Another Self

ISBN: 1585790087

Author: Lees-Milne, James

Condition: Used

The late James Lees-Milne (19081998) was among the most celebrated of modern diarists; his published entries (which span the years 1942 through 1974) offer an unparalleled social and cultural portrait of modern and because of the authors decades in the service of The National Trust historic Britain. Another Self narrates the authors early life, before his diaries begin: childhood in Worcestershire under the mismatched wings of a ighty mother and an obdurate father; studies at Eton and Oxford; holidays (of remarkable hilarity) in Portugal and bandit-ridden Corsica; army service (remarkably, of equal hilarity) at the start of World War II. What distinguishes this civilized and extraordinarily humorous autobiography is the way Lees-Milnes memories are made to cohere into shapely comedies; each chapter is a set piece of deft characterization, outrageous anecdote, and climactic surprise.