The Art of Autobiography in 19th and 20th Century England, by A.O.J. Cockshut (Yale, 1985)
Just one of many secondary works that Prof. Zhao relies on; Cockshut is also known for a biography of Anthony Trollope.
The "Sighing Bridge" at Hertford College, Oxford. (Whence Cockshut Comes)
Anatole Broyard, reviewing the work in the New York Times, comments,
In his comments on the works he discusses he implicitly gives us his vision of how a good life should be led; this results in a witty and elegant view of moral philosophy by a man steeped in literature. He can say, for example, of H. G. Wells, that ''he mistook the invigorating and at times amusing process of stripping off the hypocrisies of conventional late Victorian Bromley for a profound inquiry into the nature of the universe.''
He also has this comment; one wonders if it does not apply to Professor Zhao as well, given the strict outlines of his theory:
'It is a privilege of a great autobiography,'' Mr. Cockshut says, ''to give us data for disagreeing with its conclusions.'' This may also be said of one aspect of his own book. Though he divides it into chapters with titles like ''Defined by the World,'' ''The Quest'' and ''Conversion,'' he does not pursue these categories with any great determination, and the book is better for it. Everything interests him; his mind is too curious to be confined by such a plan.
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