13 h 25 minAudiobook18 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when a widely read poet lives long enough to hear his work become a target for ridicule?
In My Life as an Author, Martin Farquhar Tupper looks back on a long writing life, from his early wish to write to sudden fame. His memoir follows the success of Proverbial Philosophy, a book of moral reflections in loose, unrhymed verse that reaches readers across Britain and America.
But success is only part of the story. As literary tastes change, admiration gives way to mockery and parody. Tupper answers his critics and considers his century through strong faith and patriotic feeling. Published in 1886, this memoir offers a working writer’s own account of reputation, persistence, and the difficulty of finding his place as tastes change.
What you’ll discover
- The beginnings of a writer Follow Tupper into the early life where he sees his writing habits take shape.
- Sudden literary fame Discover the place of Proverbial Philosophy in a career transformed by widespread readership.
- A restless writing life Move through poems, stories, historical romance, and verse written for public occasions.
- An author answers back Hear Tupper’s own response when changing tastes turn praise into ridicule and parody.
- Convictions amid changing tastes See how faith and patriotic feeling shape his understanding of a long literary career.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy Victorian voices, literary gossip, schoolboy pranks, travel sketches and old poems, and anyone curious how a stammering barrister became a poet admired from Surrey to Philadelphia.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- He writes a life of books, not secrets
- A doctor's son meets a king and a tyrant
- Rhymes and journals of a young traveller
- Oxford friends, prizes and pranks
- A stammer closes church and law
- Proverbial Philosophy and its fortunes
- A shelf of other books and plays
- Across the Atlantic and onto the platform
- Curiosities, losses and a hopeful faith
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- Audiobook
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- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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La mia vita di autore
by Martin Farquhar Tupper · 1886
A stammering barrister turns poet and wins readers from Surrey to Philadelphia, even Jenny Lind.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
My Life as an Author is the memoir of Martin Farquhar Tupper, written when he is seventy-six. Tupper was a Victorian poet, essayist and barrister, best known for Proverbial Philosophy, a book of short moral essays in rhythmic prose that found eager readers in Britain and America.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
He writes a life of books, not secrets
Tupper says plainly that he has refused many requests to write an autobiography. When one friend pressed him, he sent back a sonnet saying that his life is in his books and that the record there is a truthful photograph. He had even burned a heap of old diaries, fearing they would be printed after his death. He adds a firm request that none of his private letters be published unless they are purely literary.
His reasons are worth hearing. He thinks that autobiography tempts a man to excuse his failures and puff up his successes. He also thinks that nobody except God can weigh how heredity and circumstance shape a person, since each of us is a mixture of a thousand generations. So he leaves his inner spiritual story to the Recording Angel and offers only the outward story of a writing life.
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What is My Life as an Author about?
It is Martin Tupper's memoir of his literary career, from school days and Oxford to his books, travels, public readings and friendships. He keeps private family matters mostly out, though he does record the deaths of his son and wife, and he sets many of his poems among the stories.
Who was Martin Farquhar Tupper?
Tupper was a Victorian poet, essayist and barrister who lived at Albury in Surrey. He overcame a long stammer, wrote Proverbial Philosophy and tales such as The Crock of Gold, and toured America and Britain reading his own works.
What is Proverbial Philosophy?
It is Tupper's collection of short essays on subjects such as marriage, friendship and education, written in the manner of Solomon's Proverbs. The memoir tells how it began in 1828 and how it travelled across the Atlantic.
The author
Martin Farquhar Tupper
1810–1889 · English poet and novelist
Martin Farquhar Tupper was an English poet and novelist, born in London in 1810. He lived at Albury in Surrey and died there in 1889. He published Proverbial Philosophy in 1838 and later added further volumes. His autobiography, My Life as an Author, was published in 1886.
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