Bright Star, Green Light

“What a pleasure these days to come across a book that unabashedly, cheerfully celebrates the lasting power of literature.”—Christoph Irmscher, Wall Street Journal
 

“With a fine-tuned ear for poetic language, a master-biographer’s eye for the revealing detail, and an astonishing mental filing system, Jonathan Bate has written a wonderfully illuminating and moving book.”—Robert Watson, University of California, Los Angeles

 

“The importance of Keats to Fitzgerald has long been recognized, but counterpointing the two men’s writing lives and ambitions, as Bate does here, throws fresh light on both men.”—John Barnard, University of Leeds

“‘Keats was Fitzgerald’s guiding star . . . An energetic and highly engaging game of literary ping-pong across the ages. Life, writing and inspiration are served and returned in a rapid rally of ideas . . . What an immensely charismatic pair they are . . . Go now, read this book’”—Laura Freeman, The Times

“A daring, dizzying attempt to connect Keats and F. Scott Fitzgerald has plenty to take pleasure in . . . Bate, whose recent biography of Wordsworth I admired, is at his best when he zeroes in on the work: his feeling for it, by being so exacting, is infectious, especially in the case of Keats . . . In the end, the principal achievement of this pairing is to remind us of the way that literature connects us.”—Rachel Cooke, The Guardian

“An excellent introduction to each writer . . . [that] illuminates both.”—Rowan Williams, The New Statesman