on
3.5/5
Non-Fiction
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Pages: 7 hours
Started: 5 August
Finished: Technically DNF, but finished most of the book 10 August
Summary:
Engel provided a short biography of each author, which was followed by a small selection of the author's works. The biographies were well-explained, if giving the sense that some key insight was missing, and the readings of the works were generally engaging.
Wilde
Wilde's life were extremely interesting, even if this biography framed his problems (including his sexuality) as all being his own fault. I also quite liked his earlier works, but in my opinion they were totally overshadowed by De Profundis, his only piece of writing after prison. It was a bit depressing, but so much more fascinating and ponderous than the lighter-feeling words centered on aestheticism. "Pain, unlike pleasure, wears no mask" is such a brilliant idea. I am kind of obsessed.
Poe
Poe's life was fascinating, scintillating, and so utterly thematically on point--Poe is a prime example of how an author's life affects their works. He watched his mother die on stage again and again, and became obsessed with women rising from the grave. His mom died, his mom-replacement died, and then again, and then again. So he wrote about death. He met Dickens and talked about his raven, so he wrote a poem about a raven. I listened to his bio while going for a walk in the dark, grinning the entire time, and then recited The Raven along to the recording at 2.1x speed. The man was fascinating--even his death was dramatic and unfortunate and I am going to find a more complete biography of his soon because the guy's life matched his aesthetic too gloriously to be ignored.
Frost
I misliked both Frost's life and his works. He was jealous. He got better at writing because he was jealous. Then he got worse because he was jealous, and then he died. He really liked New England. If I needed a story about jealousy and obsession with something that everyone else sees as mediocre, I can look inside my own head. Some of Frost's poems are interesting; the more narrative works are cool, and I liked Engel's explanation of the repetition of the line "and miles to go before I sleep" in Stopping By Woods. But overall I do not think Frost is an author who deserves a moment more of my attention. Life is short. His poems are not worth it.