Robert Lowell, Setting the River on Fire

Robert Lowell, Setting the River on Fire: A Study of Genius, Mania, and Character, by Kay Redfield Jamison. In this magisterial study of the relationship between illness and art, the best-selling author of An Unquiet Mind brings a fresh perspective to the life and work of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Robert Lowell. In his poetry, Lowell put his manic-depressive illness (now known as bipolar disorder) into the public domain, and in the process created a new and arresting language for madness. Here Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison brings her expertise in mood disorders to bear on Lowell’s story, illuminating not only the relationships between mania, depression, and creativity but also how Lowell’s illness and treatment influenced his work (and often became its subject). A bold, sympathetic account of a poet who was—both despite and because of mental illness—a passionate, original observer of the human condition. Robert Lowell, Setting the River on Fire was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and selected as one of the best books of 2017 by the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the Seattle Times, the Irish Times, the Times Literary Supplement, and New Statesman.

The lecture, which will be held in the historic Stable, will be followed by a tea and book signing. The doors will open at 3:15 p.m.

Kay Redfield Jamison is the Dalio Family Professor in Mood Disorders, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and the Co-Director of the Mood Disorders Center at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, as well an honorary professor of English at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Dr. Jamison has written more than 125 scientific and clinical articles about mood disorders, suicide, creativity, and lithium. She is the author of the national best sellers Night Falls Fast (2011), Exuberance: The Passion for Life (2005), and Touched with Fire (1996), and is the coauthor of the standard medical text on bipolar disorder, Manic-Depressive Illness: Bipolar Disorders and Recurrent Depression (2007). Her memoir, An Unquiet Mind (2009), which chronicles her own experience with bipolar illness, was on The New York Times bestseller list for five months and translated into thirty languages. Dr. Jamison is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Royal Society of Edinburgh and is a recipient of the Lewis Thomas Prize, the Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health from the National Academy of Medicine, and a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship.

Refund requests will only be honored if made more than one week prior to lecture date.

Lecture Series books can be purchased in advance from The Mount’s Bookstore! Mount members receive a 10% discount.  Everyone receives a 15% discount if all 9 books are purchased together. If you would like to order your book(s) ahead of the lecture, e-mail our Bookstore Manager Patricia at ppin@edithwharton.org.

We would like to thank Blantyre, a Relais & Chateau property, for their generous donation and support of this season’s Summer Lecture Series at The Mount.

The Mount is a Massachusetts Cultural Council UP designated organization welcoming participants of all disabilities. Please contact The Mount at 413-551-5100 or by email, info@edithwharton.org, to discuss accommodations needed to participate fully in this event. Caregivers are admitted free-of-charge.

2019 SUMMER LECTURE SERIES TICKETS