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Oliver Goldsmith: His life and works
In view of the author of Oliver Goldsmith (originally published in 1974), the many biographies which have appeared seem defective in several respects. They either omit information which is readily available, or ignore essential features of Goldsmith’s life and character, or fail to see the real problems which should be considered; they are too prone to pass over or make light of Goldsmith’s faults. Dr Lytton Sells decided, therefore, that he would have to go back to the sources and to think out his character afresh.
There are strange gaps in the records of Goldsmith’s life, and many questions that remain unanswered. Goldsmith kept no journal and few of his letters have survived. He was an inveterate liar, and we cannot often give credence to what he tells us about himself. This is what makes the biographer’s task a difficult one; nevertheless, Dr Lytton Sells has tackled it with great enthusiasm and insight and has given us a life that is both sound and readable and takes account of all the evidence available. And to this he has added a full-length study of the works which will be invaluable to any student of English literature.
There are strange gaps in the records of Goldsmith’s life, and many questions that remain unanswered. Goldsmith kept no journal and few of his letters have survived. He was an inveterate liar, and we cannot often give credence to what he tells us about himself. This is what makes the biographer’s task a difficult one; nevertheless, Dr Lytton Sells has tackled it with great enthusiasm and insight and has given us a life that is both sound and readable and takes account of all the evidence available. And to this he has added a full-length study of the works which will be invaluable to any student of English literature.
423 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1974
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October 7, 2019
A useful resource, especially since there are so few detailed studies of Goldsmith's life. The main takeaway from the book is how many gaps we have in our knowledge of Goldsmith but also, his foreignness to English society made him seem to be more of a mystery than he really was. "His social habits, his behaviour, his accent, were unadapted to English standards. Too many Englishmen, he seemed a fool, because they did not understand his sense of humour, as the Irish did."(p. 191)
I would have liked a little more context and history of the period because some of political references in particular were obscure to me and it's quite a difficult period to dive into without a bit of background knowledge.
Sells has a huge bugbear against Johnson and it's a bit pointlessly spiteful at times but I can understand his annoyance that Johnson has cast Goldsmith into a critical shadow due to how much attention he attracts from biographers and researchers. This sentence for example is rather uncalled for: "To shine in conversation, to triump in argument, had become as necessary for [Johnson] as food and drink - which is saying a great deal."(p. 176). Like I said, while I can understand Sells' annoyance, I find these kind of schoolyard insults in an otherwise sober biography a bit unnecessary.
I would have liked a little more context and history of the period because some of political references in particular were obscure to me and it's quite a difficult period to dive into without a bit of background knowledge.
Sells has a huge bugbear against Johnson and it's a bit pointlessly spiteful at times but I can understand his annoyance that Johnson has cast Goldsmith into a critical shadow due to how much attention he attracts from biographers and researchers. This sentence for example is rather uncalled for: "To shine in conversation, to triump in argument, had become as necessary for [Johnson] as food and drink - which is saying a great deal."(p. 176). Like I said, while I can understand Sells' annoyance, I find these kind of schoolyard insults in an otherwise sober biography a bit unnecessary.
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