King is good on the wider history, the mid-century social landscape, for example
Paula Burnett, Times Higher Education Supplement
there is enough fresh material to make those familiar with what has been in the public realm read on, while for new students of Walcott, this biography, however, plainly narrated and data-crammed at times, will become an indispensable accompaniment to his work, a must for the academic library
Paula Burnett, Times Higher Education Supplement
A major tribute fo the Odysseus of Caribbean poetry.
British Bulletin of Publications, No.104 (2001)
King surprises with much interesting personal insight, detailing a man who struggled to combine lives as journalist, playwright and ambassador for Caribbean poetry, succumbing to many of the perils inherent in the role of artistic genius.
British Bulletin of Publications, No.104 (2001)
whole unfamiliar worlds and periods are being recreated for the reader ... the book is no simple eulogy or apologia ... The paragraphys where King summarizes and comments are excellent - they are low-key and unrhetorical but bear the weight of profound knowldege and thought about the subject matter.
Planet The Welsh Internationalist, June/July 2001
King is good on Walcott's career; how he earned his living; the milieu in which he operated at every stage of his life. ...King is eloquent on Walcott's faults. He obviously holds him in the highest respect and there is no meanness in his verdict: ...King's book ... does shed light on a complex man.
Peter Forbes, Another Life, Caribbean Section
King ... leaves us in no doubt about the daunting graft that goes into sustaining a modern international literary life
Plays International
his expertise is strengthened by a personal acquaintance wit his subject, and by having access to a hitherto unpublished prose autobiography. There is an intimacy in the approach which makes some parts read like a memoir of a personal friend ... This is a good book about a great life.
Sean Lysaght, Irish Times, 30/12/00.
we must be immensely grateful for Bruce King's biography, for its patient and meticulous recording of archival material, sources of written data and oral testimonies from Walcott's family, friends and fellow-shipmates in the craft.
David Dabydeen, The Independent, 18/11/00.
King ... is firm in his belief that art survives its maker, and speculation on the maker's character often prejudices appreciation of the art. So we are left with the writings, and King's erudite interpretation of its backgrounds. Given King's scholarship ... he is idealy placed to examine the astonishing range of literatures which have influenced Walcott's work.
David Dabydeen, The Independent, 18/11/00.
King's presentation exceeds traditional expectations of biography and the exploration of one artist's oeuvre ... Thanks to King, we here have ample evidence that Derek Walcott is a world.
Jill B. Gidmark, The Caribbean Writer
Extensively researched... King's discoveries will certainly be indispensible for any future biographer. King is... illuminating in his focus on Walcott's 'Caribbean Life'.
Adam Kirsch, TLS September 15 2000
... conscientiously researched biography
Vernon Scannell, Sunday Telegraph