Publisher Description

Part biography, part detective novel, part love story, and part meditation on archival research, Love Among the Archives is an experiment in writing a life. This is the story of two literary critics' attempts to track down Sir George Scharf, the founding director of the National Portrait Gallery in London, famous in his day and strangely obscure in our own.

Flap

'Superb. Warhol and Michie's Love Among the Archives is a triumph of a book, that reinvents academic biography and tells a compelling story of the passions and mysteries of Victorian lives and archives. Inventive, witty and knowing, it is both an important reflection on biographical method and a joy to read.'John Bowen, Professor of Nineteenth-Century Literature, University of York'A brilliant and ambitious experiment in life writing, Love Among the Archives is a delicious, witty, learned performance. Part scholarly detective story, part postmodern metanarrative, part cautionary tale about the temptations, limits, rewards, frustrations, and secret desires involved in doing archival research, it recalls both Byatt's Possession and Symons's The Quest for Corvo.'John O. Jordan, University of California, Santa CruzTwo literary critics romancing the archive at London's National Portrait GalleryUniting elements of the biography, the detective novel, and the love story, Love Among the Archives is an experiment in writing a life. This is the story of two literary critics' attempts to track down Sir George Scharf, the founding director of the National Portrait Gallery in London, famous in his day and strangely obscure in our own. After discovering Scharf's scrapbook of menus and invitations from England's most stately homes, the authors began their adventures in the archives of London, searching Scharf's diaries, sketchbooks and letters for traces of the man who so loved dining out. Addicted to Victorian novels, the authors looked for a marriage plot, but found Scharf's passionate attachment to a younger man who had hidden from him a secret engagement; they looked for a Bildungsroman, but found that Scharf never left his beloved mother. Always short of money, self-educated, talented, irascible, gregarious, prolific and snobbish, this son of a poor immigrant artist was to become the right-hand man of an earl he called 'my best friend'. The written record of his nightmares, debts, gifts and dinner parties comes together to produce a rich Victorian character whose personal and professional lives challenge what we think we know about sex, class and profession in his time.Helena Michie is Agnes Cullen Arnold Professor in Humanities and Professor of English at Rice University.Robyn Warhol is Arts and Humanities Distinguished Professor of English at the Ohio State University, where she is a core faculty member of Project Narrative.Cover images: GS self-portrait, c.1870; GS sketch of Knole House in Kent, 1874; GS sketch of Lady Mary Stanhope in a boat with Miss Henniker and Miss Alice Henniker. 1865. All images

Author Biography

Helena Michie is Agnes C. Arnold Professor in Humanities and Professor English, Rice University. She is the author of Victorian Honeymoons: Journeys to the Conjugal (CUP, 2006), Sororophobia: Differences Among Women in Literature and Culture (OUP, 1991), and The Flesh Made Word: Women's Figures, Women's Bodies (OUP, 1987), co-author, with Naomi R. Cahn, of Confinements: Policing the Reproductive Body (Rutgers University Press, 1997) and co-editor of, with Ronald Thomas, Nineteenth-Century Geographies: From the Victorian Age to the American Century (Rutgers University Press, 2002). Robyn Warhol is Arts & Sciences Distinguished Professor of English and Chair of the Department of English at The Ohio State University, where she is a core faculty member of Project Narrative. Her most recent books are Narrative Theory Unbound: Queer and Feminist Interventions (co-edited with Susan S. Lanser, Ohio State University Press, 2015) and Love among the Archives: Writing the Lives of Sir George Scharf, Victorian Bachelor (co-authored with Helena Michie, Edinburgh University Pres, 2015).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations; Preface and Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; A Vita for Sir George Scharf (Timeline); Part I. Introduction: Adventures in the Archives; 1. Identifying George Scharf; 2. Expanding Middles; 3. So Many Archives; 4. The Ephemeral Archive: The Lives of Objects; 5. The Institutional Archive: The NPG on Paper and Screen; 6. The Monumental Archive: A Trip to Xanthus; 7. The Visceral Archive: A Victorian Dinner Party; 8. Writing George Scharf's 'Life'; II. Reading for Romance: The Marriage Plot; 9. Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places; 10. A World of Men; 11. We Don't Know Jack about George; 12. 'Don't Be Shocked!'; 13. 'Jackiana', or, Giving Jack Away; 14. Getting Used To It; 15. Piano Wars; 16. Romance Plot Redux; 17. After Plot: Illegible Romance; III. Reading for Differentiation: The Family Romance; 18. Left Behind: George Senior; 19. Incorporating the Elderlies: Mother and Aunt; 20. Horizontal Narratives (1): Family (Accounting) Systems; 21. Horizontal Narratives (2): Brother Henry Disappears; IV. Reading for Success: The Professional Plot; 22. Desiring Knole; 23. Knole in the National Imaginary; 24. In Which We (Maybe) Uncover a Dark-Hearted Villain; 25. Days and Nights at Knole; 26. Back to the Table; 27. In Which We Become Guests of the Sackvilles (Sort of); 28. Friends at Chevening; 29. Reading for Death; Coda: Our Archivist, Ourselves; List of Works Cited; Index

