World Enough and Time: The Life of Andrew Marvell

Rating:
Summary: A Chameleon's Life
Review: Marvell's is not an easy life to write. His remarkable caution in a remarkable time led to a dearth of biographical source material. Murray, at times, seems to have limited sympathy for Marvell, and the thinness of his source material sometimes gives the impression of 'slightness' to his treatment. But in the last third of the book, I got a glimpse of a Marvell I'd never seen anywhere else - tough, fearless and at risk in ways we can't imagine. I give the book THREE STARS, but relative to other available biographies on Marvell, it probably deserves FOUR. If you're interested in Marvell, it's well worth reading.