William Empson: Vol. I: Among the Mandarins.(Book Review)

William Empson: Vol. I: Among the Mandarins JOHN HAFFENDEN. Oxford Univ., $45 (696p) ISBN 0-19-927659-5

Haffenden takes a completist approach to his idiosyncratic subject and his groundbreaking critical works, including Seven Types of Ambiguity. Empson (1906-1984) hailed from Yorkshire squirearchy whose unexceptional history interests Haffenden perhaps more than it should. Empson distinguished himself as a public school student with his mild unconventionality. At Cambridge on scholarship, he gained notoriety for his technically striking poetry. But his academic career, fostered by I.A. Richards, was derailed by scandal after a housekeeper's discovery of prophylactics …