Word: spearses
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Spear in the Back. Within hours, the situation was so far out of control that British-appointed Governor Sir Richard Luyt declared a state of emergency throughout the colony, ordered a 7 p.m-to-5 a.m. curfew in one troubled area, and sent a hurry call to London that brought 500 more...
Readers who want to enjoy the many fascinating parts of this book are urged to approach the Disenchanted Island selectively. Read the beginnings of chapters, skip when it becomes boring, and read the end. Always read the long series of footnotes Spears has placed at the end of each section...
Spears is most successful in suggesting the breadth of Auden's interests, his wit, and the complexity of his thought. He is least successful in telling you anything interesting about the poet's life and in nurturing any desire to read Auden's poetry.
This is the worst aspect of Spears' book: it does not compel you to refer to Auden's exciting verse itself. And even if Spears' reticence about the poet's life was conceived with a sense of decorum, the questions it leaves un-answered are much too big.
What was Auden's relationship to Christopher Isherwood, his collaborator with whom he travelled for many years? Surely no important critical biography of a psychologically-oriented poet can avoid this question. What was his relationship with his mother, with his wife, with his contemporaries? Spears says nothing.