John Haffenden's acclaimed biography of William Empson (1906-1984), the foremost English literary critic of the twentieth century, is now available in paperback. An authoritative and compelling account and the first of two volumes exploring his remarkable life and work.

William Empson (1906-1984) was the foremost English literary critic of the twentieth century. A man of huge energy and curiosity, he was a genius and a genuine eccentric. His public life and travels took him through many of the major events of the modern world - including the rise of imperialism in Japan, the Sino-Japanese war, wartime propaganda for the BBC, and the Chinese civil war. This authoritative and compelling account is the first of two volumes exploring his remarkable life and work.

Haffenden's narrative is driven along with such gusto, such alert intelligence, such obvious pleasure in the task, that no one could reasonably grumble at the story's inordinate length. It is a virtuoso feat of scholarship: a telling demonstration of what biography, as it finest, can actually achieve.