Why have we no biography, three hundred pages, dense with footnotes,
boasting your achievements? He was a Melbourne surgeon. He worked for
the Ottoman Empire in the Russo-Turkish War. He was the oldest man at
Gallipoli, and took illegal photographs during a nine-hour truce. He
repaired Ned Kelly after the Siege of Glenrowan. He cut quite a figure
in Marvellous Melbourne of the 1880s and 90s. He did remarkable things.
He wrote it all down. In this verse-portrait of Sir Charles Snodgrass
'Plevna' Ryan (1853 - 1926), Geoff Page weaves the writing of Ryan
together with his own voice as biographer, setting down the life of a
man forgotten by history at the same time as reflecting on his role as
intermediary. Page's sensitive investigation into the lost life of
Charles Ryan probes broader topics of mortality, posterity and
collective memory. Written in second person and in verse, Page reflects
both on the power and the unreliability of storied lives. *** Unique,
compelling, informative, deftly organized and presented, Plevna: A
Biography in Verse is an extraordinary read from beginning to end and
unreservedly recommended for community, college, and university library
Biography/Memoir collections, as well as to the attention of
non-specialist general readers with an interest in the Russo-Turkish War
and the Battle of Gallipoli. -- Midwest Book Review, MBR Bookwatch:
August 2016, Greenspan's BookshelfÃ?Â?Ã?Â?Ã?Â?Ã?Â?[Subject: Biography,
Poetry, History]
