Book Review: Fair play Jonathan Bate. Ted Hughes: The Unauthorised Life is an excellent, even-handed, and thorough rendition of the Poet Laureate's life and times. A balanced, equitable, and nuanced account, Bate isn't afraid to probe Hughes' psychology as well as his past. The author makes clear in stunning detail the enormous effect that Sylvia Plath's life and death had on the whole of his life and work, and how much of himself and his work Hughes lost due to a lifetime of amorous adventures. The Ted Hughes that Bate shows us in The Unauthorised Life was as flawed a person as he was talented a poet. It's long, but didn't drag for me. Not only are there many new (to me) facts about his life, but I also gained a greater appreciation for Hughes' poetry, which I didn't expect from a biography. Now I must reread Crow and seek out his version of Ovid. I've heard inklings that the estate is unhappy with Ted Hughes: The Unauthorised Life (hence the title, I suppose), but having read it, Jonathan Bate certainly came across as a fair and just reporter, while the executors have to be protective of their bread and butter, talented and imperfect as it was. [4 Stars]
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