Richard Ellmann Books

An anthology of more than 1200 poems by 155 British and American poets, beginning with Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" and culminating during the first half of the twentieth century.

This acclaimed biography has won both the James Tait Black and the Duff Cooper Memorial Prizes.

Although several biographers have thrown themselves into the breach since this magisterial book first appeared in 1959, none have come close to matching the late Richard Ellmann's achievement. To be fair, Ellmann does have some distinct advantages. For starters, there's his deep mastery of the Irish milieu--demonstrated not only in this volume but in his books on Yeats and Wilde. He's also an admirable stylist himself--graceful, witty, and happily unintimidated by his brilliant subjects. But in addition, Ellmann seems to have an uncanny grasp on Joyce's personality: his reverence for the Irishman's literary accomplishment is always balanced by a kind of bemused affection for his faults. Whether Joyce is putting the finishing touches on Ulysses, falling down drunk in the streets of Trieste, or talking dirty to his future wife via the postal service, Ellmann's account always shows us a genius and a human being--a daunting enough task for a fiction writer, let alone the poor, fact-fettered biographer. Richard Ellmann has revised and expanded his definitive work on Joyce's life to include newly discovered primary material, including details of a failed love affair, a limerick about Samuel Beckett, a dream notebook, previously unknown letters, and much more.

The definitive biography of William Butler Yeats

This critical account of Wilde's entire oeuvre shows him as the proponent of a radical aesthetic perilously at odds with Victorian society. Based on fresh material from many previously untapped sources, Ellmann depicts Wilde's dramatic ascent and sudden decline in vivid detail.

This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.

This correspondence provides a balance between the letters of Joyce as a man, and as a writer.