Augustus John: The New Biography

Rating:
Summary: Biograpphy or Dictionary?
Review: In many ways an admirable book and Holroyd writes with elegance, knowledge and wit. He, however, follows the recent trend in biography by feeling it necessary to retail every tiny tidbit he has discovered about John. Long letters are printed, for example, when the relevant information could be capsulized in five words. The reader is finally distracted by the sheer volume of inconsequential material and the overwhelming feeling that the author doesn't believe that the reader can follow where he is going without constant, constant reinforcement. The book edges toward a sixth grade account of the summer at camp in which logical development is snowed under and beautiful writing obscured by detail.

Rating:
Summary: Biograpphy or Dictionary?
Review: In many ways an admirable book and Holroyd writes with elegance, knowledge and wit. He, however, follows the recent trend in biography by feeling it necessary to retail every tiny tidbit he has discovered about John. Long letters are printed, for example, when the relevant information could be capsulized in five words. The reader is finally distracted by the sheer volume of inconsequential material and the overwhelming feeling that the author doesn't believe that the reader can follow where he is going without constant, constant reinforcement. The book edges toward a sixth grade account of the summer at camp in which logical development is snowed under and beautiful writing obscured by detail.