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Robert Graves and the White Goddess: 1940-1985
Robert Graves and the White Goddess 1940-1985
- GenresBiographyNonfiction
618 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1995
About the author
Richard Perceval Graves
22 books3 followersRichard Perceval Graves (born 21 December 1945) is an English biographer, poet and lecturer, best known for his three-volume biography of his uncle Robert Graves.
Richard Graves was born in Brighton, England, the son of John Tiarks Ranke Graves, a younger son of Alfred Perceval Graves. He was educated at Tollard Royal, Dorset, The White House, Wokingham and at Holme Grange School, Wokingham. He went on to Copthorne School (1954–1959), Charterhouse (1959–1964) and St John's College, Oxford (1964–1968). At Oxford, Graves read Modern History and then completed a Diploma in Education. He then taught at several schools until 1973, the year in which he became a full-time writer.
Graves is the author of some nineteen books, including biographies of T. E. Lawrence, A. E. Housman, the Powys brothers (John Cowper Powys, Theodore Francis Powys and Llewelyn Powys) and Richard Hughes. He has written a number of other books on a variety of subjects, and collaborated on several other publishing projects. Graves continues to write, and lectures on the subjects and people about whom he has written. He is married with three children and lives in Shrewsbury, Shropshire.
Richard Graves was born in Brighton, England, the son of John Tiarks Ranke Graves, a younger son of Alfred Perceval Graves. He was educated at Tollard Royal, Dorset, The White House, Wokingham and at Holme Grange School, Wokingham. He went on to Copthorne School (1954–1959), Charterhouse (1959–1964) and St John's College, Oxford (1964–1968). At Oxford, Graves read Modern History and then completed a Diploma in Education. He then taught at several schools until 1973, the year in which he became a full-time writer.
Graves is the author of some nineteen books, including biographies of T. E. Lawrence, A. E. Housman, the Powys brothers (John Cowper Powys, Theodore Francis Powys and Llewelyn Powys) and Richard Hughes. He has written a number of other books on a variety of subjects, and collaborated on several other publishing projects. Graves continues to write, and lectures on the subjects and people about whom he has written. He is married with three children and lives in Shrewsbury, Shropshire.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 5, 2013
The third and last book of Richard Graves' biography of his uncle Robert Graves I finished with a sigh. The sheer volume of it all is one thing, the exasperating antics of Robert Graves personality another. This book covers the last forty years. In the first years of this period he writes The White Goddess and a few more, now lesser known, historical novels. Next follows a series of mostly controversial but unsuccessful projects like rewriting parts of the bible to uncover the hidden historical meaning. After this he finds fame and fortune through lecturing and playing the role of an old crackpot rebel. After money stops being a problem he never writes anything of much interest. Instead he fills his days romancing a string of much younger girlfriends, pardon me: muses. These muses may have brought inspiration and he may have relished his role as sugar daddy but it's all very tiring to have to read. Graves's last 10 years were marked by severe Alzheimer's.
I enjoyed ploughing through these 1200+ pages but my appraisal of the man has taken a severe beating. The biographer quotes freely from Graves's poetry and as poetry was his most important vocation it's a bit unnerving to learn what a Georgian relic Graves already was in the 1920ties. His verse is obscure, old-fashioned, trapped in craft and nearly unreadable because of it.
Of the three books this one strikes me as the weakest. Partly this is because there is not that much happening, partly it is also that the biographer himself enters the scene and comes across as biased. The last chapters especially are shallow and appear hastily written.
I enjoyed ploughing through these 1200+ pages but my appraisal of the man has taken a severe beating. The biographer quotes freely from Graves's poetry and as poetry was his most important vocation it's a bit unnerving to learn what a Georgian relic Graves already was in the 1920ties. His verse is obscure, old-fashioned, trapped in craft and nearly unreadable because of it.
Of the three books this one strikes me as the weakest. Partly this is because there is not that much happening, partly it is also that the biographer himself enters the scene and comes across as biased. The last chapters especially are shallow and appear hastily written.
October 4, 2021
The third book on the life of poet and novelist Robert Graves is the story of his achievement of great public success, and then what? So many poets have achieved greatness only to spend the rest of their lives in a hapless chase to regain it. Graves' unique pursuit of his path should be a salutory example to all that it need not be so. Along the way we also find out about his new muses and other new relationships both with his growing family as well as with the world. Particularly interesting are his lectures and synopses of his remarks on other poets including Lawrence, Hopkins, Yeats, Pound, Eliot, Auden, Thomas and Byron, most of whom earned his displeasure to a greater or lesser degree. There are also amusing vignettes such as Graves' introducing J.R.R. Tolkien to Ava Gardner when neither one had ever heard of the other. Although Graves' last decade is almost too sad and his pursuit of younger women sometimes a bit pathetic, overall it is always a moving, intriguing and enjoyable story.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews