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Most reviewed: Milton

21.01.08 Anna Richardson

Published to coincide with John Milton's 400th anniversary this year, Anna Beer's biography, Milton: Poet, Pamphleteer and Patriot (Bloomsbury), was the most reviewed book on newspapers' literary pages last weekend (18th to 20th January), splitting reviewers' opinions.

John Adamson, in the Mail on Sunday, wrote that Beer's biography was "a happy exception" to the trend of jumping on a commemorative bandwagon, "delivering cobbled-together biographies with little real merit". "Indeed, as an introduction to a notoriously 'difficult' poet, it succeeds magnificently in three respecets," he explained. "It illuminates Milton's life, his tumultous times and the dazzling richness of his literary output."

Andrew Motion, in the Guardian, believed that "Beer does a thoroughly decent job". Her attempts to introduce more dramatic interests were "pretty wooden, and her critical prose tends to be careful rather than inspiring", but he conceded: "It’s a crucial part of the biographer’s job to lead readers back through the life to the work. Beer does this very steadily and very well."

There was no such concession in Duncan Fallowell's review in the Daily Express. He wrote: "There is a breathtaking psychological, literary magic at work [in Milton's poems] which is unfortunately beyond Anna Beer's ability to convey. Perhaps it's time to call in Steven Spielberg."

Jonathan Bate in the Sunday Telegraph mentioned Beer's "fruitless speculation about homosexual tendencies", and John Carey in the Sunday Times agreed that there was "no evidence for this, and all it seems to show is Beer's inability to imagine a close friendship that is not sexual". Carey added that on Milton's public activities, the book was "vigorous, well researched and primed with piquant detail", but that it failed to convey "the daring and intricacy of the thought in his poetry".

Most reviewed (Weekend of 18th to 20th January)

Milton by Anna Beer (Bloomsbury 9780747584254 £15)
"Beer gives Milton the anniversary present he deserves" Guardian
"Fine new account" Mail on Sunday
"A solid piece of work" Sunday Telegraph
"There are passages of outright speculation" Daily Express
"In Samson Agonistes, too, Beer misses the crucial point" Sunday Times

Anonymity by John Mullan (Faber 9780571195145 £17.99)
"Engrossing" Daily Telegraph
"Entertaining" Times
"A certain vivacity might occasionally be wanting in his narrative style. Yet he performs some shrewd literary criticism" Sunday Telegraph

The Canon by Natalie Angier (Faber 9780571239719 £17.99)
"Her boisterous advocacy is necessary" Daily Mail
"There is no captive audience" Daily Telegraph
"Often [Angier] bloats the text with alliteration and assonance" Guardian

Crusaders by Richard T Kelly (Faber 9780571228065 £14.99)
"Refreshingly ambitious and strikingly accomplished first novel" Independent
"A terrific debut" Mail on Sunday
"Feels ever so slightly worthy, even old-fashioned, and lacks sufficient moments of levity" Sunday Telegraph

Media Anna Richardson Most Reviewed Anna Beers Milton

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