Aubrey’s Brief Lives by John Aubrey (PDF)

Description

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY RUTH SCURRJohn Aubrey was a modest man, a self-styled antiquarian and the man who invented modern biography. His ‘lives’ of the prominent figures of his generation and the Elizabethan era, including Shakespeare, Milton and Sir Walter Raleigh, have been plundered by historians for centuries for their frankness and fascinating detail. Collected here are all of Aubrey’s biographical writings, a series of unforgettable portraits of the characters of his day, still more alive and kicking than in any conventional work of history.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This is a book I have wanted to get around to reading for decades. Since I am 80 and there is a pandemic in progress, I figured it was now or never. This trade paperback is a collection of three previously published selections from what survives of Aubrey’s work. His biographies are brief, almost stream-of consciousness, based entirely on gossip, and generally delightful. His many errors are astonishing… for example he thinks Ben Jonson killed Christopher Marlowe in a duel! I loved it all the way through.As a bonus in this collection, you get a longer biography of British economic philosopher Thomas Hobbes, partially written by Aubrey and partially by Hobbes himself, and then you get a third-person autobiography of Hobbes translated from his Latin original. Quite a bit to feast on.

⭐I have no complaints about the service of the quick delivery. I haven’t read it yet, but I’ll get there eventually—it’s one of twenty books waiting to be read.I spent a short time working on the original theatre production which was brilliant. Guessing the book will be just as entertaining.

⭐This book is a very interesting perspective on some major figures of Aubrey’s time, and an insight into Aubrey himself. The editor’s commentary is most helpful for understanding the author and his subjects.

⭐It is a pity that this famous book is deprived of a great deal of its charm by the adoption of modern spelling. It is an even greater pity that the editor has chosen to impede the flow of the text, and to insult the reader’s intelligence, by interpolating in square brackets explanations of words for which the educated reader requires no explanation. To take, for example, a couple of pages from “Ben Johnson”, we are enlightened by the information that “wrought” means “[worked]”, that a “bencher” is “[a senior member of one of the Inns of Court]” and that “habit” signifies “[clothing]”. For good measure, we are informed who Aulus Gellius was. All of this is an unwelcome distraction from Aubrey’s prose.

⭐What a nutter Aubrey was! Slowly read, a treasure trove of seventeenth century perspectives. Nothing new under the sun, but judgemental autobiographies clearly were then.

⭐Excellent service and condition

⭐Suitable for anyone interested in reading/studying 17th century British history. A “who’s who” of the times – written in a very idiosyncratic manner by an well-known eccentric of the period.

⭐John Aubrey was a 16th century gentlemen who knew everybody of importance and, clearly, loved to gossip. William Harvey who discovered the circulation of blood was his doctor. Thomas Hobbes was his friend as were many other famous people. He writes short (2-3 pages) biographies of many famous persons not omitting gossip anal activities. Informative and entertaining.

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