Paul Morphy: The Pride and Sorrow of Chess

by David Lawson

Paul Morphy: The Pride and Sorrow of Chess is the only full-length biography of Paul Morphy, the antebellum chess prodigy who launched United States participation in international chess and is still generally acknowledged as the greatest American chess player of all time. But Morphy was more than a player. He was a shy, retiring lawyer who had been taught that such games were no way to make a living. The strain of his fame and the pull of his domineering family led Morphy to set another precedent; chess madness. Morphy's mental descent after retiring from chess became a part of his lore, made all the more magnanimous by a spate of twentieth-century examples.

The Pride and Sorrow of Chess tells the full known story of the life of Paul Morphy, from his privileged upbringing in New Orleans to his dominance of the chess world, to the later tragedy of his demise. This new edition of David Lawson's seminal work, still the principal source for all Morphy biographical presentations, also includes new biographical material about the biographer himself, telling the story of the author, his opus, and the previously unknown life that brought him to the research.

Genres: Chess, Biography, Nonfiction

424 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Bernard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it. This is my second Morphy bio and it is the best. I got one more to read but this one covers a lot.

[Kane Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted so much for this book to be amazing, but was so disappointed, probably close to 1/3 of the book is just copy and pasted letters written by, to or about Paul Morphy. Very little about his life outside of chess was talked about. The opera game is barely discussed.

[Lea Merone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative and interesting for those of us passionate about chess, however the author is a lazy writer. Pages upon pages of just regurgitated original letters articles - if I wanted to read them I’d have found them myself. A good biographer should summarise for the reader. This book was consequentially quite arduous at times, esp as do my leisure reading right before sleep. Could have been a great book but owing to the laziness of the writer it was a mediocre book that is only carried by the interesting topic. 3 stars.

[Scott Callahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-researched. The author embeds many letters, newspaper columns and block quotes into the text; probably about 1/3 of the book is primary source material of this type, as others have said. The chapters on Morphy's return home from Europe were a bit boring.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paul Morphy is one of those characters who is and probably will always be referenced in relation to chess whether in regards to a solid style of play or the idea bringing pieces into the attack which he was well known for. Considering Morphy's impact on the modern chess game and theory having a back story to fill holes and understand more about how he developed both on and off the board was a delighted to myself as a chess player.

The book uses many letters and articles as references often quoting them exactly as they are in their entirety. The book is very factual and can be incredibly dry at some points if you're not looking to understand the series of events that happened or failed to happened leading up to the "First World Championship" chess match and the dialogue between the people involved. One would be surprised how much of a quarrel could come about and how politely at the same time. Lawson also talks about Morphy's attempts at practicing law and the struggles his family had with his travel and time spent abroad.

Overall this was a solid addition to my collection of chess related books and cleared up any questions I would have had about the life of Morphy. However unless you're very adamant about chess itself I doubt you would receive enough from this book for the time investment.

[Joe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Paul Morphy, the 19th-century New Orleans chess master, was an extraordinarily talented, troubled, and interesting man. This is an extraordinarily dull book about him. It is less a biography than a series of clippings, with minimal, if almost always obsequious, commentary. I read it because I am considering writing about Morphy myself. I can’t advise anyone else to do so.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

So long as I skipped past the long testimonial speeches, the biographical details and accounts of Morphy's tour through Europe were excellent.

[Chad]

I tried with this book. I was excited to read it as Morphy is a player I have wanted to learn more about. But ultimately it was just a little too tedious for me to read. The author has clearly done their homework and has assembled an impressive amount of source material.

But as many other reviewers have pointed out, the construction of the book just doesn’t work for me - with brief passages from the author, followed by sometimes incredibly long quotes from people who knew Morphy or were present for certain events or from media sources of the era. It gives the book an overly academic feel for me and I found it irritating to flip back and forth between the modern tone of the author and the nineteenth century speech of the other sources quoted. The book also feels a bit myopic at times as it seems like a great deal of text and quotes are employed in the telling of a fairly straightforward event.

Reading this book it was hard to not think about the old trick we used in school. When your paper wasn’t quite as long as you needed it to be - just add a bunch of quotes.

There’s also very little actual chess - or at least not much that I came across. And it’s in descriptive notation so that may be a dealbreaker for some. The games I did go over I was able to find online so that made it easier to follow but there was very little annotation, either.

This book will work for some. It just didn’t work for me.

[Paulo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a light read. Author David Lawson spent decades collecting material on Paul Morphy. Much of that material, including speeches, private letters, and published articles by or about Morphy appear verbatim. This is supplemented by several pictures of memorabilia, relevant places and events, and of course Morphy himself.

The overall effect is mixed. The series of letters create a sort of epistolary novel that reveals the genteel atmosphere of 19th-century chess, complete with salons full of refined gentlemen and exquisite banquets preceded by tiresome speeches. Other twists include the “chess fever” that Morphy inspired in the United States and the copious venom distilled in the American and European press.

Unfortunately the author’s zealous scholarship makes for some very dry passages. Most readers will want to skip the details of match conditions and disquisitions about mistakes by other chess historians. Some of Morphy’s chess matches are included, but an outdated notation is used. This material is much easier to find online.

Overall an enjoyable read that brings to life a bygone world, where gentlemen sought to adorn and exalt the intellect, and a fitting tribute to Paul Charles Morphy.

[Susanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

notes for a biography

There are other books of easier access one written aby a contemporary and stopping at the point of Morphy's European triumph. Good book no dooubt for research.

[Tiarnán · Rating 4 out of 5]

very interesting. too much verbatim reproduction of speeches and correspondence, however.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book will be of interest only to chess enthusiasts and probably not to most of them. Use of long block quotations and a rather turgid style of prose made getting through this book a bit of a slog. Still, it was interesting to read about the first American champion, born long before Bobby Fischer who, like Fischer, lead a rather troubled life.

I would have like to have seen more description of the sites where the events happen, especially ofLa Régence, the chess cafe in Paris that exists to this day.

[Alex Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty interesting story about Morphy. The version I have is updated. Not all the facts are clear as this happened so long ago and not all the records are available today, but it does tell the compelling tale of the man who made chess modern. If you are interested in chess this is a great read, but I am not so sure anyone else would be interested in reading this.

[James Fields · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this for the information. The writing style leaves much to be desired, but it beats the only other biography of Morphy (from the turn of the century) which has more art and less wit.