Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne - Winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2022

Although I appreciate that this is a very insightful biography which is very well written, I found it quite hard to access. As someone with no knowledge of Donne’s poetry, I found the extracts distracting and was not able to get beyond the introductory chapter. Having read the reviews of other readers, I feel that I should have persevered. I will wait until I have a period of uninterrupted time to try to do it justice. Not a book for casual reading.

'Super-Infinite' by Katherine Rundell is a beautifully written biography of John Donne. Rundell creates the messy, fragile, yet lively world of 17th century England and brings all the shades of Donne's humanity to life: the slightly provocative humour, tender grief, fears, and love of the complex but simple Donne, leap out of the pages. Rundell depicts Donne's courage, founded in his faith, that shaped his life. A highly informative, but gripping book which I would definitely recommend.

The spectrum of roles that Donne played in his world - from the jailbird to the priest - is portrayed through an engaging critical analysis of the poet and his art. It was quite something to read in the Acknowledgements how the writer's penchant for an extra adjective had to be almost surgically treated! Still, it was hard to decide which Donne I was most moved by. But in the end, I have to plum for the lover. The way in which, for instance, Donne baked into the structure of 'Love's Growth' a mathematical formula of syllables, lines and rhyming patterns to harness the passing of time. Breath-taking for the sheer ingenuity and playfulness of the verse. Revealing in how it signals a glimpse beyond the day-to-day into something more than eternity, underscoring the emphasis of the title: Donne's hunger to seek and encapsulate the super-infinite into words. Thinking, like loving, isn't just something you do with your soul; it is something you also do with your body.

This was, unusually for a biography, really fast paced - yet so engaging! Rundell has crafted an enthralling description of Donne, even accepting the speculative nature of her portrayal. There is great insight into his life at the time; the ideas, fashions, poetry, religion, wars etc. Coupled with plenty of humour and none of the dryness so common with the genre, this is a very well written account.

If you have ever wondered about John Donne but were frightened off by the weight of critical dissection surrounding great poets like him, then this may be the book for you. This accessible biography will allow you to find out about the man, gain some insight into his thinking and maybe encourage you to look at his works. He lived at a time of great turmoil and his family were involved in the thick of it: Donne was an immensely interesting man who lived during immensely interesting times. His reaction to what was happening – history in the making – was poured into his poetry and makes it resonate through the centuries to modern times. Read this book. Start your journey of discovery into the Super-Infinite.

- Hazel Cartwright

This is a fascinating, entertaining, and stylishly written book about the extraordinarily talented John Donne. Most people may remember him just for his poetry, however, Katherine Rundell reveals the facts about this multi-facetted man. Poet, priest, soldier, scholar and lover; this is an absorbing insight into the life and times of a truly remarkable man.

- Richard Byatt

Katherine Rundell has managed to write a book about the seventeenth-century poet and all-time ‘renaissance man’ John Donne, which plants him squarely in his time, but without the distance of four preceding centuries. Indeed, by reading ‘Super-Infinite’ the foibles and noise of human hopes, joys, fears and inconsistencies do not appear so contemporary. The landscape may have changed but the human condition may always present itself in similar form. A word of caution to the modern reader: our ancestors may have held different beliefs, values and opinions but this does not mean they are necessarily inferior to ours. John Donne’s life and work affords a wonderful snapshot into the contradictory nature of human existence, presenting us with the opportunity to appreciate a man of his time, but also a man very much ahead of his time and perhaps even of ours.

- Matthew Horton

The spectrum of roles that Donne played in his world - from the jailbird to the priest - is portrayed through an engaging critical analysis of the poet and his art. It was quite something to read in the Acknowledgements how the writer's penchant for an extra adjective had to be almost surgically treated! Still, it was hard to decide which Donne I was most moved by. But in the end, I have to plum for the lover. The way in which Donne baked into the structure of one of his poems a mathematical formula of syllables, lines and rhyming patterns to harness the passing of time, and signalling through this a glimpse beyond into eternity, was revealing and breathtaking. Thinking, like loving, isn't just something you do with your soul; it is something you also do with your body.

