Customer Reviews (1)

The Satirist Sleeps
Rather than upon this somewhat loose and insubstantial collection of biographical sketches, Strachey's fame rests upon his quartet of long essays, Eminent Victorians. One can see why. Strachey was an ironist ofWildean pretensions, and in this book he writes too frequently of subjectswith whom he is in obvious sympathy - a largely eighteenth-century assemblyof essayists, biographers and letter-writers. Thus, whilst alwaysappreciative of the eccentric or the absurd, Strachey too frequently floatsoff into vapid sentimentality (the dangerous obverse of irony - as Wildealso knew). As a historian Strachey was a recycler rather than a pioneer ofinformation - with the result that the value of his books depends whollyupon their style; and, deprived of its ironic edge, the style comes acrossas merely well-groomed. As rarified as the French high culture herepeatedly dwells on, Strachey's writing here seems either frigid or simplydecorous - with the exception of one paragraph towards the end of the bookin which he is galvanised into a superb digression on the vulgarity ofEnglish Victorianism. To quote it here would be to remove the main reasonfor buying this otherwise tame, uninformative, effete andimpeccably-written book. ... Read more

Product Description
A companion volume to Biographical Essays, this collection of twenty-five pieces includes two of Strachey's finest critical essays, "Shakespeare's Final Period" and "English Letter Writers." Index.
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