Author: Sanon, George
Biography:
SANON, George (fl 1806-10)
“George Sanon” is not an impossible name but in the period it appears to be almost completely undocumented. Public records even for variants of the surname such as Saron, Sarson, Sannon, and Samon are very few. But “George Sanon” issued two ambitious works with that name on the title-pages, and the first was duly advertised and reviewed. Watkins includes the author as living in 1816 but offers no biographical information and lists only the first book. The Monthly Mirror questioned the term “epic” and suggested that “pudding” might have been a more accurate word for The Causes of the French Revolution. A long review in CR sarcastically pretended to discover eternal truths and poetic greatness in it. In the introduction to Mentology; or, The Science of the Human Mind (1810?), a “scientific” prose work produced in Colchester, Sanon claimed to have “dedicated twenty years to travelling and incessant study” to discovering the true nature of the soul; only the first of a projected six books was published. If Sanon was the writer’s real name and not a pseudonym, he left no other evidence of his identity. (ancestry.com 17 Sept. 2024; findmypast.com 17 Sept. 2024; The Star [London] 10 Apr. 1806; Monthly Mirror 22 [1806], 399; CR 10 [1807], 370-5) HJ