Jenny Uglow
Author of The Lunar Men: Five Friends whose Curiosity Changed the World
About the Author
Jenny Uglow is an editor at Chatto & Windus and lives in Canterbury, England
Image credit: Photograph: Eamonn McCabe
Works by Jenny Uglow
Associated Works
Cranford and Other Stories (1851) — Introduction, some editions; Introduction, some editions — 186 copies, 6 reviews
Curious, If True: Strange Tales by Mrs. Gaskell (1995) — Introduction, some editions — 108 copies, 4 reviews
The Virago Book of Ghost Stories: The Twentieth Century, Volume 1 (1987) — Introduction, some editions — 79 copies, 3 reviews
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1947
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- UK
- Country (for map)
- England, UK
- Birthplace
- England, UK
- Places of residence
- Canterbury, Kent, England, UK
Cumbria, England, UK
Dorset, England, UK - Education
- Cheltenham Ladies College
St Anne's College, Oxford - Occupations
- editor
critic
publisher
historian - Relationships
- Uglow, Steve (husband)
- Organizations
- University of Warwick
Chatto & Windus
Alliance of Literary Societies - Awards and honors
- Order of the British Empire (2008)
Fellow, Royal Society of Literature
Members
Reviews
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 23
- Also by
- 10
- Members
- 2,985
- Popularity
- #8,549
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 54
- ISBNs
- 84
- Languages
- 1
- Favorited
- 6
Lear comes across vividly as a fascinating, endearing, eccentric artist and writer. He travelled extensively at a time when this was rare and struggled for decades to make a steady living from his art. He had many friends and was clearly an excellent correspondent. Uglow is careful not to speculate too much about his sexuality, while noting that his most romantic-seeming long-term relationship was with a man and that after much thought he decided not to marry a woman. Lear wasn't really part of the art movements of his time, although he was friends with several of the pre-raphaelites. His landscapes are beautiful, but his paintings of birds and nonsense sketches are his truly distinctive and striking work. I appreciated Uglow's thoughtful examination of why his nonsense works so well and still has great appeal a good 150 years after he wrote it:
Lear's playful way with words seems oddly ahead of its time, as he messed around with language in a way that reminds me of how its usage alters online:
This ability to create new words that have a wonderfully evident meaning from context is something Lear shares with [a:Mervyn Peake|22018|Mervyn Peake|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1651441428p2/22018.jpg]. [b:Mr. Lear: A Life of Art and Nonsense|35259551|Mr. Lear A Life of Art and Nonsense|Jenny Uglow|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1520356210l/35259551._SX50_.jpg|55554792] gave me a fascinating insight into Lear's life and a new appreciation for his work. It's such an entertaining and compelling book that I read the whole thing in one evening, an experience I highly recommend.… (more)