Showing results by author "Lytton Strachey" in All Categories

Eminent Victorians, Lytton Strachey's wonderfully witty and Wildean quartet of biographies, stands out as one of the most radical and groundbreaking works of its genre. With relentless precision, Strachey explores the lives of four exemplars of the Victorian age: Cardinal Manning, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Arnold and General Gordon, irreverently bringing to light the flaws, strengths, ambitions and hypocrisies of these treasured legends.

Lytton Strachey’s groundbreaking work, Eminent Victorians (1918), captivated readers with its sharp wit and insightful exploration of Victorian figures. In this compelling follow-up, Queen Victoria (1921), he delves deeper into the life of one of historys most iconic monarchs, revealing the complexities and contradictions that defined her reign. Strachey masterfully balances humor and critique, shedding light on the pervasive hypocrisy of Victorian morality while humanizing his subjects. (Summary from Wikipedia)

Lytton Strachey (1880-1932), a founder of the Bloomsbury Group, an influential group of intellectuals in England, was an essayist, drama critic, and author. Eminent Victorians (1918) undermined the old myths of high Victorianism and ushered in a new irreverent tone in which chauvinism, hypocrisy, and the English stiff upper lip were debunked.

A remarkably fresh and engaging account of Britain’s long-reigning monarch, Queen Victoria, who ascended to the throne at 18, in 1837, and died in 1901. Lytton Strachey captures her essential spirit in concise and elegant prose, with an eye and an ear keenly attuned to human nature, and its foibles. Written only 20 years after her death, this biography exemplifies the emergence of modern thought from the Victorian Era.

How To Own a Human is a selection of writings about cats and for cats. As well as stories and poems, it also includes rhymes, proverbs, fables and quotations, plus instructions for cats on how to train their humans - a sort of "Open Mew-niversity" course for felines. READERS: Ellen Dryden is an actor, writer and director working mainly for the stage and radio. She read English at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford and after graduating she won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Ranked on Modern Librarys list of 100 Best Non-Fiction books, Eminent Victorians revolutionized the art of biography and shattered the old-fashioned myths of Victorian society. With his piercing insight, Strachey unearths the self-serving motives of Cardinal Manning and the obsessively controlling Florence Nightingale. His essays on Dr Arnold and General Gordon transcend the individuals, critiquing the broader public-school system and the entrenched liberal values of the nineteenth century.