A Length of Road: Interview with Robert Hamberger

Kövesi, S. and Hamberger, R. (2021) A Length of Road: Interview with Robert Hamberger. John Clare Society Journal(40), pp. 87-96.

Abstract

Robert Hamberger has published four poetry collections. His latest, ‘Blue Wallpaper’, was shortlisted for the 2020 Polari Prize. In 1995 Robert retraced John Clare’s 1841 walk of eighty-five miles from High Beach asylum to his home in Northborough. His first non-fiction book A Length of Road: Finding myself in the footsteps of John Clare, and the occasion for this interview, describes the experience of this walk at a time of personal crisis, reflecting on, and contrasting with, Clare’s journey. It was published by John Murray in June 2021. The book is genre-fluid: part memoir, part nature writing, part literary criticism, with twenty-eight poems in Clare’s voice and the voices of those he met on his walk. It is an exploration of class, gender, family, friendship, grief and sexuality through the author’s own experiences and the autobiographical writing of John Clare. This interview was conducted by correspondence between Robert Hamberger and Simon Kövesi across April and May 2021. The interview is followed by a few sample poems from A Length of Road.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Kovesi, Professor Simon
• Authors: Kövesi, S., and Hamberger, R.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > English Literature
• Journal Name: John Clare Society Journal
• Journal Abbr.: JCSJ
• Publisher: John Clare Society
• ISSN: 1356-7128
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 John Clare Society
• First Published: First published in John Clare Society Journal 40: 87-96
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy

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