Friday 10 August 2018

ROBERT GRAVES

...
I Claudius

The British writer Robert Graves wrote I, ClaudiusGood-Bye to All That and Hebrew Myths.


1947 - Graves, Gay

Above, we see Robert Graves (left) and his assistant and secretary Karl Goldschmidt, aka Kenneth Gay.



Robert Graves wrote a number of war poems .


Robert Graves (left) with his mother and brother.

Graves was married to Nancy Nicholson and then to Beryl Pritchard.


Nancy and her children. From left to right: Catherine, Nancy, Sam, Jenny and David. David Graves was killed during World War II. (Robert Graves' other children were Juan, Lucia, Tomás and William.) 

At age 13 Robert Graves attended a private boarding school called Charterhouse.[8]

Graves later wrote that, at Charterhouse, "the legend was put about that I was not only German but a German-Jew."

Graves' mother, Amalie von Ranke, was the daughter of Heinrich von Ranke, a German doctor.


Charterhouse.

At Charterhouse, Graves met an aristocratic boy three years younger, G. H. "Peter" Johnstone.

Graves had an intense romantic friendship with Johnstone.

"The scandal led ultimately to an interview with the headmaster."[10]

Much later, Johnstone "was caught in flagrante, apparently soliciting a soldier."

Robert Graves and the Loss of Innocence

Siegfried Sassoon

During World War One, Graves met Siegfried Sassoon and formed a strong romantic relationship with him.

Sassoon had affairs with - William Park "Gabriel" Atkin, [16]Ivor Novello, actor[17],
Glen Byam Shaw[18]Prince Philipp of Hesse, German aristocrat[17]Beverley Nichols, writer[17] and the Hon. Stephen Tennant, an aristocrat[17]

Sassoon married Hester Gatty.


Nancy Nicholson

In 1918, Graves married the boyish-looking Nancy Nicholson.

Laura Riding, 'a witch-like American poet'.

In 1926, Graves took up a post at Cairo University, accompanied by his wife Nancy Nicholson, their children and the poet Laura Riding.

Graves returned to London briefly, "where he split up with his wife  before leaving to live with Riding in Deià, Majorca."


Robert Graves.

"Robert Graves was married to Nancy Nicholson, but was besotted with Laura Riding.

"Laura jumped out of window, falling 50 feet, after being spurned by Geoffrey Phibbs, the man she was besotted with.

"Robert then jumped out of a window after her."

They both survived.

New book reveals bed-hopping antics of writer Robert Graves .

In 1939, Graves and Laura Riding moved to the United States, living in New Hope, Pennsylvania.

Their volatile relationship led to an eventual breakup.


Beryl Hodge/Pritchard

After returning to Britain, Graves began a relationship with Beryl Hodge (Beryl Pritchard), the wife of his friend Alan Hodge.


Robert Graves and family in Majorca.

In 1946, Graves and Beryl re-established a home with their three children, in Deià, Majorca.
Juan Graves with Robert Graves.


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4 Comments:

At 10 August 2018 at 10:21 , Anonymous wiggins said...

Strange fellow.....

 
At 10 August 2018 at 16:14 , Anonymous HPrice said...

I think that Colin Wilson had a few stories about Robert Graves. They were to do with Wilson's ideas about "peak experiences". Can't remember the details now but they were very interesting. Reality is sometimes not what we think it is.

 
At 10 August 2018 at 17:16 , Blogger Peter said...

Private school undergraduate reading in the 1970's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Week-End

 
At 10 August 2018 at 22:12 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

So would you be if you went through the first world war like Graves did. He was certainly no nancy boy pooftah poet. The comedian Peter Cook's first wife Wendy lived with Graves' community in Deya. The poem A Slice Of The Wedding Cake perhaps best sums up Graves' view of women. He loved them.

 

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