Erotic Vagrancy by Roger Lewis
The comic genius of English writing takes on Hollywood, delusion, celebrity and last century's ultimate glamour couple: Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.
Thirteen years in the writing, Erotic Vagrancy doesn't only surpass every other biography of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton yet to appear, this rich and articulate book is also about celebrity, creativity, being flawed and being brilliant * Belfast Telegraph *
Lewis' prose, so electrifying, so funny, so sharp, so unsolemn, always going in unexpected directions, and with all those hilarious asides. Erotic Vagrancy gave me a week of pure joy * Craig Brown *
A hot thunderstorm of a book * David Hare *
Unputdownable -- Tony Palmer
Fascinating and hilarious . . . The joy is in the writing and the writing is joyful . . . The boldness of Lewis's writing is perfectly suited to the charisma of his subjects. -- Hadley Freeman * Sunday Times *
As extravagant and uncompromising as its badly behaved stars. * Observer *
Lewis's magnum opus is a masterpiece in a genre of his own invention. * The Times *
He is a genius writer . . . - brilliant, witty, exhilarating, and a fund of good stories. * The Telegraph *
A wonderful book . . . so deliciously written . . . Erotic Vagrancy is the biography of the year. Correction. It's the book of the year and then some * Mail on Sunday *
A dionysiac humdinger. * Spectator (Duncan Fallowell Book of the Year) *
The 'battling Burtons' Liz Taylor and Richard Burton were the most glamorous celebrity couple ever. Passionately devoted to each other, the high life and - fatally - the bottle, this fascinating account of their love affair is gripping stuff. * New Statesman *
Stupendous book * Scotsman *
This eccentric, baroque and often funny book, full of riffs, asides and venom, is a study of megastardom, excess and monstrous personalities. * Robbie Millen, The Times *
Tantalising * Sunday Independent *
Excellent . . . Lewis has managed to create something bigger and more extravagant than a biography . . . Erotic Vagrancy manages to be both beautiful and ugly, romantic and putrid, which befits Burton and Taylor, their love, their style, their era which is long gone. * Sight and Sound *
Glitters like one of Taylor's rubies * Sunday Times *
Bold, bitchy and bloody-minded. It is their masterpiece. * Sight and Sound *
I started it on Friday and basically haven't done anything else but read it since, including over dinner last night. It is crazily good, hugely clever, monstrously opinionated, full of epic tangents, often mean (my God, so mean), completely gossipy, wildly, hilariously funny - like, put it down while you catch your breath funny - and brilliantly written. -- India Knight * Home *
Lewis is a brilliant writer; his acute eye for rich and fascinating detail is on open and shameless display here. -- Colm Toibin * Guardian *
I've never read anything like it! Roger Lewis's analysis, theories, cross referencing, flights of fancy and encyclopaedic detail, are nirvana for this detail obsessed reader! -- Richard E Grant
The best book on movie stardom full stop. A masterpiece of insight and imagination against which all future biographies of anyone and everyone shall be found wanting. * The Critic *
It is one of the very best biographies I have ever read. One of the best books about fame, desire, Hollywood and mid-to-late twentieth-century culture ever written. Inside which, brilliant, hilarious and sensitive insights on all
manner of subject fizz and froth. Magnificent, terrible, tragic, triumphant.
Lewis' prose, so electrifying, so funny, so sharp, so unsolemn, always going in unexpected directions, and with all those hilarious asides. Erotic Vagrancy gave me a week of pure joy * Craig Brown *
A hot thunderstorm of a book * David Hare *
Unputdownable -- Tony Palmer
Fascinating and hilarious . . . The joy is in the writing and the writing is joyful . . . The boldness of Lewis's writing is perfectly suited to the charisma of his subjects. -- Hadley Freeman * Sunday Times *
As extravagant and uncompromising as its badly behaved stars. * Observer *
Lewis's magnum opus is a masterpiece in a genre of his own invention. * The Times *
He is a genius writer . . . - brilliant, witty, exhilarating, and a fund of good stories. * The Telegraph *
A wonderful book . . . so deliciously written . . . Erotic Vagrancy is the biography of the year. Correction. It's the book of the year and then some * Mail on Sunday *
A dionysiac humdinger. * Spectator (Duncan Fallowell Book of the Year) *
The 'battling Burtons' Liz Taylor and Richard Burton were the most glamorous celebrity couple ever. Passionately devoted to each other, the high life and - fatally - the bottle, this fascinating account of their love affair is gripping stuff. * New Statesman *
Stupendous book * Scotsman *
This eccentric, baroque and often funny book, full of riffs, asides and venom, is a study of megastardom, excess and monstrous personalities. * Robbie Millen, The Times *
Tantalising * Sunday Independent *
Excellent . . . Lewis has managed to create something bigger and more extravagant than a biography . . . Erotic Vagrancy manages to be both beautiful and ugly, romantic and putrid, which befits Burton and Taylor, their love, their style, their era which is long gone. * Sight and Sound *
Glitters like one of Taylor's rubies * Sunday Times *
Bold, bitchy and bloody-minded. It is their masterpiece. * Sight and Sound *
I started it on Friday and basically haven't done anything else but read it since, including over dinner last night. It is crazily good, hugely clever, monstrously opinionated, full of epic tangents, often mean (my God, so mean), completely gossipy, wildly, hilariously funny - like, put it down while you catch your breath funny - and brilliantly written. -- India Knight * Home *
Lewis is a brilliant writer; his acute eye for rich and fascinating detail is on open and shameless display here. -- Colm Toibin * Guardian *
I've never read anything like it! Roger Lewis's analysis, theories, cross referencing, flights of fancy and encyclopaedic detail, are nirvana for this detail obsessed reader! -- Richard E Grant
The best book on movie stardom full stop. A masterpiece of insight and imagination against which all future biographies of anyone and everyone shall be found wanting. * The Critic *
Roger Lewis has achieved considerable word-of-mouth success with Seasonal Suicide Notes. He has also written a biography of Anthony Burgess, and Sunday Times best-selling books on Laurence Olivier, Peter Sellers and the Carry On actor Charles Hawtrey.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780857381736 |
| ISBN 10 | 0857381733 |
| Title | Erotic Vagrancy |
| Author | Roger Lewis |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Quercus Publishing |
| Year published | 2023-10-26 |
| Number of pages | 656 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |