Beard's Roman Women: By Anthony Burgess
By (Author) Graham Foster
By (author) Anthony Burgess
Manchester University Press
Manchester University Press
4th October 2018
United Kingdom
Hardback
216
Width 138mm, Height 216mm
Anthony Burgess draws upon an autobiographical episode to create Beard's Roman Women, the story of a man haunted by his first wife, presumed dead. But is she A marvellously economical book, full-flavoured, funny, and heartfelt, showing its author at the height of his powers. This new edition is the first to be published with David Robinson's photographs for over forty years. The text of the novel has been restored using the original typescripts, and Graham Foster's new introduction provides valuable insight into the fictional and biographical contexts of the novel. The text is fully annotated with a detailed set of notes and this edition includes the previously unpublished script for Burgess's television film By the Waters of Leman: Byron and Shelley at Geneva, and a rare piece of Burgess's writing about Rome. -- .
This is a strange and hybrid tale, and the story of its publishing history, admirably expounded by its editor Graham Foster, is well worth telling.
Margaret Drabble, TLS February 2019
Graham Foster is the Research and Public Engagement Fellow at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Manchester