I haven’t answered a Classic Club question for a couple of months – and really it is time I did.
So in July the Classic Club is asking:
“Have you ever read a biography on a classic author? If so, tell us about it. If you had already read works by this author, did reading a biography of his/her life change your perspective on the author’s writing? Why or why not? Or, if you’ve never read a biography of a classic author, would you? Why or why not?”
In 2011 I read a superb biography of Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin. The Time Torn Man is a really a must for any Hardy fans I think. Regular readers will know I love my Hardy. When I read A Time Torn man – I was preparing to start my Hardy reading challenge. The challenge undertaken by myself and a few friends was to read the fiction (novels and short stories) of Hardy in publication order. I had already read almost everything at least once – there were just two volumes of short stories I hadn’t read before. Reading one book every two months the project beginning in July 2011 officially finished last month with A Changed Man and other Stories. Back in 2011 then, I already knew a lot of Hardy’s writing, but a lot of it had been read many years earlier, and my memories of those books, although fond had naturally faded with time.
In reading The Time Torn Man, I met Hardy as a child and young man, born into a fairly humble family; he was very much a part of the rural landscape he is so famed for writing about. Thomas Hardy a man who grew up appreciating music, who started out as an architect, who had to work hard to marry his Emma who was his social superior. The echoes of all these things are present throughout his writing. Hardy’s first marriage, starting off happy, didn’t really remain so, in their middle age, the two lived largely separate lives, Emma Hardy religious and traditional, Hardy himself critical of religion, feeling more and more trapped by the conventions of Victorian marriage. Again, throughout Hardy’s writing he returns again and again to themes of marriage. After Emma’s death, Hardy married Florence, a much younger woman, and wrote love poetry to the memory of Emma. He was an often conflicted and complex man, and reading this biography highlights this wonderfully. Claire Tomalin is a superb biographer – I also read her book about Jane Austen – excellent too!
Claire Tomalin obviously appreciates Hardy even more as a poet than a novelist – and the one thing I took away from this book – was the feeling that I had a better understanding of Hardy the novelist, the story teller and in a small way as a man, but I really needed to acquaint myself better with Hardy the poet. That remains something I am working on.
When I set out for Lyonnesse,
A hundred miles away,
The rime was on the spray,
And starlight lit my lonesomeness
When I set out for Lyonnesse
A hundred miles away.What would bechance at Lyonnesse
While I should sojourn there
No prophet durst declare,
Nor did the wisest wizard guess
What would bechance at Lyonnesse
While I should sojourn there.When I came back from Lyonnesse
With magic in my eyes,
All marked with mute surmise
My radiance rare and fathomless,
When I came back from Lyonnesse
With magic in my eyes!
heavenali 
Oddly enough my OH is a bit of a Hardy fan and has this on his TBR – I should encourage him to get on with it really!
Oh yes I’m sure he would find it interesting.
I’ve Greene autobiography on my tbr ,I’ve struggled with Hardy but his life I imagine is interesting
It was very interesting, to me at least.
I need to check out this biography. I read her Charles Dickens biography and I have her biography of Jane Austen on my shelves. Claire Tomalin has impeccable research and really fleshes out her subject in a scholarly, but engaging manner.
I’ve heard other good reports of the Dickens biography. I may have to read that too one day.
I listened to Clatre Tomalin’s Dickens..A Life read by Alex Jennings. I am ambivalent about Dickens andTomalin managed to deal with his inconsistencies and cruelty to his wife and family with perception and understanding. It certainly helped me to enjoy the writing with somewhat less guilt. My favourite autobiography is Anthony Trollop’s. he writes with such warmth and wit about what was clearly a difficult life. I love his description about his work for the General Post Office riding around Ireland. Oddly enough I’m not a great fan of his novels. Hermione Lee’s biography of Edith Wharton is on my list. Interesting topic, Ali.
Thank you.
I am reading George Eliot’s and really identifying with her (and so seeing hope for myself!) and understanding better Victorian society.
There was an article on Thomas Hardy in the LRB this issue and though I’ve never liked his books, it made me understand them and him better.
It’s interesting how Hardy divides people but yes understanding him does help with reading his work.
I have read several biographies of classic authors including Dickens and Austin. The one that still moves me is Elizabeth Gaskell’s Life of Charlotte Bronte. The two female novelists knew each other and admired each other’s work. After Bronte died, Gaskell went to her family and got their support for writing the biography. She certainly softened some things out of respect for their feelings, but she was able to quote from Bronte’s letters and to talk with many people who knew Bronte personally.
I read Gaskell’ s biography of Charlotte Bronte too, years ago I can’t remember much about it but I think I would like even more.Now.
I have this one waiting for me, but I need to do some re-reading first because it’s years since I’ve read much of Hardy. That you as a Hardy aficionado have words of praise encourages me.
I think it would admirably support your reading of Hardy.
I read Emily Dickinson’s biographies by different authors. One of them is Harold Bloom. He wrote about her life and her poetry. The other one was written by Bettina Knapp. I enjoyed these books. I need to double check the last name. I think it was Knapp.
Oh I can imagine those would have been fascinating, thanks for the recommendation.
I don’t read many bios of authors (though I’m a bit obsessed by political biographies) but I loved, loved, loved Simon Callow’s Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World. He looked at Dickens’ life through his involvement with theatre and his own public performances – a truly exuberant book where Callow’s own affection for Dickens’ work was completely infectious.
That’s not one I have ever heard of it sounds very good.
Claire Tomalin is brilliant. I’ve read this one and the Dickens and I think knowing about an author adds so much to the enjoyment and understanding of their work.
Another biography I really liked was Morgan by Nicola Beauman, about E M Forster.
I didn’t know Nicola Beauman wrote about E M Forster, although I read and very much enjoyed her biography of Elizabeth Taylor.
I think Claire Tomalin is one of the best biographers. I’ve read her biography of Jane Austen and am currently reading her one on Dickens. I began The Time Torn Man some time ago because I love Hardy’s books, but put it to one side to refresh my memory of his books because she does write a lot about them and it made me want to re-read them.I have not got back to it yet!
I’m glad it made you want to re-read Hardy it definitely had that effect on me. I was so glad I read it before starting my Hardy reading challenge.
I added this to my tbr after reading A Pair of Blue Eyes which I’d been told was one of Hardy’s most autobiographical novels. I still haven’t read it yet, but I did enjoy her books on Charles Dickens and Samuel Pepys.
A pair of blue eyes does appear very autobiographical.
My choice was also by Tomalin – but it is her bio of Samuel Pepys. My husband read the Hardy one and found it a bit slow but it seems you didn’t have the same experience at all
It is a fairly slow read I suppose, yet it was fascinating to me, and so well written and researched that I forgave it that.