Samuel Butler
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:
Condition: Good to fair. Jacket: worn/faded, chipping and tears but still structural (refer to image). Page Condition: Good - possible tanning. Markings: possible previous owner inscription.
Samuel Butler remains one of Victorian literature's most provocative and misunderstood figures — a writer whose satirical brilliance, scientific heterodoxy, and savage wit placed him perpetually at odds with the comfortable certainties of his age. G. D. H. Cole's critical study presents an incisive portrait of the man behind such landmark works as Erewhon and The Way of All Flesh, chronicling Butler's intellectual rebellions against Darwinism, organised religion, and the stifling hypocrisies of Victorian family life. Cole illuminates Butler's extraordinary range as a thinker and artist, from his sharp-tongued travel writing and provocative theories on the Odyssey to his deeply personal, semi-autobiographical fiction that shocked and thrilled readers in equal measure. As part of the distinguished English Novelists Series, this compact critical monograph argues that Butler's seemingly eccentric preoccupations — evolution, memory, unconscious habit — form a remarkably coherent and prescient worldview that anticipates many currents of twentieth-century thought. Cole's analytical prose is measured yet authoritative, cutting through the myths that surrounded Butler in his lifetime to reveal a writer of profound originality and lasting importance. For those who have yet to encounter Butler's unsettling vision of humanity, this study serves as both an indispensable introduction and an irresistible invitation.
Author: G. D. H. Cole
Format: Hardback
Genre: Biography
Condition remarks:
Condition: Good to fair. Jacket: worn/faded, chipping and tears but still structural (refer to image). Page Condition: Good - possible tanning. Markings: possible previous owner inscription.
Samuel Butler remains one of Victorian literature's most provocative and misunderstood figures — a writer whose satirical brilliance, scientific heterodoxy, and savage wit placed him perpetually at odds with the comfortable certainties of his age. G. D. H. Cole's critical study presents an incisive portrait of the man behind such landmark works as Erewhon and The Way of All Flesh, chronicling Butler's intellectual rebellions against Darwinism, organised religion, and the stifling hypocrisies of Victorian family life. Cole illuminates Butler's extraordinary range as a thinker and artist, from his sharp-tongued travel writing and provocative theories on the Odyssey to his deeply personal, semi-autobiographical fiction that shocked and thrilled readers in equal measure. As part of the distinguished English Novelists Series, this compact critical monograph argues that Butler's seemingly eccentric preoccupations — evolution, memory, unconscious habit — form a remarkably coherent and prescient worldview that anticipates many currents of twentieth-century thought. Cole's analytical prose is measured yet authoritative, cutting through the myths that surrounded Butler in his lifetime to reveal a writer of profound originality and lasting importance. For those who have yet to encounter Butler's unsettling vision of humanity, this study serves as both an indispensable introduction and an irresistible invitation.