BARON CORVO STUDIES: A GENIUS FOR INACCURACY
by Robert Scoble
The publication of number nine in Robert Scoble's Raven Monographs about the life and work of Frederick Rolfe is now available.
The publication, as well as Scoble's many other monographs on Corvoiana can be purchased at Callum James Books: to visit the store click here.
The following blurb is from their site:
When in the early months of 1903 Frederick Rolfe decided to seek financial help from the Royal Literary Fund, he was unaware that the most influential of the Fund's committee members was determined to thwart him. Edmund Gosse was one of England's foremost men of letters, despite his reputation for literary criticism which was distinctly careless with the facts. At times his mistakes were so egregious that Henry James was moved to lament Gosse's 'genius for inaccuracy'. When Rolfe's case came before the committee, Gosse urged its rejection, embroidering his remarks with gratuitous exaggerations. He was a man used to getting his own way, and having come to the view that Rolfe was undeserving, he took his 'genius for inaccuracy' to the Committee table and ensured that Rolfe's long struggle against dire poverty would continue.
When in the early months of 1903 Frederick Rolfe decided to seek financial help from the Royal Literary Fund, he was unaware that the most influential of the Fund's committee members was determined to thwart him. Edmund Gosse was one of England's foremost men of letters, despite his reputation for literary criticism which was distinctly careless with the facts. At times his mistakes were so egregious that Henry James was moved to lament Gosse's 'genius for inaccuracy'. When Rolfe's case came before the committee, Gosse urged its rejection, embroidering his remarks with gratuitous exaggerations. He was a man used to getting his own way, and having come to the view that Rolfe was undeserving, he took his 'genius for inaccuracy' to the Committee table and ensured that Rolfe's long struggle against dire poverty would continue.
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