When they met in 1947 Trevor-Roper, a young historian at Christ
Church, Oxford, was 33. Berenson, the world-famous art critic, was
82, frail but still intensely curious about the world. Trevor Roper
promised to write to him and his letters continued until Berenson's
death in in 1959. Elegantly constructed, beautifully and precisely
written, they are shot through with high-octane malice, sharp
judgements and blistering comments, and many wonderfully funny
episodes. Trevor-Roper was an intellectual heavyweight, but the
overall tone here is one of amusement at the human comedy', the
vanity, snobbery and human weakness he sees all around him. At the
same time he loves intrigue and controversy. Subjects range widely:
several brilliant set-pieces on Oxford college elections, books,
journalism, publishing, politics (postwar Europe, ex-Nazis and
collaborators, the Cold War, Suez, etc), history and
history-writing, personal life (including marriage to Earl Haig's
daughter Alexandra after her messy divorce), travel, gossip, and so
on. He has a memorable journey on a pilgrims' bus in Persia, goes
behind the Iron Curtain to meet Communist dignitaries and speeds in
his glamorous grey Bentley to visit duchesses in the Scottish
borders. Figures in the letters include Evelyn Waugh, Isaiah
Berlin, A.L. Rowse, Anthony Eden, Gerald Brenan, A.J.P.Taylor,
Arnold Toynbee, Dimitri Shostakovitch, C.S. Lewis and Harold
Macmillan.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
(1)
(5)
