Light on a Dark Horse: An Autobiography, 1901–1935
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Jacket: Worn/faded - no tears. Pages: good, previous owner, Ex-lib with usual markings
Roy Campbell’s Light on a Dark Horse is a flamboyant, visceral, and unapologetically heroic account of one of the twentieth century’s most tempestuous literary figures. Born in South Africa and later becoming a fixture of the bohemian London scene, Campbell recounts his transition from the untamed landscapes of his youth—where he spent his days hunting, riding, and living in near-primitive freedom—to the sophisticated, often suffocating intellectual circles of Bloomsbury. With the vigor of a man who served as a bullfighter, whaler, and soldier, he paints a self-portrait that is as much a swashbuckling adventure story as it is a memoir, capturing a life lived at the jagged edges of experience. Beyond the daring exploits and colorful anecdotes, the work serves as a powerful testament to the "big-action" poet, a vanishing breed in the modern age. Campbell’s prose is infused with the same classical grace and fiery intensity that characterized his best verse, revealing his deep-seated romantic idealism, his abrasive wit, and his intense reactions against the status quo. It is a vital, if occasionally contentious, document of a life defined by physical engagement with the world—a rare, unfiltered look at a poet who rejected the detached academic life in favor of the raw, unpredictable reality of existence.
Author: Roy Campbell
Format: Hardback
Genre: Biography
Condition remarks:
Jacket: Worn/faded - no tears. Pages: good, previous owner, Ex-lib with usual markings
Roy Campbell’s Light on a Dark Horse is a flamboyant, visceral, and unapologetically heroic account of one of the twentieth century’s most tempestuous literary figures. Born in South Africa and later becoming a fixture of the bohemian London scene, Campbell recounts his transition from the untamed landscapes of his youth—where he spent his days hunting, riding, and living in near-primitive freedom—to the sophisticated, often suffocating intellectual circles of Bloomsbury. With the vigor of a man who served as a bullfighter, whaler, and soldier, he paints a self-portrait that is as much a swashbuckling adventure story as it is a memoir, capturing a life lived at the jagged edges of experience. Beyond the daring exploits and colorful anecdotes, the work serves as a powerful testament to the "big-action" poet, a vanishing breed in the modern age. Campbell’s prose is infused with the same classical grace and fiery intensity that characterized his best verse, revealing his deep-seated romantic idealism, his abrasive wit, and his intense reactions against the status quo. It is a vital, if occasionally contentious, document of a life defined by physical engagement with the world—a rare, unfiltered look at a poet who rejected the detached academic life in favor of the raw, unpredictable reality of existence.