Super-Infinite

£16.99

Sometime religious outsider and social disaster, sometime celebrity preacher and establishment darling, John Donne was incapable of being just one thing. In his myriad lives he was a scholar of law, a sea adventurer, a priest, an MP – and perhaps the greatest love poet in the history of the English language. Along the way he converted from Catholicism to Protestantism, was imprisoned for marrying a sixteen-year old girl without her father’s consent; struggled to feed a family of ten children; and was often ill and in pain. He was a man who suffered from black surges of misery, yet expressed in his verse many breathtaking impressions of electric joy and love.

In stock

Description

** A Sunday Times bestseller **
** A Spectator, TLS, New Statesman and Telegraph Book of the Year**

‘Every page sparkles.’ Claire Tomalin
‘Crackling with gusto and sympathetic intelligence’ Andrew Motion
‘A triumph.’ Matt Haig
‘A wonderful, joyous piece of work.’ Maggie O’Farrell

‘Blazingly intelligent and witty’ Telegraph
‘Frankly brilliant’ Sunday Times

John Donne lived myriad lives.

Sometime religious outsider and social disaster, sometime celebrity preacher and establishment darling, John Donne was incapable of being just one thing. He was a scholar of law, a sea adventurer, an MP, a priest, the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral – and perhaps the greatest love poet in the history of the English language. He converted from Catholicism to Protestantism, was imprisoned for marrying a high-born girl without her father’s consent, struggled to feed a family of ten children and was often ill and in pain. He was a man who suffered from black surges of sadness, yet expressed in his verse electric joy and love.

*

From a standout scholar, a biography of John Donne: the poet of love, sex, and death. In Super-Infinite, Katherine Rundell embarks on a fleet-footed ‘act of evangelism’, showing us the many sides of Donne’s extraordinary life, his obsessions, his blazing words, and his tempestuous Elizabethan times – unveiling Donne as the most remarkable mind and as a lesson in living.

Additional information

Weight 459 g
Dimensions 21.6 × 13.5 × 2.5 cm
Author

Publisher

Faber & Faber

Imprint

Cover

Hardback

Pages

224

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

821.3 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K