Graham Macdonald RobbFRSL (born 2 June 1958, inManchester) is a Britishauthor andcritic specialising inFrench literature.[1]
Born atManchester, Robb attended theRoyal Grammar School, Worcester, before going up toExeter College, Oxford to readModern Languages, graduating withfirst-class honours in 1981 (BA (Oxon) proceedingMA).In 1982, Robb enteredGoldsmiths' College, London to undertaketeacher training,[citation needed] before pursuing postgraduate studies atVanderbilt University inTennessee where he received aPhD inFrench literature. He was then awarded ajunior research fellowship atExeter College in theUniversity of Oxford (1987–1990),[2] before leaving academia.
Robb won the1997Whitbread Best Biography Award forVictor Hugo, and was shortlisted for theSamuel Johnson Prize forRimbaud in 2001.Unlocking Mallarmé had won theModern Language AssociationPrize for Independent Scholars in 1996. All three of hisbiographies (Victor Hugo,Rimbaud andBalzac[3]) becameThe New York Times "Best Books of the Year".The Discovery of France by Robb won theDuff Cooper Prize in 2007 and theRSLOndaatje Prize in 2008.
Elected aFellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1998, Dr Robb was appointed a Chevalier of theOrdre des Arts et des Lettres in 2009. Following the publication of his French translation ofParisians: An Adventure History of Paris, he was awarded theMedal of the City of Paris in 2012.
Robb marriedacademic Margaret Hambrick in 1986.[4]
InThe Discovery of Middle Earth: Mapping the Lost World of the Celts (2013), he argues that theancient Celts organized their territories, determined the locations of settlements and battles, and set the trajectories of tribal migrations by establishing a network of solstice lines based on an extension of the Greek system ofklimata; as evidence he presented his interpretations of artistic geometries, road surveying, centuriations and what he saw as pre-Roman alignments.
Referring to Robb's discussion of meridians, Sean Rafferty said that "There are of course many problems with this interpretation. Robb’s evidence is either pure speculation or cherry-picking from ambiguous textual sources. There is no reason to suppose any direct ideological connection between the Greeks and the Celtic tribes of Europe, though the two cultures did interact in Eastern Europe. Assuming that mythological stories are true relations of history is highly problematic but regrettably quite common."[5]
In aNew York Times book review, historianIan Morris describes the book as "engaging" and combining "travelogue and historical detective story". He also says it lacks discipline and that "shows little hesitation about going with whatever works and ignoring what doesn't. From the three or four possible sites for the home of the Parisii tribe, he picks the one that falls closest to a meridian. He also rejects the most popular scholarly suggestions for where the Ambiani built their capital and Julius Caesar fought one of his most important battles in favor of less-popular locations that are closer to his lines. Similarly, pointing out thatno single place has emerged as the favorite for the location of Mons Graupius, where Rome fought its northernmost battle, Robb puts it where two of his lines intersect." Morris quotes Rafferty who said "At the Euston Road entrance to the British Library, a voice proclaimed the 'druid network' to be nothing but a huge and complex system of personal reference, a testament, not to the druids' genius, but to the ruthless ingenuity of the unconscious mind.[6]
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| Year | Review article | Work(s) reviewed |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Robb, Graham (June 28, 2007). "In his nightmare city".The New York Review of Books.54 (11):52–54. | Vargas Llosa, Mario.The temptation of the impossible : Victor Hugo and Les Misérables. Translated from the Spanish by John King. |
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