A. J. A. Symons is remembered chiefly for his biography of Fr[ederick] Rolfe (or Baron Corvo). He did, however, publish two other substantial biographies and a range of miscellaneous works in his short life, and his younger brother, the prolific mystery writer Julian Symons, has salvaged additional short biographical studies. But The Quest for Corvo: An Experiment in Biography (1934) broke new ground in its format, and while perhaps not the lineal ancestor of modern biographical writing, it is yet the precursor of an attitude and a methodology now commonplace. Symons showed both readers and writers how empathy and character study rather than fact gathering and chronology could be made the focus of biography.

Alphonse James Albert Symons (he later claimed the initials stood for Albert James Alroy) was born 16 August 1900, the son of an émigré Russian Jew who had adopted the name Maurice Albert Symons...