strewn with marvelous bits: deft aperçus, biographical portraits of great subtlety and force, wit, commonsensical intelligence everywhere. It is a book that no one who cares about the state of literature can afford to neglect."-Joseph Epstein.

Review Quotes

"A very intelligent, interesting, and intensely readable book." --Isaiah Berlin

"No praise can be too high...remarkable for its balance and sense of perspective." --Noel Annan, New York Review of Books

"Strewn with marvelous bits: deft apercus, biographical portraits of great subtlety and force, wit, commonsensical intelligence everywhere. No one who cares about the state of literature can afford to neglect this book." --Joseph Epstein

"A brilliant account of English literary culture, as engaging as it is illuminating." --Lionel Trilling

A brilliant account of English literary culture, as engaging as it is illuminating.

A very intelligent, interesting, and intensely readable book.

No praise can be too high...remarkable for its balance and sense of perspective.

Strewn with marvelous bits: deft apercus, biographical portraits of great subtlety and force, wit, commonsensical intelligence everywhere. No one who cares about the state of literature can afford to neglect this book.

About the Author

John Gross is theatre critic of the Sunday Telegraph and former editor of the Times Literary Supplement. For a number of years he was also a staff writer for the New York Times in New York. His other books include the classic study The Rise and Fall of the Man of Letters, and the widely acclaimed Shylock: Four Hundred Years in the Life of a Legend. He lives in London.