Simon Callow is an actor, director, and writer. He has appeared in
many films, including the hugely popular Four Weddings and a
Funeral. His books include Being an Actor, Shooting the Actor, a
highly acclaimed biography of Charles Laughton, a biographical
trilogy on Orson Welles (of which the first two parts have now been
published), and Love Is Where It Falls, an account of his
friendship with the great play agent Peggy Ramsay. His most recent
book, My Life in Pieces, won the Sheridan Morley Prize in 2011.
www.simoncallow.com
"A biography of Boz by a great English actor, who seeks to reverse
the orthodox argument that Dickens’s obsession with theatrical
drama made his books sentimental and lachrymose. . .
. Callow argues that it is Dickens’s attention to
stagecraft and the power of drama that’s made folks like The Artful
Dodger and Miss Havisham seem three dimensional."
—The Daily Beast
"In this insightful biographical study, Callow, a seasoned actor
and director, shows how the theatricality that caused Dickens’ legs
to swell also vastly enlarged his literary art. . .
. Itself as enchanting as a well-directed stage play, this
narrative will delight any lover of Dickens."
—Booklist, starred review
“[Simon Callow’s] admiration for his subject glistens on every
page. . . . The author shows us the vast, adoring crowds and
tallies the enormous psychic and physical costs of Dickens’ myriad
performances and celebrity. Callow makes us wish we’d been in those
crowds to watch this astonishing magician weave his literary
spells.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“A celebration, jubilant, vigorous, imaginative, and, as Dickens
might have said, an all-round sizzler.”
—John Carey, The Sunday Times (London)
“This is the book we have long been waiting for and only Simon
Callow could have written it. . . . A marvelous book that deepens
and enriches our understanding and enjoyment of Dickens.”
—Michael Slater, author of Charles
Dickens: A Life Defined by Writing
“Callow . . . writes with great authority and elegant insouciance,
which makes this ‘biography with a twist’ very entertaining.”
—The Independent (London)
“It is one of the many virtues of this book that Callow not only
admires his subject, but has got inside him.”
—The Guardian (London)
"Of the several books published this year in honor of the
bicentennial of Dickens’s birth, this by Callow is in many ways the
best because it has all the gusto that a popular biography of
Dickens—a man who “could do nothing by halves”—should possess. . .
. The best biography for Dickens newcomers and a wonderful
read for all."
—Library Journal, starred review
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