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Nigel Smith

Andrew Marvell: The Chameleon Hardcover – November 30, 2010

by Nigel Smith (Author)

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The seventeenth-century poet Andrew Marvell (1621–1678) is one of the most intriguing figures in English literature. A noted civil servant under Cromwell’s Protectorate, he has been variously identified as a patriot, spy, conspirator, concealed homosexual, father to the liberal tradition, and incendiary satirical pamphleteer and freethinker. But while Marvell’s poetry and prose has attracted a wide modern following, his prose is known only to specialists, and much of his personal life remains shrouded in mystery.

Nigel Smith’s pivotal biography provides an unparalleled look into Marvell’s life, from his early employment as a tutor and gentleman’s companion to his suspicious death, reputedly a politically fueled poisoning. Drawing on exhaustive archival research, the voluminous corpus of Marvell’s previously little known writing, and recent scholarship across several disciplines, Smith’s portrait becomes the definitive account of this elusive life.

Print length

416 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Yale University Press
Publication date

November 30, 2010
Dimensions

6 x 1.25 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0300112211
ISBN-13

978-0300112214
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Nigel Smith
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Superlative. . . . The fullest portrait we have to date."—David Yezzi, The Wall Street Journal
(David Yezzi The Wall Street Journal)

"Nigel Smith. . . has certainly mastered everything that can be learned about this elusive, shadowy and very private man."—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post
(Michael Dirda The Washington Post)

"Smith asks the right questions about Marvell's life and time, and he works assiduously in helping to lay 'a new foundation of the documentary knowledge.' . . . [A] worthy biography."—Megan Buskey, The New York Times Book Review (Megan Buskey The New York Times Book Review)

"He offers the fullest available account of Marvell's political activities, fully contextualized. . . . [An] indispensible guide."—Paul Dean, The New Criterion (Paul Dean The New Criterion)

"Nigel Smith attends skillfully to the poetry, but he also provides extensive information about the period as well as the complicated development of Marvell's political and religious views. . . . [Smith's] is probably the most complete biography of Marvell we are likely to see."—Jerome Donnelly, America (Jerome Donnelly America)

"Smith makes an excellent case for the enduring power of Marvell's occasional poems and satires."—Adam Kirsch, Barnes and Noble Review
(Adam Kirsch Barnes and Noble Review)

"[A] worthy biography."—Megan Buskey, The New York Times Book Review
(Megan Buskey The New York Times Book Review)

"[An] exhaustive, shrewd, wary new biography...Thepoet as craft chameleon in Smith's smart and resonant readings is also the poet as skulking, threatened double agent."—Robert Polito, Bookforum (Robert Polito Bookforum)

"It is an achievment of astonishing depth and equally impressive scope, covering a fascinating, complex period of English history. The book is must reading for early modern scholars."—M. Cole, CHOICE (M. Cole CHOICE)

"Meticulously researched and scholarly in tone, this noteworthy study provides a suitable balance of historical context and literary criticism. Strongly recommended for students and general readers of 17th-century English literature and history."—Brian Odom, Library Journal (Brian Odom Library Journal)

“Insightful, provocative.”—Books and Culture (Books and Culture)

"Nigel Smith's massive effort . . . obviates the need for any further such survey of Marvell's life and art . . . [Smith's] grasp of seventeenth-century English history, politics, religion, society, is beyond impressive, and he is also a sensitive reader of poetry."—William H. Pritchard, The Hudson Review (William H. Pritchard The Hudson Review)

“Nigel Smith… has now filled [a] void with this authoritative Life.”—Barton Swaim, The Weekly Standard (Barton Swaim The Weekly Standard)

"Smith's meticulous archival research . . . allows a portrait of the young Marvell to form from relatively few life records. . . . Smith is able to identify relationships between [the political ideas of the prose and the depictions of love and sexuality in the lyric poems] in provocative ways."—Curtis Whitaker, Huntington Library Quarterly (Curtis Whitaker Huntington Library Quarterly)

Selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2011 in the English and American category. (Choice Outstanding Academic Title Choice 2012-03-12)

“This context of danger, where revelations of identity can mean a beheading, permeates the poet’s literary as well as his political work, as this scholarly biography shows.”—Sunday Herald (Glasgow) (Sunday Herald (Glasgow) 2012-04-29)

Shortlisted for the 2011 HW Fisher Best First Biography Prize (HW Fisher Best First Biography Prize Shortlist Biographers' Club 2011-06-08)

About the Author

Nigel Smith is professor of English and codirector of the Center for the Study of Books and Media at Princeton University.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Yale University Press; First edition. (November 30, 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0300112211
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0300112214
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.9 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.25 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,777,018 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #19,455 in Political Leader Biographies
- #20,585 in Author Biographies
- #117,599 in World History (Books)

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Red Nichols

Sweetheart, Get Me Rewrite. . .

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 20, 2011

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Charles Nicholl praised this book, no doubt as a courtesy to a fellow biographer, but I found it a major disappointment. Prof. Smith is a diligent researcher who seems to have dredged up every official document ever translated or transcribed by Marvell, the hard-working bureaucrat/parliamentarian.
Unfortunately, Prof. Smith also has a tin ear. His clumsy style, awkward syntax and jarring transitions interfered with my enjoyment on a page-by-page basis. For a writer with such a large vocabulary, he repeatedly fails to hit on le mot juste, while relying on such anemic academic terms as 'topos' with annoying frequency.
Meanwhile, his discussion of the poems is seldom helpful and occasionally incoherent.
To be fair, Prof. Smith's editors share much of the blame. The book is a choppy read, to say the least.
Do yourself a favour; read Eliot's terrific essay on the poet and study four or five of his finest poems. You'll get much closer to Marvell's essence than you will by reading this book.

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Charles Cosner

Excellent Biography

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 29, 2011

Nigel Smith's biography is indispensible to the study of Andrew Marvell. Smith is also editor of the Longman Complete Poetry of Marvell. Supercedes the older Legouis biography. Highly recommended.

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booklover2014

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 9, 2016

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A scholarly and well written study of one of the serious and enigmatic poets

F MCLEAN

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 30, 2017

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Great biography. Very good read.

Paul Bembridge

Nigel Smith disappoints

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 11, 2012

Verified Purchase

Sorry, Nigel. This is dull. OK, worthy, but dull. It stuffs us with contextual detail but it doesn't get to the man that was Andrew Marvell, my favourite poet, a man with a sense of humour and a wonderfully esoteric view of life.

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Andrew Marvell: The Chameleon Hardcover – November 30, 2010

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