Frank Russell: A Whole From The Parts

ermes (Mercury in Roman usage) was the god of writers, boundarycrossers, and thieves. Biographers might thank Hermes when they “borrow” another’s life for a short while, crossing psychological and logistical boundaries to write that life. Hermes may provide the inspiration, but his adepts must do the composing, travelling, and ... thieving. Ruth Derham’s biography of Frank Russell is within the hermetic tradition, bar the larceny. She gives an integrated picture of Frank, filling in the blanks left by his autobiography, My Life and Adventures (). That autobiography is a study in discontinuity,  pages in  chapters. He salts his commentary on the folly of humankind with shorter discussions on the follies of Frank Russell. Frank’s education had been planned by his parents, John and Kate Amberley, on radically liberal lines. There was to be no religious practice or instruction. Even as a small boy, Frank (and Bertie) would have freedom and the right to learn from experience. Frank was given a tutor who agreed on these essentials. Frank quickly acquired a taste for personal liberty. This happy circumstance would not last. Frank’s (and Bertie’s) mother, Kate (née Stanley) (b. ) and sister Rachel (b. ), died in . “Johnny,” the children’s father (b. ), died in . Frank was eight years old when his mother and sister died, ten years old at his father’s death. Bertie