This fact-packed book is a biography of Anthony Blunt, art
historian, author and spy. It has already been awarded the Orwell
Prize and The Royal Society of Literature Prize, both in 2001.
Blunt was the 'Fourth Man' of the Cambridge spy ring; he confessed
to his British Intelligence employers in 1964 and was granted
immunity from prosecution, but his identity was revealed in 1979,
and he was subsequently stripped of his public roles. The 'Lives'
of the title are the different parts of Blunt's life, reflected in
the chapters of the book from 'Son' through to 'Traitor', and these
also echo Blunt's career, and his way of keeping the different
lives he lived separate from each other. The initial question for
many readers is why he became a spy. This book cannot really answer
that question, but it does put Blunt's life and occupations into a
historical perspective, so that we can see how the Communist party
became so popular with Blunt and his associates in the 1930s, and
how the overthrow of fascism was perceived as more important than
national allegiance. In fact, looking at his life chronologically,
it seems less surprising that a Marxist academic became a spy, than
that he later came to hold office in the Royal household. The book
does go some way towards showing how someone who was a privileged
member of English cultural circles - surveyor of the Royal
Collection, Director of the Courtauld Institute - was also
anti-establishment to the point of actually acting on his beliefs
and passing information to the Soviets. There is a huge amount of
material in this book, carefully assembled by Miranda Carter, and
if you lose the thread of the story, or forget where a name has
cropped up before, there is a comprehensive index. It is
frustrating at first that this biography does not give a clear
picture of Blunt's personality. Especially in the early chapters,
there are so many facts and reported events that they are almost a
barrier between the reader and Blunt, although the excellent
photographs included go some way to bringing him and his associates
to life. The more lively passages are where Carter is describing
someone other than Blunt: for example, Auden, or Guy Burgess. This
may be a result of Blunt's secretive and separate personalities, or
because Carter is so non-judgemental about him, for this book is
far more a factual account of the life of Anthony Blunt than a
sensationalisation or criticism of his actions. For this it should
be commended. (Kirkus UK)
Anthony Blunt, aesthete, communist, homosexual, MI5 agent and Soviet mole, was Surveyor of the King's Pictures and Director of the Courtauld Institute. Betrayed in 1963, he voted for Margaret Thatcher in 1979. Late that year, she was to expose his treachery and strip him of his knighthood. While the other Cambridge spies (Philby, Burgess and Maclean) subordinated their lives and careers to espionage, Blunt had a separate passionate existence. His reputation as an art historian was second to none: he made an enormous contribution to the establishment of art history as an academic discipline; his volumes on Poussin, French and Italian art and old master drawings are still in print and some are still set texts. At the Courtauld he trained a whole generation of world-class academics and curators.
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