About the Author

Richard Holmes' 'Shelley: the Pursuit' (1974) was described by Stephen Spender as 'the best biography of Shelley ever written.' It won the 1977 Somerset Maugham Award. His other publications include a biographical study of Thomas Chatterton; translations of ghost stories of Theophile Gautier, 'My Fantoms'; and the Oxford Past Masters 'Coleridge' (1982). He is a frequent contributor to the literary pages of 'The Times' in London, and 'Harper's' in New York. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.