Charles Lamb: A Memoir

A close personal memoir offers recollections of a literary figure whose life contained few public events but a singular, lifelong devotion to caring for an afflicted sister. It traces early education and clerical employment, formative friendships with contemporary writers, the development of a distinctive humor and taste for antiquarian London scenes, and a gradual turn from serious verse to the essays and sketches for which he is known. The narrative interweaves personal anecdotes about domestic hardships, migrations between modest lodgings, social gatherings and literary circles, critical reflections on style and character, and accounts of later leisure, failing friends, and the circumstances surrounding his final years.