The Family Romance of the Impostor-Poet Thomas Chatterton [Paperback]

Louise J. Kaplan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 16, 1989

The enigma of Thomas Chatterton is investigated by Louise J. Kaplan, who untangles the counterfeiter from the artist, the troubled adolescent from the visionary poet, as she recreates the short life of a fatherless boy who found an authentic voice only in the realm of his imaginings.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Psychologist Kaplan argues that Thomas Chatterton used his forged "Rowley" poems to create the father he never knew, his own having died three months before Chatterton was born. Her thesis seems critically suspect in light of similar 18th-century forgeries by James Macpherson and William Henry Ireland, both equipped with the usual complement of parents. Though fascinating, tidbits about Chatterton's world shed no new light on Chatterton himself. Much better are Ian Haywood's The Making of History (Fairleigh Dickinson Univ. Pr., 1986), which place Macpherson's and Chatterton's forgeries in context, and Donald Taylor's Thomas Chatterton's Art ( LJ 12/1/78). Joseph Rosenblum, Univ. of North Carolina, Greensboro
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Louise J. Kaplan is the author of Oneness and Separateness and Adolescence: The Farewell to Childhood. She was director of child and adolescent clinical services at The Psychological Center of CUNY and is now engaged in private practice in New York City.

Product Details

• Paperback: 301 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; First Edition edition (February 16, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520065654
• ISBN-13: 978-0520065659
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,644,455 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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