Siegfried Sassoon: A Biography
Publishing Details
Siegfried Sassoon: A Biography
By (Author) Max Egremont
Pan Macmillan
Picador
10th October 2013
10th October 2013
United Kingdom
Classifications
General
Non Fiction
Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000
Literary studies: poetry and poets
821.912
Physical Properties
656
Width 131mm, Height 198mm, Spine 40mm
475g
Description
The life of Siegfried Sassoon has been recorded and interpreted in literature and film for over half a century. He is one of the great figures of the First World War, and Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man and Memoirs of an Infantry Officer are still widely read, as are his poems, which did much to shape our present ideas about the Great War. Sassoon was a genuine hero, a brave young officer who also became the war's most famous opponent, risking imprisonment and even a death sentence by throwing his Military Cross into the Mersey. He was friend to Robert Graves, mentor to Wilfred Owen and much admired by Churchill. But Sassoon was more than the embodiment of a romantic ideal; he was in many senses the perfect product of a vanished age. And many questions about his character, unique experience and motivations have remained unanswered until now.
Reviews
'Sassoon is the ultimate ambiguous man, and Egremont does him full justice . . . he has honoured him with a biography of subtle affection and truth' Sebastian Barry, Financial Times
'Egremont's work outclasses his predecessors . . . this is an outstanding and original biography' Max Hastings, Daily Telegraph
'Unmistakably the best thing anybody has ever written about Sassoon' D J Taylor, Independent
Egremonts work outclasses its predecessors . . . This is an outstanding and original biography Max Hastings, Daily Telegraph
Sassoon is the ultimate ambiguous man, and Egremont does him full justice . . . he has honoured him with a biography of subtle affection and truth Sebastian Barry, Financial Times
Unmistakably the best thing anybody has ever written about Sassoon D. J. Taylor, Independent
Comprehensive and perceptive . . . Egremont has produced a thorough, sympathetic, balanced, engrossing account Alan Judd, Spectator
Egremont is the first biographer to gain unimpeded access to the poets previously unseen papers . . . Like a great arc-light, this biography illuminates a room previously lit by torches John Stuart Roberts, Sunday Times
Author Bio
Max Egremont was born in 1948 and studied Modern History at Oxford University. As well as four novels, he is the author of two biographical studies, The Cousins, which won the Yorkshire Post First Book Award, and Balfour: A Life of James Arthur Balfour. Max Egremont lives in West Sussex with his wife and four children.
