Unafraid of Virginia Woolf: The Friends and Enemies of Roy Campbell [Paperback]

Joseph Pearce (Author)

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*Starred Review* Pearce's meticulous biography of the twentieth-century Anglo-African poet Campbell (1901-57) has been wisely retitled (from Bloomsbury and Beyond) to grab the eyes of Americans who know Campbell from nothing but certainly catch the allusion to Albee's famous play. Indeed, Campbell wasn't afraid of Woolf, whose lover Vita Sackville-West seduced his wife, Mary Garman, and whose influential set he caustically denounced for its "sex socialism" and snotty atheism. Inured to danger by a strenuous South African youth, during which he set aside petty racism, he seemed afraid of nothing. Repairing to England for college, he instead dove into the restless existence he continued, save for five years in Provence while his daughters were small, for the rest of his life. In 1933 he moved his family to Spain, converted to Catholicism, and witnessed the anarchist-Communist rape of Toledo and anticlerical rampage; he thereafter controversially supported Franco for defending the church. He loved common farmers, fishers, and laborers; essayed strenuous folk sports, including bullfighting; drank and argued nearly as prodigiously as his friend Dylan Thomas, whose broadcasting career he launched; and published 28 books. His tempestuous, thrilling life ended in a road accident. His reputation quickly shrank, but Pearce's generous quotation of his poems, essays, autobiography, and letters strongly argue for its revival. He was, perhaps, the "real" Hemingway, an athlete-aesthete par excellence. Ray Olson
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About the Author

Joseph Pearce is writer in residence at Ave Maria College. A prolific writer, his previous biographies include Old Thunder: A Life of Hilaire Belloc, Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile, Wisdom and Innocence: A Life of G. K. Chesterton, and The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde.

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Intercollegiate Studies Institute (June 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932236368
• ISBN-13: 978-1932236361
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,237,618 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Top Drawer, August 5, 2004

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Athanasius (NYC) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Unafraid of Virginia Woolf: The Friends and Enemies of Roy Campbell (Paperback)

I'm a fan of Roy Campbell, and have long been dismayed by the fact that a poet of his talent is today largely forgotten and almost completely unread. I'm grateful, therefore, to Joseph Pearce for this truly excellent biography (which, unlike his work on Belloc, actually contains photos!)

But, with all respect and appreciation, I must mention some aspects that annoyed me. First, Mr. Pearce's prissy tut-tutting regarding Campbell's gloves-off attacks on his detractors (as well as his -- gasp! -- "reactionary" politics) is rather wearisome. Second, I was stunned to read [p. 161] "When, three years later, Hart Crane committed suicide by throwing himself off the very same [Brooklyn] bridge...." Come now, Mr. Pearce! Even the most elementary research would have informed you that Crane committed suicide by jumping from a ship in the Gulf of Mexico. Finally, Mr. Pearce's "Postmortem" is a bit weak, as he doesn't offer his assessment of Campbell's reputation as a poet some 50 years after his death.

Well, I had to get that off my chest. None of the mentioned negatives, however, detract in any way from my hearty recommendation of this book.