Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 Graham Greene, the West, and Human Factors
- 2 Imperialism and Sentiment: Paul Scott's Raj Quartet and the Mountbattens
- 3 Forster's Views on Race and Class and Moral Imperatives
- 4 Kipling on Goodness and the Great Game
- 5 Political Perspectives and Moral Fervour in Joseph Conrad
- 6 Henry James on Personal Relations: Looking Beneath and Beyond
- 7 The Heroic Vitalism of D. H. Lawrence
- 8 James Joyce and the Life of Dubliners
- 9 Evelyn Waugh and the City of Aquatint
- 10 Virginia Woolf and Time's Chariot
- 11 Robert Graves' Sense of History
- 12 Christopher Isherwood and Berlin in Decline
- 13 Aldous Huxley and the Dangers of a World Without Ideas
- 14 Somerset Maugham and the Strengths of Simplicity
- 15 Agatha Christie and the Magic of Murder
- 16 Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes
- 17 Galsworthy and Social and Sexual Transition
- 18 The Unchanging World of P. G. Wodehouse
- 19 Frank Richards and the Preposterous Excesses of Billy Bunter
- 20 John Buchan and a Life beyond Letters
- 21 Richmal crompton's William and the Charms of the Unorthodox
- 22 Edith Nesbit and the Pleasures of Childhood
- 23 The Excessive Vitalism of Bernard Shaw
- 24 The Melancholia of Katherine Mansfield
- 25 J. M. Barrie and the Boy Who Never Grew Up
- 26 Kenneth Grahame's Singular Mr Toad
- 27 The Wicked Worlds of George Orwell
- 28 Enid Blyton's Evocations of Britain
- 29 Tolkien and the Pursuit and Achievement of Power
- 30 Transitions in the Worlds of C. S. Lewis
- 31 Noël Coward and the Games People Play
- 32 Rattigan's Sensitivities
- 33 Lawrence Durrell and the Uses of Sexuality
- 34 Anthony Powell and the Hollow Heart of the New England
- 35 Angus Wilson and the Pursuit of Values
- 36 William Golding and the Limits of Civilization
- 37 Anthony Burgess and the Energy of the Outsider
- 38 The Ineffable Angst of Samuel Beckett
- 39 Pinter and the Politics of Literature
- 40 Ian Fleming's Establishment and its Guardian
- 41 Le Carré's Hard-pressed Concept of Honour
- 42 Beyond Shadows – Naipaul's Brilliant Bad Temper
- 43 Muriel Spark and Remembrances of Mortality
- 44 The Bizarre Worlds of J. G. Ballard
- 45 Simon Raven's Extravagant Decency
- 46 Salman Rushdie's Magic
- 47 Vikram Seth's Romanticism
- 48 Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's Pictures of Past and Present
- 49 The Relentless Anguish of Kazuo Ishiguro
- 50 Gerald Durrell's Human Zoos
- 51 T. E. Lawrence and the Limits of Commitment
11 - Robert Graves' Sense of History
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 Graham Greene, the West, and Human Factors
- 2 Imperialism and Sentiment: Paul Scott's Raj Quartet and the Mountbattens
- 3 Forster's Views on Race and Class and Moral Imperatives
- 4 Kipling on Goodness and the Great Game
- 5 Political Perspectives and Moral Fervour in Joseph Conrad
- 6 Henry James on Personal Relations: Looking Beneath and Beyond
- 7 The Heroic Vitalism of D. H. Lawrence
- 8 James Joyce and the Life of Dubliners
- 9 Evelyn Waugh and the City of Aquatint
- 10 Virginia Woolf and Time's Chariot
- 11 Robert Graves' Sense of History
- 12 Christopher Isherwood and Berlin in Decline
- 13 Aldous Huxley and the Dangers of a World Without Ideas
- 14 Somerset Maugham and the Strengths of Simplicity
- 15 Agatha Christie and the Magic of Murder
- 16 Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes
- 17 Galsworthy and Social and Sexual Transition
- 18 The Unchanging World of P. G. Wodehouse
- 19 Frank Richards and the Preposterous Excesses of Billy Bunter
- 20 John Buchan and a Life beyond Letters
- 21 Richmal crompton's William and the Charms of the Unorthodox
- 22 Edith Nesbit and the Pleasures of Childhood
- 23 The Excessive Vitalism of Bernard Shaw
- 24 The Melancholia of Katherine Mansfield
- 25 J. M. Barrie and the Boy Who Never Grew Up
- 26 Kenneth Grahame's Singular Mr Toad
- 27 The Wicked Worlds of George Orwell
- 28 Enid Blyton's Evocations of Britain
- 29 Tolkien and the Pursuit and Achievement of Power
- 30 Transitions in the Worlds of C. S. Lewis
- 31 Noël Coward and the Games People Play
- 32 Rattigan's Sensitivities
- 33 Lawrence Durrell and the Uses of Sexuality
- 34 Anthony Powell and the Hollow Heart of the New England
- 35 Angus Wilson and the Pursuit of Values
- 36 William Golding and the Limits of Civilization
- 37 Anthony Burgess and the Energy of the Outsider
- 38 The Ineffable Angst of Samuel Beckett
- 39 Pinter and the Politics of Literature
- 40 Ian Fleming's Establishment and its Guardian
- 41 Le Carré's Hard-pressed Concept of Honour
- 42 Beyond Shadows – Naipaul's Brilliant Bad Temper
- 43 Muriel Spark and Remembrances of Mortality
- 44 The Bizarre Worlds of J. G. Ballard
- 45 Simon Raven's Extravagant Decency
- 46 Salman Rushdie's Magic
- 47 Vikram Seth's Romanticism
- 48 Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's Pictures of Past and Present
- 49 The Relentless Anguish of Kazuo Ishiguro
- 50 Gerald Durrell's Human Zoos
- 51 T. E. Lawrence and the Limits of Commitment
Summary
I had thought of moving on after Virginia Woolf to the writers of the period after the Second World War, since I would not describe as classic any other writers of the inter–war period, apart from those I have written about. But it occurred to me that this would leave out many memorable works, since, of course, several writers produced individual pieces of great distinction.
Amongst my absolute favourites amongst all books published during this period is I, Claudius by Robert Graves, which I still think the most memorable historical novel ever written in English. It had enormous influence on me that it governed my determination to study classics, and to concentrate heavily on Roman history. I was never particularly good at this, but I have always cherished the comment of the scholar who took my first term of Roman history tutorials, that we got on very well because he was not so much a historian as a dramatist. Sensibly, if sadly, I opted to return to my own college for the rest of the course because I felt I would do little work otherwise. I had had a wonderful summer engaging in fervent discussions of the personal motivations and relationships of the extraordinary characters who dominated Rome during its long revolution, but scholarship seemed to me to require more. Now, having engaged in more study of politics through the ages, and been involved in it to a limited extent myself in Sri Lanka, I realize that Graves' approach was spot on. Understanding people gives one much greater insights into the complexities of politics than political theory does.
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- Twentieth Century ClassicsReflections on Writers and their Times, pp. 52 - 55Publisher: Foundation BooksPrint publication year: 2013