Frances wilson author biography john

We do gain more sympathy for him — or rather, empathy, for he is not often a sympathetic character. The flaw in the book, for some, will be that Wilson over-eggs this. At a number of points, Wilson abandons her Ismay content entirely for some English-lit-degree discussion of Conrad's writing — sometimes for pages on end. Sometimes this relates back to the Ismay story, but on others it leads to irrelevant tangents like "for Conrad the modernist, meaning is always carved out of language but words are also 'the great foes of reality'" pg.

On such occasions, Wilson is more often a literary critic than a popular historian, and the reader's interest begins to wane. And though Conrad dominates, he is not the only writer invited to intrude. An attempt to link Ismay's responses to the US inquiry to Lewis Carroll's use of the word 'unimportant' in Alice in Wonderland is laboured and perplexing ppand at one point Wilson is so lost in her weeds that she contextualises Conrad, her literary reference point, by referring to another literary reference point The Wind in the Willows on page It is, at best, peculiar; at worst, it is a deal-breaker for some Titanic buffs who would otherwise be interested in this book.

But, to use a literary reference that Wilson might appreciate, all's well that ends well, and How to Survive the Titanic does fulfil its remit of grappling with the obtuse and contradictory J. Wilson writes well, sometimes very well, and while some relevant points of the story remain under-explored Ismay's alleged affair with the fashion reporter Edith Russell, for one, or the newspaperman William Randolph Hearst's dislike for Ismay, which perhaps accounts for some of the press hostilitythe book does well to provide a comprehensive accounting of Ismay's ill-fated Titanic odyssey and penance without exhausting the reader some odd literary digressions aside.

The tragedy of the Titan submersible has reminded us of the fascination that this topic still holds for us, but Wilson's book reminds us that the story of the Titanicwhich announced the chaos that was to characterise the rest of the 20th century, did not need this unfortunate 21st-century epilogue. Tales like those of Ismay have always, and will always, hold our interest tightly.

This biography, in combination with a FutureLearn.

Frances wilson author biography john: Frances Wilson is an author and

Typical of women of the era, she gave up so much for her brother, but she was no doormat and made a satisfying life for herself. A book well worth reading, and try reading her letters and his poems at the same time. Most satisfying. I once had a 19th c copy of that book and read it, or rather read at it. Mary Godwin Shelly heard Coleridge recite his famous poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner one night when she was supposed to be in bed.

This whole, crazy, pre-Victorian wild world was a marvel. Why didn't my teachers tell us these things back in the 60's? Surely we would have understood the Romantic counter-culture as similar to the world we were growing up in! My interest piqued, I finally was able to pick up this biography of De Quincy and through his life learned about William Wordsworth and Coleridge and the movement they founded, which had lured De Quincy to them like a moth to a flame, sure he had found his true home in their philosophy What an interesting life!

De Quincy was well-read and had a capacious memory. He thought that school had nothing to teach him and he dropped out just before gaining his degree.

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He lived on the street, sharing any good fortune with a young prostitute. Coming of age, he inherited wealth, then squandered it. Wilson describes this diminutive man, shy and uncertain, his brain packed with learning and books, standing on the path to Wordsworth's cottage with fear and trembling, then running away, gathering his courage to approach again several years later.

First, he introduced himself to Wordsworth's special friend, Coleridge. Finally meeting, De Quincy, an ardent apostle, was taken in by William and his sister Dorothy Wordsworth. William was distant but Dorothy became close to the younger De Quincy.

Frances wilson author biography john: Follow John Francis Wilson and explore

And over the years, a disappointed De Quincy broke away from Wordsworth the man while still admiring his literary oeuvre. Familiarity breeds contempt is one lesson from De Quincy's life. Another lesson is that opium was perceived as a creative aid, but in reality, destroyed the body and pocketbook. And kept De Quincy from achieving the success that seemed to drop into Wordsworth's lap.

The Romantic Era turned to sensibility, deeply felt emotions, in a pendulum swing away from the Age of Reason. Just as in the s, drugs were believed to open the mind. De Quincy was not alone in his opium use; along with Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelly, we can add Branwell Bronte, the brilliant and doomed brother of his more illustrious sisters, who appeared at De Quincy's door in homage.

De Quincy, avidly avoiding his creditors, did not answer. The drug was easily obtained because it was standard pharmaceutical fare. And John Jacob Aster made a fortune by shipping it to England. De Quincy loved children, including his own, but was a lousy provider and part-time family man. Well, who can write at home surrounded by kids and wife and debt collectors?

Book reviews [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. ISBN Retrieved 1 July She is no longer listed among academic staff. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers" ". Archived from the original on 19 September Society of Authors. Authority control databases. Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata Use dmy dates from April Incomplete lists from August A: I'm drawn as a writer to complicated people and to trauma, and what struck me about Ismay was the extraordinary strangeness of his behavior, that he behaved in the exact opposite of the way that other men of his background were expected to behave.

I wondered what it was like it for him, why he made that snap decision to save his own life. Q: What did he do when the ship sank? A: His version of events is rather different from other people's versions. Ismay says he helped to load eight lifeboats on the starboard side of the ship, filling the last lifeboats with women and children.