Name: Antigua, Penny, Puce and They Hanged My Saintly Billy
Price: 999.00 ZAR
Availability: InStock
Author: Robert Graves
ISBN: 9781857545845

portada Antigua, Penny, Puce and They Hanged My Saintly Billy

Antigua, Penny, Puce and They Hanged My Saintly Billy

Type

Physical Book

Author

Robert Graves

Publisher

Carcanet Press

Year

2003

Language

English

Pages

520

Format

Hardcover

Dimensions

22.8 x 14.1 x 4.1 cm

Weight

0.79 kg.

ISBN

1857545842

ISBN13

9781857545845

Synopsis "Antigua, Penny, Puce and They Hanged My Saintly Billy"

Antigua, Penny, Puce (1937), a barbed tale of sibling rivalry, gave its title to a never-issued one penny puce-and-white stamp from Antigua with George VI's portrait on it and three puce pigs eating at a puce trough. Jane and Oliver are the siblings who fight for possession of the stamp. Philip Larkin praisede it as 'unique among novels' for 'its variety of original invention, not to mention its humour'. It can be read as a political parable about colonialism and the conflict in Spain between Communists and the Fascists. They Hanged my Saintly Billy (1957), Graves' last major novel, is subtitled The Life & Death of Dr William Palmer and, like much of Graves' fiction, is based on fact, in this case the life of a notorious surgeon, racehorse owner and a confessed forger who got girls into trouble, doped horses, robbed a few people. But, Graves' novel asks, was he a poisoner? Palmer's actual trial took place in 1856, and the novel, as we would expect of a writer with Gfraves' classic skills, has all the immediacy and spiciness of contemporary life. It is told through interviews with Palmer's friends and foes, and we are involved in piecing the tale together. Programme editor: Patrick Quinn

Robert Graves

(Author)

View Author's Page

Robert Graves (Wimbledon, 1895 – Deià, Mallorca, 1985) was a British writer, poet, and essayist whose work ranges from war poetry to historical novels and mythological essays. He participated in World War I, an experience he depicted in his autobiography Goodbye to All That (1929). He studied at Oxford and was a professor of English literature at the University of Cairo. In 1929, he settled in Deià, Mallorca, where he lived for most of his life. His literary output includes more than 140 works, noted for their erudition and narrative style.

Among his most recognized works are I, Claudius (1934) and its sequel Claudius the God and His Wife Messalina (1943), historical novels that were successfully adapted for television. In the field of essays, notable works include The White Goddess (1948) and The Greek Myths (1955), where Graves offers a reinterpretation of classical mythology from a poetic-anthropological perspective. These works have been influential in the study of mythology and comparative literature.

See less