Arthur Symons

the long version

In this informative new biography of Arthur Symons (1865-1945), the first since 1963, Karl Beckson mines much previously unpublished material to reveal new dimensions of Symon's life and art. As a critic and poet, Symons was a important influence in the development of early Modernism in England, and the impact of his major work, The Symbolist Movement in Literature (1899), and his personal relationships with such figures as Walter Pater, Paul Verlaine, W.B. Yeats, Joseph Conrad, and James Joyce, have assured him an important place in literary history. At the time of his mental breakdown in 1908--here told in harrowing detail--Yeats called him "the best critic of his generation." This stunning biography provides not only an account of Symons's career that confirms Yeats's judgment, but also the fullest record of his life to date.