num_pages: 293
description: First published in the United States in 1934, this extraordinary tale follows A.J.A. Symons's eight-year quest to uncover the life story of Frederick Rolfe - a.k.a. the Baron Corvo, a lonely, arrogant genius - and construct something remarkable of it.The author of the brilliant novel Hadrian the Seventh, Corvo was by turns a gifted painter, teacher, student of the priesthood, historian, and inventor of a process of "deep sea photography." He also had a veritable genius for making enemies and lived out his last years as a penniless exile. With letters (many of them masterpieces of invective), excerpts from his novels, and accounts of unusual interviews with Corvo's friends, fans, and enemies, Symons chronicles a passionate investigation into Corvo's secret life - and produces an uproariously comic, ultimately tragic, and stunningly rendered work of art.
language: English
title: The Quest for Corvo: An Experiment in Biography
titlecomplete: The Quest for Corvo: An Experiment in Biography
genres: 20th Century, Biography, Classics, British Literature, Autobiography, Italy, Queer, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Memoir
ratings_count: 508
publisher: Ecco Pr