Footsteps and over 1.5 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more


or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Colour:
Image not available

 
Share your own customer images
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.
Start reading Footsteps on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Footsteps [Paperback]

Richard Holmes (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
RRP: £9.99
Price: £6.89 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £3.10 (31%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Only 2 left in stock (more on the way).
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon. Gift-wrap available.
Want delivery by Wednesday, 22 May? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details

Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition £6.55   -- --
Hardcover --   -- --
Paperback £6.89   -- --
Books Trade-In
Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Learn more.

Book Description

Publication Date: 18 Mar 2012

Richard Holmes’s great work of biographical exploration, published alongside its sister volume ‘Sidetracks’.

In 1985, Richard Holmes published a small book of essays called Footsteps and the writing of biography was changed forever. A daring mix of travel, biographical sleuthing and personal memoir, it broke all the conventions of the genre and remains ons of the most intoxicating, magical works of modern literary exploration ever published.

Sleeping rough, he retraces Robert Louis Stevenson's famous journey through the Cevennes. Caught up in the Parisian riots of the 1960s, he dives back in time to the terrors of Wordsworth and of Mary Wollstonecraft marooned in Revolutionary Paris and then into the strange tortured worlds of Gérard de Nerval. Wandering through Italy, he stalks Shelley and his band of Romantic idealists to Casa Magni on the Gulf of Spezia.

Frequently Bought Together

Footsteps + Among Muslims: Meetings at the Frontiers of Pakistan
Price For Both: £12.13

Buy the selected items together

Product details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: HarperPress; New Ed edition (18 Mar 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0007204531
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007204533
  • Product Dimensions: 13.2 x 20 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 80,659 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's Richard Holmes Page
Richard Holmes
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

Product Description

Review

This exhilarating book, part biography, part autobiography, shows the biographer as sleuth and huntsman, tracking his subjects through space and time.' HILARY SPURLING, Observer

'Nothing is simple in this intricate, complicated and fascinating book, which is like a set of Russian dolls, biography containing travel-writing containing autobiography containing and so on… Holmes is indeed a biographer and a romantic in every sense.' RICHARD BOSTON, Guardian

From the Back Cover

Sleeping rough, Richard Holmes retraces Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous journey through the Cevennes. Caught up in the Parisian riots of the 1960s, he dives back in time to the terrors of Wordsworth and of Mary Wollstonecraft marooned in Revolutionary Paris and then into the strange tortured worlds of Gérard de Nerval. Wandering through Italy, he stalks Shelley and his band of Romantic idealists to Casa Magni on the Gulf of Spezia.

“This exhilarating book, part biography, part autobiography, shows the biographer as sleuth and huntsman, tracking his subjects through space and time.”
HILARY SPURLING, OBSERVER

“Nothing is simple in this intricate, complicated and fascinating book, which is like a set of Russian dolls, biography containing travel-writing containing autobiography containing … and so on … Holmes is indeed a biographer and a romantic in every sense.”
RICHARD BOSTON, GUARDIAN

“His purpose is to locate “the personal life that is hidden in, and below, the printed page” and then to understand that life by an act of identification … and there is nothing more eloquent in this book than Holmes’s account of the biographer’s obsession with the past – that feeling of being “haunted”.
PETER ACKROYD, SUNDAY TIMES

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Product Description

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

› Explore similar items

Customer Reviews

5 star
3
4 star
0
3 star
0
2 star
0
1 star
0
5.0 out of 5 stars
3 reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
53 of 54 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Footsteps: Adventures of a Romantic Biographer by R Holmes 13 May 2003
By ROHINI
Format:Paperback
What an unexpectedly engrossing read! Richard Holmes reveals the soul-searching and obsessive art of biography writing in his semi-autobiographical travel diary through time and space. He retraces the footsteps of the great writers Robert Louis Stevenson, Mary Wollstonecraft, Percy Bysshe Shelley and French writer Gérard de Nerval as they go about their romantic, and oft tragic, adventures through Europe and abroad in search of literary inspiration.

Holmes brings the past to vivid life, exploring his protagonists and their environments so intimately that reader and author alike become lost together in history, only to find the return to reality and the present a rude, yet welcoming awakening.

Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and unusual 12 Nov 2011
By shovelbeard
Format:Paperback
On the cover of my copy of this book Michael Holroyd describes it as "A modern masterpiece". That's going a bit far but if you are interested in the Romantics this is a book you must read. Richard Holmes tells a series of tales of his own very personal pursuit of Robert Louis Stevenson in the Cevennes, Mary Wollstonecraft and (to a lesser extent) Wordsworth in France and particularly Paris, Shelley in Italy and Gerard de Nerval all over the place.
What makes this book particularly fascinating and unusual is the part played in these tales by the author himself. Surrounded by these literary giants it is Holmes himself who is the hero of the story. And hero he is. The author is clearly obsessed with his subject (in this context something to be admired) and pushes himself to the limits of his mental and to a lesser extent physical limits in pursuit of his quarry. For instance, we are told that when Holmes was writing his subsequent book on Shelley he wrote only at night, catching up on his sleep during the day and that the whole task was accomplished in a state of black depression. This man is serious!
There are so many more good things to say about this book but it's only 275 pages long so why not get a copy and read it? You won't regret it. And when you've finished be certain to read Holmes' peerless two part biography of Samuel Taylor Coleridge; "Early Visions" and "Darker Reflections", the finest literary biographies ever written.
1 Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A small but beautiful book 7 Feb 2012
By Jane Bushby
Format:Paperback
I read this book a year ago, whilst in hospital. It was a gift from a friend and I really enjoyed it so much so that I bought this copy as a gift for my daughter. We are both avid readers and this beautifully written book inspires one to read writers with a new appreciation that one may otherwise have passed by, e.g. Robert Louis Stevenson.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?   Let us know
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

There's a problem loading this menu at the moment.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.

    Your Shopping Basket is empty.

    Give it purpose -- fill it with books, DVDs, clothes, electronics and more.

    If you already have an account, sign in.

    There's a problem previewing your shopping basket at the moment.

    Check your Internet connection and go to your cart, or try again.

    View Shopping Basket (0 items)

      Customer Discussions

      This product's forum
      Discussion Replies Latest Post
      No discussions yet

      Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
      Start a new discussion
      Topic:
      First post:
      Prompts for sign-in
       


      Active discussions in related forums
      Search Customer Discussions
      Search all Amazon discussions
         
      Related forums

      Listmania!

      Create a Listmania! list

      Look for similar items by category

      Feedback


      Amazon.co.uk Privacy Statement Amazon.co.uk Delivery Information Amazon.co.uk Returns & Exchanges