This book has fascinated me. I was at first unsure whether I would enjoy it but as I progressed I found the historical detail enthralling and his story quite amazing. such a complex character as his would have to have left its' mark and perhaps the missing detail is the more surprising. His poetry we know although I realised that I knew little about when and why he had written and had no idea about his verse letters. In an era when dissent was dangerous and compliance was the norm, at least in public, he seems to have carved his own route through his life and even when he was in distress or danger.

This book is a super read and using author's own words about reading Donne's sermons "a pleasure that is also work". The book is backed with so much fascinating information based on masses of impressive research and written with down to earth clarity and often humour.
This is the only book I have ever read about Donne, and am in my 7th decade, and I was captivated. It covers so well and clearly the turbulent times he lived through, that it helped put our present times more into perspective. I could not help but wonder if the way Donne used his poems and rhymes in 16th Century was akin to use of social media today.
The book with its rich descriptions of Donne's work and life also gives such a stark glimpse of what it must have been like for Anne, Donne's wife, with just having child after child and suffering the pain and loss of still birth and deaths. It was not just " Donne undone" by the marriage but very much Anne .
I would certainly recommend this book.

Oh to have the intelligence and understand of this author to illuminate not only the history of the 16th and 17th centuries but the complex and bizarre life of John Donne.
I knew little about the man before reading this book and can only be astounded and impressed by how he is portrayed in such great detail by this historian. She leaves nothing out while adding humour and wit to the era in which Donne lived. Donne a man of so many parts who led such an extraordinary life and we are privileged through the author to share in this life, contemplate his poetry and enjoy what Donne can offer us.

A fascinating insight into John Donne's life. I have previously enjoyed his romantic poetry particularly 'A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning' to which there are references in the text, however, before reading this book, I had not appreciated the breadth of John Donne's achievements nor the full context of his life.

Katherine Rundell shows a high regard for Donne and has clearly undertaken extensive research. The notes at the end together with recommendations for further reading provide the reader with guidance to continue to explore known information and documented manuscripts. There are even helpful notes regarding the best places to start one's own research.

We learn about Donne's family, early influences such as his religious background and the horror that he witnessed as part of the Royal Navy in Cadiz, his thoughts on religion and suicide, the background to his impetuous marriage and a number of professions with associated patrons.

There were some intriguing facts about Elizabethan life and life under the Stuarts including what Walter Raleigh should really be famous for, facts about cartography and its place in political history, the value of poetry in society where it was widely used both as a vehicle for satire and to criticise people in power, early astronomy and the inner machinations of court life.

The highs and lows of Donne's life are often revealed through his letters to friends and patrons. His relationship with his children is puzzling at times and seems to lack consistency. His treatment of some of them is uncharacteristic from what we have learnt about Donne, however, it does add to a more rounded view of him and the pressures of the life that he lived, together with how children were viewed at that time.

I felt some empathy with Donne's mourners and was amused at Donne's thoughts about the premature obituaries. The book is interspersed with some dry humour and I would recommend to others not just to discover more about John Donne but also as an insight into life in the 16th-17th centuries.

A fascinating insight into life in essentially Elizabethan England, centred around the life of John Donne, a man whose life was multi faceted and extraordinary. His many career paths, his domestic and family life, his political and social aspirations and achievements, as well as the many lows in his life, are extensively researched and recounted for us to read by Katherine Rendell.
Astounding biography, written to give an engaging and comprehensive glimpse into John Donne’s life and those in his orbit. Packed with learned historical information. Totally enlightening.

Fascinating insight into the life of John Donne and the times in which he lived. The book is full of historical illustrations which bring the text and the historical individuals to life. A life of poetry and eloquence is portrayed against an incredible backdrop of so many experiences, highs and lows, great fortune and pain. A love of his poetry made me want to read this book and I was not disappointed. Well researched biography.