- Hardcover: 240 pages
- Publisher: Tarcher; 1st US Edition edition (Sep 13 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1585423564
- ISBN-13: 978-1585423569
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 14.5 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 399 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,808,053 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
'Riveting ... Her story of this extraordinary relationship is surely one of the most bizarre and heart-rending imaginable, and offers an indelible portrait of two of literature's most intriguing figures' Val Hennessy, Daily Mail 'In The Devil Kissed Her, Kathy Watson has achieved the rare combination of sensitive, meticulous research with readability' Virginia Rounding, Sunday Times 'Extraordinary ... a compelling and convincing picture not just of Mary and Charles but of the literary and social world in which they lived' Image 'Careful, intelligent, absorbing ... Watson tells Mary's story in a sensible, matter-of-fact way, which makes it all the more moving, and the Lambs' achievements all the more remarkable' Allan Massie, Scotsman
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Book Description
On 22 September 1796 Mary Lamb murdered her mother with a carving knife. However, she was neither imprisoned nor punished, but instead released into the care of her younger brother Charles. They went on to share their home, friends and work for nearly forty years. They wrote the children's classic Tales from Shakespeare together, ran a literary agency, and had a salon frequented by Coleridge, Wordsworth, Hazlitt and Godwin. However, the Lambs' popularity existed in the shadow of Mary's recurring bouts of mania and depression and she was incarcerated in a mental institution for several months of each year. This memorable portrait of one of literature's most romantic figures examines this extraordinary brother-sister relationship and, amidst the many contradictions and chaotic episodes of her life, uncovers the real Mary Lamb.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.0 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mary Lamb's Madness, Jan 2 2005
By Kevin Killian - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Devil Kissed Her (Hardcover)
Kathy Watson argues ably and nimbly that we should not regard Mary Lamb's madness as an occasional thing that visited her and left no traces, leaving the essential Mary Lamb behind. No, it was part and parcel of her personality, and can be seen in her writing as well. Watson discovers that outside of the famous TALES FROM SHAKESPEARE which she wrote with her brother Charles (splitting down the corpus of Shakespeare by ignoring the histories, writing up the comedies, and leaving the tragedies to Charles), Mary Lamb wrote other books as well, which she makes sound perfectly fascinating. I would love to read the "Mrs. Leicester" book and hope that Tarcher, which published this fine biography, will print a companion book of Mary Lamb's collected writing.She hints also that Mary was drawn to many men, including the romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who was so sexy that she just couldn't help herself when he was around. Charles eventually had to ask Coleridge not to come around because a visit from him would find Mary going a little crazy.
Watson brings us into the early 19th century world of the madhouse, which is a pretty creepy place. Women with private means like Mary Lamb had their own rooms and own attendants, but still they must have seen some dreadful sights, making their lives very different from other women of their class who were in general protected from the seamy. You can never forget however, that Mary killed her own mother with a knife, a crime so rare that people hardly ever run into it, even judges with long histories of criminal cases, even hardened homicide cops. Why did she do it? Watson provides a limited answer. In my mind Mary Lamb's psychology was similar to Lizzie Borden's, except she was perhaps more lovable and had more of a humorous nature. But both were brooders and both nurtured an unassimilable hatred toward the patriarchal structure of the family.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Complex Story Doesn't Translate Well, Feb 3 2009
By Geneva Lewis - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Devil Kissed Her (Hardcover)
Charles and Mary Lamb's slim volume, "Lamb's Tales Of Shakespeare" has been one of two children's books in continous publication since the late 1700's (the other is Robinson Crusoe). The lines in an encyclopedia do not begin to describe the intertwined histories of the brother and sister authors. Kathy Watson has attempted a daunting task: To put into context eighteenth century English societal structure, women's roles and education in said society, and historical treatment and diagnosis of mental conditions, all amidst the author's effort to tell a cohesive individual family history of at least two generations from birth to death. May I add, in 238 pages. The end result is sloppy, headache-inducing, confused, and exhausting for the reader. Focus and vision is what this book lacks, and a feeling that historical letters and documents that should have been rigorously used and cited, and were not, leads readers with a gaping absence of solid documentation. Instead we are left with imagined fancies of possibilities and insinuations that are annoying and amateurish. The story of brother and sister Charles and Mary Lamb had the basis for a compelling historical and societal story, but is miles away from fruition in this work. An initial enthusiasm and energy in the beginning quickly fades to a dull desperation. Her conclusion that Mary's life took a turn for the better when she killed her mother in a fit of manic rage was quite disturbing. The liberties taken demote this book from a potential literary history to tawdry dime store novel.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Thought provoking, Mar 13 2011
By Mary Ann Savage - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
At a time when people were rather routinely hanged for non capitol offenses, Mary Lamb was released into her brother's cuistody after staqbbing her mother to death with a kitchen knife.She went on to be a writer (with her brother, "lamb's Tales From Shakespeare") and be part of a literary circle that included a lot of writer contemporaries.
She went to a mental asylum several times in her life.
This book presents a good picture of a certain British subculture and also of the state of mental health in her day and time.
I found it interesting throughout.
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