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Albert Camus by Edward J. Hughes
Category: Philosophy and Religion | Series: Critical Lives Ser.
Winner of the Franco-British Society Literary Prize 2015 Few figures of twentieth-century French culture carry such an air of romance and intrigue as Albert Camus. Though his life was cut short by a fatal car accident in 1960, when he was just forty-six years old, he packed those years with an incredib ...Show more
Aldous Huxley by Jake Poller
Category: Biography and Memoir | Series: Critical Lives Ser.
"An outstanding book."--James Sexton "A welcome and necessary update of the life of one of the twentieth century's most provocative intellectuals."--Dana Sawyer A rich and lucid account of Aldous Huxley's life and work. Aldous Huxley was one of the twentieth century's most prescient thinkers. T ...Show more
Allen Ginsberg by Steve Finbow
Category: Biography Memoir | Series: Critical Lives
In this new critical biography of Allen Ginsberg, Steve Finbow re-examines the life, poetry and politics of this crucial poet and activist, and discusses his position in American letters and culture. The book moves from the influences of childhood - his poet father and schizophrenic mother - to his meet ...Show more
Antoni Gaudí by Michael Eaude
Category: Biography Memoir | Series: Critical Lives Ser.
An accessible account of the contradictory life and work of the modernist Catalan architect. The celebrated art nouveau architect Antoni Gaudí was a contradictory figure: a deeply religious, politically right-wing man who nevertheless built revolutionary buildings. This book explores Gaudí's life, wor ...Show more
Antonin Artaud by David A. Shafer
Category: Performing Arts Drama Plays | Series: Critical Lives
Poet, actor, playwright, surrealist, drug addict, asylum inmate--Antonin Artaud (1896-1949) is one of the twentieth century's most enigmatic personalities and idiosyncratic thinkers. In this biography, David A. Shafer takes readers on a voyage through Artaud's life, which he spent amid the company of Fr ...Show more
Arthur Rimbaud by Seth Whidden
Category: Biography | Series: Critical Lives Ser.
Before he turned twenty-one, Arthur Rimbaud (1854-91) had upended the house of French poetry and left it in shambles. In this critical biography, Seth Whidden argues that what makes Rimbaud's poetry important is part of what makes his life so compelling: rebellion, audacity, creativity, and exploration. ...Show more
Arthur Schopenhauer by Peter B. Lewis
Category: Philosophy and Religion | Series: Critical Lives
Arthur Schopenhauer devoted his adult life to the articulation of a philosophy for the world, a philosophy that would benefit mankind by providing a solution to the riddle of existence. Often considered a thoroughgoing pessimist, Schopenhauer in fact advocated ways - via artistic, moral and ascetic form ...Show more
Bertolt Brecht by Philip Glahn
Category: Performing Arts Drama Plays | Series: Critical Lives
Known for his experimental, modernist Epic Theatre and its 'alienation effect', Bertolt Brecht (1898 - 1956) sought to break down the division between high art and popular culture. The Threepenny Opera, his collaboration with composer Kurt Weill, was a milestone in musical theatre, and plays like Mother ...Show more
Byron by David Ellis
Category: General Biography | Series: Critical Lives Ser.
A fresh, concise account of the Romantic poet Lord Byron's flamboyant life and work. In this book, David Ellis traces Lord Byron's life from rented lodgings in Aberdeen and the crumbling splendors of Newstead Abbey to his final grand tour of Asia. Describing his exile from England as well as his subseq ...Show more
Carl Jung by Paul Bishop
Category: Philosophy and Religion | Series: Critical Lives
Carl Gustav Jung (1875 - 1961), as well as being one of the pioneers of psychology, is one of the most controversial of thinkers: in spite of being largely responsible for the introduction of now-familiar psychological terms such as 'extrovert' and 'introvert', Jung has often been sidelined, remaining o ...Show more
Charles Bukowski by David Stephen Calonne
Category: Biography | Series: Critical Lives
In this new interpretation of the life and work of the American poet, short-story writer and novelist "Charles Bukowski", David Stephen Calonne examines Bukowski's writings, colourful life and the desperate conditions of his lifestyle, looking at the literary traditions that influenced him and discussin ...Show more
Charles Darwin by J. David Archibald
Category: Science | Series: Critical Lives Ser.
A fresh account of Charles Darwin's rich personal and professional lives, well beyond On the Origin of Species. In 1859 Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species. With this bedrock of biology books, Darwin carved a new origin-story for all life: evolution rather than creation. But this singl ...Show more