by Graham Foster (Editor), Anthony Burgess (Author)
Anthony Burgess draws upon an autobiographical episode to create Beard's Roman Women, the story of a man haunted by his first wife, presumed dead. But is she? A marvellously economical book, full-flavoured, funny, and heartfelt, showing its author at the height of his powers. This new edition is the first to be published with David Robinson's photographs for over forty years. The text of the novel has been restored using the original typescripts, and Graham Foster's new introduction provides valuable insight into the fictional and biographical contexts of the novel. The text is fully annotated with a detailed set of notes and this edition includes the previously unpublished script for Burgess's television film By the Waters of Leman: Byron and Shelley at Geneva, and a rare piece of Burgess's writing about Rome.
Front Jacket
Front flap: 'Having finished it, one feels an irresistible urge to turn back to page one and read it through again. The subject may be death, but the writing bubbles like life-giving oxygen.' -- David Lodge, New Statesman 'It is a mortifyingly funny novella, with big themes and small pretensions, written by a logophile who has always been able to make prose mean precisely what he wants it to mean.' -- Eric Korn, Times Literary Supplement 'It would be gravely wrong to treat this humorous and moving book as if it were slight; it seems to me one of Anthony Burgess's best novels.' -- Christopher Ricks, Sunday Times 'Beard's Roman Women ... stands out for its casual skill, its verbal and visual promiscuity and its fuzzy humaneness.' -- Lorna Sage, The Observer
Back Jacket
Front flap:
'Having finished it, one feels an irresistible urge to turn back to page one and read it through again. The subject may be death, but the writing bubbles like life-giving oxygen.' -- David Lodge, New Statesman
Author Biography
Graham Foster is the Research and Public Engagement Fellow at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Manchester