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Published by Faber & Faber, 1993, hardcover, illustrated, index, 570 pages, ex library book with usual stamps & labels, otherwise condition: very good.
Poet on poet, the best biographies, and this one comes near the top of that list. You get the impression that Larkin quickly appreciated who he was, who and what we are, accepted his own judgement, and prosecuted his life firmly (well, as firmly as one can) and egotistically on his own principles. For me, and I share some of his predicament if none of his talent, this is one of the most accurate and illuminating portrayals of human relationship out there. Andrew Motion's appreciation of Larkin's poetry and his sensitive tracing of it back to sources in Larkin's life, further convinces me that you can't know the poetry without knowing the poet, the writing without knowing the writer.
"Mr. Motion has generously enlarged our understanding of . . . this impressive writer's life. He is a clear, fluent writer; evocative, acute, sympathetic, but absolutely unblinking about the notorious weaknesses and cruelties (as well as the immense wit and hard work) of his subject."--Richard Locke, The Wall Street Journal.
