Robert Lowell, Setting the River on Fire: A Study of Genius,

Robert Lowell, Setting the River on Fire: A Study of Genius, Mania, and Character

In this magisterial study of the relationship between illness and art, the best-selling author of An Unquiet Mind,Â Kay Redfield Jamison,Â brings an entirely fresh understanding to the work andÂ life of Robert Lowell (1917-1977), whose intense, complex, and personal verse left a lasting mark on the English language and changed the public discourse about private matters.

In his Pulitzer Prize-winning poetry, Robert Lowell put his manic-depressive illness (now known as bipolar disorder)Â into the public domain, creating a language for madness that was new and arresting. As Dr. Jamison brings her expertise in mood disorders to bear on Lowellâ€™s story, she illuminates not only the relationships among mania, depression, and creativity but also the details of Lowellâ€™s treatment and how illness and treatment influenced the great work that he produced (and often became its subject). Lowellâ€™s New England roots, early breakdowns, marriages to three eminent writers, friendships with other poets such as Elizabeth Bishop, his many hospitalizations, his vivid presence as both a teacher and a maker of poemsâ€”Jamison gives us the poetâ€™s life through a lens that focuses our understanding of his intense discipline, courage, and commitment to his art. Jamison had unprecedented access to Lowellâ€™s medical records, as well as to previously unpublished drafts and fragments of poems, and she is the first biographer to have spoken with his daughter, Harriet Lowell. With this new material and a psychologistâ€™s deep insight, Jamison delivers a bold, sympathetic account of a poet who wasâ€”both despite and because of mental illnessâ€”a passionate, original observer of the human condition.

Country	USA
Author	Kay Redfield Jamison
Binding	Kindle Edition
EISBN	9781101947968
Format	Kindle eBook
Label	Knopf
Manufacturer	Knopf
NumberOfPages	560
PublicationDate	2017-02-28
Publisher	Knopf
ReleaseDate	2017-02-28
Studio	Knopf

Robert Lowell, Setting the River on Fire: A Study of Genius, Mania, and Character

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