A Double Life: A Biography of Charles and Mary Lamb - Hardcover

Burton, Sarah

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670893994 ISBN 13: 9780670893997

Publisher: Viking, 2003

Synopsis

The little known story of the inseparable brother and sister, lights of the Romantic circle, privately haunted by madness

Wordsworth thought that if there were such a thing as a good man, it would be Charles Lamb, while Hazlitt believed Mary Lambto be the only sensible woman he knew. The couple's literary reputation rested partly on the famous Tales from Shakespeare. And yet there was an unhappier side: Charles was an alcoholic and Mary, in an attack of insanity, stabbed their mother to death.

This fascinating account reaches to the heart of early nineteenth century London, meeting its eccentrics and its literary giants. It also visits the city's darker corners, where poverty stalks rented rooms and madhouses conceal terrible abuse.

About this title

Review:

Hefty biographical treatment of Charles and Mary Lamb, luminaries of early nineteenth-century literary life, authors of Tales from Shakespeare (1807), key figures in the romantic movement. This inseparable brother and sister were acquainted with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, William Hazlitt, Mary Shelley, William Godwin, Thomas de Quincey and many other now less well known figures in the history of romanticism. But Mary suffered bouts of insanity and Charles was an alcoholic, conditions brought on by a terrible family event that cast a long shadow over their lives. A work of serious scholarship, particularly good on the early treatment of madness, with plenty of footnotes yet also eminently readable. And the terrible event, while no great secret, is still shocking more than 200 years later.

Synopsis:

Charles and Mary Lamb were part of London's famous literary network in the early 19th century. But they were also siblings tied together by a horrific event. In September 1796, Mary murdered her mother with a carving knife during a fit of insanity as the family prepared for dinner. Charles, who was only 21 at the time, took it upon himself to care for his sister throughout her life as she swung between sanity and madness. Meanwhile, Charles also suffered from severe depressions and alcoholism and at one point had to admit himself to the Hoxton madhouse. This account of Charles and Mary Lamb reaches to the heart of early 19th-century London, meeting its eccentrics and its literary giants. It also visits the city's darker corners, where poverty stalked rented rooms and madhouses concealed terrible abuse.

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0670893994
• ISBN 13: 9780670893997
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 464