Review

A brilliant and ambitious experiment in life writing, Love Among the Archives is a delicious, witty, learned performance. Part scholarly detective story, part postmodern metanarrative, part cautionary tale about the temptations, limits, rewards, frustrations, and secret desires involved in doing archival research, it recalls both Byatt's Possession and Symons's The Quest for Corvo.--Professor John O. Jordan "University of California, Santa Cruz"
Superb. Warhol and Michie's Love Among the Archives is a triumph of a book, that reinvents academic biography and tells a compelling story of the passions and mysteries of Victorian lives and archives. Inventive, witty and knowing, it is both an important reflection on biographical method and a joy to read.-- "John Bowen, Professor of Nineteenth-Century Literature, University of York"

Long Description

Two Literary Critics Romancing the Archive at London's National Portrait Gallery. Part biography, part detective novel, part love story, and part meditation on archival research,? Love Among the Archives ?is an experiment in writing a life. This is the story of two literary critics'?attempts to track down Sir George Scharf, the founding director of the National Portrait Gallery in London, famous in his day and strangely obscure in our own. After discovering Scharf's scrapbook of menus and invitations from England's most stately homes, the authors began their adventures in the archives of London, searching Scharf's diaries, sketchbooks, and letters for traces of the man who so loved dining out. Addicted to Victorian novels, the authors looked for a marriage plot, but found Scharf's passionate attachment to a younger man who had hidden from him a secret engagement; they looked for a Bildungsroman, but found that Scharf never left his beloved mother.'Always short of money, self-educated, talented, irascible, gregarious, prolific, and snobbish, this son of a poor immigrant artist was to become the right-hand man of an earl he called?"my best friend."?The written record of his nightmares, debts, gifts, and dinner parties'comes together to produce a rich Victorian character whose personal and professional lives challenge what we think we know about sex, class, and profession in his time. Helena Michie is Agnes Cullen Arnold Professor in Humanities and Professor of English at Rice University.' She is the author of Victorian Honeymoons: Journeys to the Conjugal (2006), Sororophobia: Differences Among Women in Literature and Culture (1991) and The Flesh Made Word: Female Figures and Women's Bodies (1987) and co-editor with Ronald Thomas of Nineteenth-Century Geographies: From the Victorian Age to the American Century (2002). Robyn Warhol is Arts and Humanities Distinguished Professor of English at the Ohio State University, where she is a core faculty member of Project Narrative.' She is the author of Having a Good Cry: Effeminate Feelings and Pop Culture Forms (2003) and Gendered Interventions: Narrative Discourse in the Victorian Novel (1989) and co-editor with Susan S. Lanser of Narrative Theory Unbound: Queer and Feminist Interventions (2015).

Review Quote

Superb. Warhol and Michie's Love Among the Archives is a triumph of a book, that reinvents academic biography and tells a compelling story of the passions and mysteries of Victorian lives and archives. Inventive, witty and knowing, it is both an important reflection on biographical method and a joy to read. John Bowen, Professor of Nineteenth-Century Literature, University of York A brilliant and ambitious experiment in life writing, Love Among the Archives is a delicious, witty, learned performance. Part scholarly detective story, part postmodern metanarrative, part cautionary tale about the temptations, limits, rewards, frustrations, and secret desires involved in doing archival research, it recalls both Byatt's Possession and Symons's The Quest for Corvo. Professor John O. Jordan, University of California, Santa Cruz

Promotional "Headline"

Two Literary Critics Romancing the Archive at London's National Portrait Gallery.

Description for Reader

Two Literary Critics Romancing the Archive at London's National Portrait Gallery. WINNER of the 2016 NAVSA Book of the Year Part biography, part detective novel, part love story, and part meditation on archival research, Love Among the Archives is an experiment in writing a life. This is the story of two literary critics' attempts to track down Sir George Scharf, the founding director of the National Portrait Gallery in London, famous in his day and strangely obscure in our own. After discovering Scharf's scrapbook of menus and invitations from England's most stately homes, the authors began their adventures in the archives of London, searching Scharf's diaries, sketchbooks, and letters for traces of the man who so loved dining out. Addicted to Victorian novels, the authors looked for a marriage plot, but found Scharf's passionate attachment to a younger man who had hidden from him a secret engagement; they looked for a Bildungsroman, but found that Scharf never left his beloved mother. Always short of money, self-educated, talented, irascible, gregarious, prolific, and snobbish, this son of a poor immigrant artist was to become the right-hand man of an earl he called "my best friend." The written record of his nightmares, debts, gifts, and dinner parties comes together to produce a rich Victorian character whose personal and professional lives challenge what we think we know about sex, class, and profession in his time.

Feature

Anatomy of "the Archive" described within the Introduction An experiment in meta-archival life-writing that has no precedent The only book ever written about Sir George Scharf, founding director of the National Portrait Gallery Humorous account of two literary critics "romancing the archive" In-depth and fascinating exploration of same-sex love among Victorian men within the middle class

Description for Sales People

Two Literary Critics Romancing the Archive at London's National Portrait Gallery. Part biography, part detective novel, part love story, and part meditation on archival research, Love Among the Archives is an experiment in writing a life; the story of two literary critics' attempts to track down Sir George Scharf, the founding director of the National Portrait Gallery in London, famous in his day and strangely obscure in our own. An experiment in meta-archival life-writing that has no precedent The only book ever written about Sir George Scharf, founding director of the National Portrait Gallery

Description for Teachers/Educators

Victorian Literature, Victorian Biography, Life Writing, Museum History, Researching Archives, Queer Theory and Culture.

Details