Being Shelley: The Poet's Search for Himself

A startlingly original new look at Shelley, a stunning work of scholarship and imagination by one of the most remarkable non-fiction writers in Britain

Literature & Fiction

WROE, Ann

Poetry

Vintage Books USA

First edition. A near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket. Soiling to the edges of the book's upper page block. The dust jacket's spine is mildly faded.

A Fool and His Money

History

RANDOM HOUSE UK

Light wear to dust jacket. Shipped from the U.K. All orders received before 3pm sent that weekday.

Pilate

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

JONATHAN CAPE.

Perkin

The story of Perkin Warbeck is one of the most compelling mysteries of English history. A young man suddenly appeared claiming to be Richard of York, the younger of the Princes in the Tower. As such, he tormented Henry VII for eight years. He emerged in Ireland in 1491, to be honoured and protected by the courts of France, Burgundy, the Empire and Scotland. He tried three times to invade England, sometimes eluding capture only by the skin of his teeth. He behaved like a prince, and many believed he was one. Officially, however, he was proclaimed to be Perkin Warbeck, the son of a Flemish boatman - and at the end, in custody, he apparently admitted as much. A diplomatic pawn, and also the most keenly sought diplomatic prize in Europe, he was used by the greatest European rulers of the age - the emperor Maximilian, Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, Charles VIII of France - for their own purposes. All who dealt with him gave him the identity they wished him to have: either the Duke of York or a jumped-up lad from Flanders. It is possible that he was neither. It is also possible that, by the end, even he did not know who he really was. Ann Wroe's first purpose in "Perkin" is to tell again a marvellous tale that is on the brink of being forgotten. Her second is to dissect, and call in question, the official cover story. In doing so she delves into the secret corners of European history, employs a vast range of sources, and produces a portrait of the late fifteenth century that is breathtaking in its detail.

Orpheus: The Song of Life

A powerful and poetic work of history on the figure of Orpheus: his life and myth, and his representation and imagining from the sixth century BC to the present day. For at least two and a half millennia, the figure of Orpheus has haunted humanity. Half-man, half-god, musician, magician, theologian, poet and lover, his story never leaves us. He may be myth, but his lyre still sounds, entrancing everything that hears it: animals, trees, water, stones, and men. In this extraordinary work Ann Wroe goes in search of Orpheus, from the forests where he walked and the mountains where he worshipped to the artefacts, texts and philosophies built up round him. She traces the man, and the power he represents, through the myriad versions of a fantastical life: his birth in Thrace, his studies in Egypt, his voyage with the Argonauts to fetch the Golden Fleece, his love for Eurydice and journey to Hades, and his terrible death. We see him tantalising Cicero and Plato, and breathing new music into Gluck and Monteverdi; occupying the mind of Jung and the surreal dreams of Cocteau; scandalising the Fathers of the early Church, and filling Rilke with poems like a whirlwind. He emerges as not simply another mythical figure but the force of creation itself, singing the song of light out of darkness and life out of death.

From Ann Wroe, a biographer of the first rank, comes a startlingly original look at one of the greatest poets in the Western tradition. Being Shelley aims to turn the poet's life inside out: rather than tracing the external events of his life, she tracks the inner journey of a spirit struggling to create. In her quest to understand the radically unconventional Shelley, Wroe pursues the questions that consumed the poet himself. Shelley sought to free and empower the entire human race; his revolution was meant to shatter illusions, shock men and women with new visions, find true love and liberty—and take everyone with him. Now, for the first time, this passionate quest is put at the center of his life. The result is a Shelley who has never been seen in biography before.

Arts & Literature

Vintage

From Ann Wroe--author of highly and widely praised Pontius Pilate: The Biography of an Invented Man--comes another singularly iconoclastic achievement: a book about Percy Bysshe Shelley, one of the greatest poets in the Western tradition, that is concerned at once with the making of poetry and the transforming power of it. Extraordinary for its elegance of style and complete immersion in Shelley’s work, Being Shelley aims to turn the poet’s life inside out: rather than tracing the events of a life in which poetry erupts occasionally, it tracks the inner journey of a spirit struggling to escape and create. In her own quest to understand Shelley, Ann Wroe takes up the questions that consume the poet himself: Who, or what, was he? What was his purpose? Where had he come from? And where was he going? By answering those questions, Shelley sought to free and empower not only himself, but the entire human race. His revolution would shatter the Earth’s illusions, shock men and women with new visions, find true love and liberty--and take everyone with him. Now, for the first time, this passionate and radical quest is put at the center of Shelley’s life. The result is a Shelley who has never been seen in biography before.

Pantheon

Pontius Pilate arrived in Judaea in the year 26, sent to collect taxes and oversee the firm establishment of Roman law. His ten-year term was a time of relative peace in this fractious new outpost of the Roman Empire, where violence was not uncommon. He was not loved and not quite feared, and might have vanished into obscurity had he not come to preside, with some reluctance, over the most famous trial in history. In this brilliant biography, a finalist for the Samuel Johnson Prize and a masterpiece of scholarship and imagination, Ann Wroe brings Pilate and his world to life. Working from classical sources, she reconstructs his origins and upbringing, his career in the military and life in Rome, his confrontation with Christ, and his long journey home. We catch glimpses of him pacing the marble floors in Caesarea, sharpening his stylus, getting dressed shortly before sunrise on the day that would seal his place in history. What were the pressures on Pilate that day? What did he really think of Jesus? Pontius Pilate lets us see Christ's trial for the first time, in all its confusion, from the point of view of his executioner. Pontius Pilate is a historical figure, like Cleopatra and Alexander, who has been endlessly mythologized through the ages. For some he is a saint, for others the embodiment of human weakness, an archetypal politician willing to sacrifice one man for the sake of stability. Each generation has pressed onto Pilate the imprint of its anxieties and its faith. He has haunted—and continues to haunt—our imagination. From the Evangelists and the Copts (for whom he was a saint, martyred himself on the Cross) to more recent philosophers, artists, novelists, and politicians, Pilate has been resurrected in different guises for two thousand years. Ann Wroe brings man and myth to life in a book that expands the possibilities of the biographical form and deepens our understanding of the mysteries of faith. It has often been said that Pontius Pilate was fingered by God to carry out the divine plan of salvation, just as clearly as Christ was. Ann Wroe shows how, in his hesitation before God, in his skepticism, his anxiety to do his job and exonerate himself of guilt, Pilate's story is very much our own.

Pontius Pilate

Random House]

The foil to Jesus, the defiant antihero of the Easter story, mocking, skeptical Pilate is a historical figure who haunts our imagination. For some he is a saint, for others the embodiment of human weakness, an archetypal politician willing to sacrifice one man for the sake of stability. In this dazzlingly conceived biography, a finalist for the Samuel Johnson Prize, Ann Wroe brings man and myth to life. Working from classical sources, she plunges us into the world of biblical Judaea under the reign of the erratic and licentious emperor Tiberius and lets us see the trial of Jesus, in all its confusion, from the point of view of his executioner.

Leaders & Notable People

Random House Publishing Group

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Books by WROE, Ann

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

Being Shelley: The Poet's Search for Himself

A Fool and His Money

Pilate

Perkin

Orpheus: The Song of Life

Being Shelley: The Poet's Search for Himself

Being Shelley: The Poet's Search for Himself

Pontius Pilate

Pontius Pilate

Pontius Pilate