The Burning Glass by Jenni Calder
Naomi Mitchison was born towards the end of the nineteenth century and grew into an era of change, political, social and sexual. All of these she embraced and influenced in the course of her long life. She became a major novelist of the 20th century with such important novels as The Corn King and The Spring Queen and The Bull Calves but was also a significant non-fiction author and journalist. Widely travelled she was based for more than half her life at Carradale House in Scotland’s Kintyre peninsula. From there she ranged widely across the world, in later life discovering Botswana (then Bechuanaland) which she adopted as her own and where she was impatiently present as the Union flag was lowered for the last time. She had intimate friendships with Doris Lessing, Aldous Huxley, Stevie Smith, E. M. Foster and many more literary and political figures, all of whom are discussed in this engrossing biography.‘Jenni Calder's biography of Naomi Mitchison is a well-paced journey through a fascinating life which is difficult to put downCalder approaches Mitchison's various idiosyncrasies with a clear-eyed affection and a total lack of judgment. Her experiences should be the start of many feminist conversations about the dynamics of love affairs and sexual politics, and how women are treated as they age.’
‘Exhilarating.’
‘A warm and sympathetic biography of a full and wonderfully varied life... very good.’
‘Jenni Calder captures the essence of this extraordinary woman in an engrossing biography.’
‘Born into privilege, she was nonetheless a committed socialist and feminist and worked all her life to give voice to the voiceless. [Mitchison] was not afraid either to challenge convention or to use her social position to overcome obstacles and get things done.’
‘An outstanding example of the biographer's art... "The Burning Glass" is the story of a life that deserves to be told: and which is told extremely well.’
‘A biography that shall surely herald a new generation of fans’
Jenni Calder is the author of many books, including biographies of Sir Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson and George Orwell. She lives in Edinburgh. Formerly head of National Museums of Scotland Publishing, she has lectured in Europe and the United States.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781912240661 |
| ISBN 10 | 1912240661 |
| Title | The Burning Glass |
| Author | Jenni Calder |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Sandstone Press Ltd |
| Year published | 2019-06-13 |
| Number of pages | 352 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |