Max Beerbohm and the Act of Writing

Lawrence Danson explores the relationship between Beerbohm the man and "Max", his own self-creation, who was dandily dressed and scarcely seemed to age or change throughout his life.

He relates this marked and curious splitting of identity to the published works of the author and artist.

Beginning with a brief biography, he proceeds to examine the carefully constructed and polished self-image developed by Beerbohm, and to show how this affected contemporary writers, painters and aesthetes, the theatrical, literary and cultured "worlds" of the day.

The book, which is part biography and part literary study, also asks whether Beerbohm was essentially a writer or a visual artist.