A biography of novelist and critic John Berger, whose work—including Ways of Seeing and the Booker-prize winning G.—revolutionized the critical tradition in the twentieth century
In From Life, Overton blends the patient, meticulous, clear-eyed archival research we might expect from a professional historian with the subjective and intimate familiarity of the memoirist to offer a complete and comprehensive portrait of his subject ... Provides an excellent introduction to new readers who may have first encountered Berger through the recent rerelease of G. For the already initiated, From Life draws useful connections between Berger’s myriad projects, explores the surrounding context from which they arose, and teases out through lines that remained consistent across his lengthy career ... Makes a concerted effort to weave the diverse threads of Berger’s work into a single, cohesive tapestry without smoothing out its multitextured richness.
Exuberant ... Thick with detail and lit by wonder. It strains to paint the whole canvas and give us the man in full, warts and all ... Overton is a writer in part because of reading John Berger. The biographer’s prose style is his own but he writes in the same spirit – fired by curiosity and close-marking his subject; gesturing out to the reader as though to engage them in debate.
Well-informed, if over-fond ... Overton slips into the second person, addressing Berger directly and a little too cosily ... Overton’s biography, despite its tonal missteps, is valuable for bringing this visionary critic back to life.
