The Quest for Corvo: An Experiment in Biography

by A.J.A. Symons Narrated by Rupert Degas

Overview

A.J.A. Symons discovered Frederick Rolfe's Hadrian the Seventh in 1925 and became consumed with fascination for its eccentric author, aka `Baron Corvo'. His `quest' takes the form of an irresistible detective story, the twists and turns of his investigation into Rolfe's unfortunate life resulting in a groundbreaking form of biography that reveals much about both men. It paints a tragi-comic portrait of a prickly, paranoid, talented Englishman who failed at becoming a Catholic priest and led a profligate lifestyle in Venice; a charmer with a sharp wit, a vituperative tongue and a talent for self-destruction. The process and the subject are as fascinating as each other, and this `experiment' continues to stand out nearly a century after it was published.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"Symons's biography of a little-known writer named Frederick Rolfe is unique in biographical literature in bringing the reader in on how the biographer knows what he knows about his subject; and in owning up to what he doesn't know or feels cannot be known. 'The Quest for Corvo' is biography in the form of a detective story, and as such it is riveting....The surest formula for a masterpiece biography—of which there are not that many—is an extraordinary human being writing about a great one. In 'The Quest for Corvo' we have an utterly charming man writing on a madly eccentric one....A slender book, an odd book, a completely original book, [it] also represents a new method of writing biography that has never been copied."  —Joseph Epstein, The Wall Street Journal

MAY 2024 - AudioFile

Narrator Rupert Degas tackles this offbeat "experiment in biography" with conspicuous gusto and the enthusiasm of a man given an assignment he feels born to perform. In 1925, British author Symons was introduced to a previously unknown novel, Frederick Rolfe's HADRIAN THE SEVENTH. This eccentric work led Symons to pursue its even more eccentric author, who styled himself as "Baron Corvo" and remains justifiably unread. Degas performs this landmark genre buster in an expressive and robust British bark that highlights Symons's meticulous research and fertile prose. Symons sees Rolfe as "a defeated man of genius," and although interesting, the baron is everything a failed writer--and one persistently in debt--can be. That subject is somewhat dreary, but narrative and narrator are highly colorful and memorably portrayed. D.A.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940159404275
Publisher:	Naxos Audiobooks Ltd.
Publication date:	07/21/2023
Edition description:	Unabridged

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