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Lädt ... The Smith of Smiths (1934)von Hesketh Pearson
Folio Society (583) Lädt ...
Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest. Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. This is a cracking book! When I started reading, I was aware that Sydney Smith was a clergy man and a wit. Hesketh Pearson writes a tome which brings Smith to life. There are many aspects of the man which are not fully covered, but I suspect that this will be the best biography of the man to which I shall be able to put a hand. Smith comes out of this opus as a flawed genius: his Christianity appears to be of a lax kind: Pearson questions whether Smith believed in heaven and hell, he also quotes Smith as saying that religion was made for man and not the other way around. I am not sure that I could go quite so far, but there is a refreshing lack of dogmatism in the quoted writing and sayings of the great man. I can think of little better to say of this type of book than that it would make me readily devour anything else by or about the rev. Sydney Smith. Zeige 4 von 4
Sydney Smith (1771-1845) was christened 'the Smith of Smiths' by the Whig politician Macaulay. Advised that a Mr Smith was paying him a visit, and wondering which of the Mr Smiths of his wide acquaintanceship it could be, Macauley was surprised to find himself facing one he had never met yet whom he immediately recognised as 'the greatest master of ridicule who [had] appeared in England since Swift'. Continued
Queen Victoria was amused! It may seem unlikely but the preface to this famous biography is given over to quotes from his contemporaries. Not all the quotes are favourable but the roll-call is dazzling: Byron, Macaulay, Walter Scott, George III and IV, Disraeli, Sheridan, Dickens etc. Queen Victoria herself is not actually quoted but 'from various sources' Hesketh Pearson records, ' Queen Victoria used to go into fits of laughter at the sayings of Sydney Smith, which were repeated to her by Lord Melbourne.' From the same section we also learn, somewhat surprisingly, that Abraham Lincoln was an admirer, too, and that when Sarah Siddons,'who never jeopardized her deportment in society as a tragedy queen by lapsing into laughter' first met Sydney Smith she 'developed convulsions, and had to be helped from the table.' Richard Ingrams has written, 'that of all his (Hesketh Pearson's) subjects Sydney Smith came closest to his own in character, and for that reason the book is probably his masterpiece.' There is no reason to dissent from that, especially when one remembers writers of the calibre of Graham Greene, Max Beerbohm and P. G. Wodehouse were such enthusiasts for it. And the title? Wishing to pay him the ultimate compliment, it was Macaulay who dubbed Sydney Smith, 'The Smith of Smiths'. Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)824.7Literature English English essays Early 19th century 1800–37Klassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
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The Smith of Smiths. Being the life, wit and humour of Sydney Smith of this clergyman, Sydney Smith. It is a comprehensive biography, describing all features of Smiths' life. Unfortunately, what was humourous in Smiths' day, or in Pearson's eyes, does not seem so witty, now.
Given that Sydney Smith was a clergyman, the biography deals extensively with the life scenes of such a vocation. The biography provides an excellent description of the literary and clerical scene of the early Nineteenth Century, around the time of Jane Austen. ( )