Ted Hughes: An Unauthorised Life by Jonathan Bate

Hello my lovely readers! This was my second book for the 12 Lives Challenge and probably my first and only book for Mega May, unless I'm able to finish the W.E.B. DuBois biography in time!

SYNOPSIS

Ted Hughes, Poet Laureate, was one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. He was one of Britain's most important poets.

With an equal gift for poetry and prose, he was also a prolific children's writer and has been hailed as the greatest English letterwriter since John Keats. His magnetic personality and insatiable appetite for friendship, love, and life also attracted more scandal than any poet since Lord Byron. His lifelong quest to come to terms with the suicide of his first wife, Sylvia Plath, is the saddest and most infamous moment in the public history of modern poetry.

Hughes left behind a more complete archive of notes and journals than any other major poet, including thousands of pages of drafts, unpublished poems, and memorandum books that make up an almost complete record of Hughes's inner life, which he preserved for posterity. Renowned scholar Jonathan Bate has spent five years in the Hughes archives, unearthing a wealth of new material. His book offers, for the first time, the full story of Hughes's life as it was lived, remembered, and reshaped in his art.
MY THOUGHTS
Hughes was a deeply flawed, yet deeply talented man.

We're all flawed creatures, it's just that some of our business stays private, while others plays out publicly.

I'm not a poetry fan and not a fan of Hughes. The only reason I read this book was to finish the trilogy of biographies about Sylvia Plath or in connection to her(Red Comet, Lover of Unreason and this one). That said...my opinion on Hughes hasn't truly changed.

I still think he was a weasel who treated the women in his life terribly. But at least I gained a better understanding of his life.

Next up, I want to read Freida Hughes' memoir George and then I will give away my entire Sylvia Plath collection!