One book done, another one begun. . . .

So this week I finally received the contract from the publisher for my book - Humble Men in Company: The Unlikely Friendship of Samuel Coleridge and Charles Lamb. It felt good to see the contract and know I am one step closer to seeing the book in print. Looking back on it now I can't really see how I actually finished all one hundred and twenty thousand words. I did it mostly in spare moments when Cairo was busy for a few minutes here and there or late at night or early in the morning. But somehow I managed to do it and it won't be long now that I can have a finished book n my hand. 

Recently I have been working on a new book idea that is in keeping with my desire to focus on the English Romantic authors in an accessible way that is meaningful to our present age. I have narrowed this idea down to dealing with the the three Romantic essayists- Lamb, Hazlitt, and Hunt. These were the three most influential essayists of the period and they knew each other well and worked quite closely for many years.  I find them interesting because they worked in an era that is similar to our own in as much as they spent their youth in an period of hopeful optimism only to spend their adulthood in a period of conservative reaction as the traditionally  powerful of Europe reasserted their strength. But in recent decades they are slowly fading into obscurity. However, their essays and letters are full of wit and wisdom much of it that is still interesting and useful today. Just like my last book, this one will not be overly academic and it is my hope that it can contribute to a more popular knowledge of the Romantic authors. I know I am fighting against the tide in an age when the only thing people read is text messages but someone has to do it.