Colin MacInnes
Colin MacInnes | |
|---|---|
| Born | Colin Campbell McInnes[1] 20 August 1914 London, England |
| Died | 22 April 1976 (age 61) Kent, England |
| Occupation | Novelist, journalist |
| Nationality | British |
| Period | 1950s to 1970s |
| Genre | fictional prose |
| Notable works | City of Spades, Absolute Beginners |
Colin MacInnes (20 August 1914 – 22 April 1976)[2] was an English novelist and journalist.
Early life
MacInnes was born in
Malvern, Melbourne.[1] He attended Scotch College and, for much of his childhood, was known as Colin Thirkell, the surname of his mother's second husband.[1] Later he used his father's surname McInnes, afterwards changing it to MacInnes.[4]
He had an older brother, Graham McInnes, and a younger half-brother, Lance Thirkell.[1]
He worked in
London Polytechnic school and the School of Drawing and Painting in Euston Road
.
Towards the end of his life, he stayed at the home of Martin Green, his publisher, and Green's wife Fiona, in Fitzrovia, where MacInnes spent time, regarding their small family as his own adoptive one until his death.[5]
Career
MacInnes served in the
occupied Germany after the European armistice. These experiences resulted in the writing of his first novel, To the Victors the Spoils. Soon after his return to England, he worked for BBC Radio until he could earn a living from his writing.[4]
He was the author of a number of books depicting London
bisexual,[7] he wrote on subjects including urban squalor, racial issues, bisexuality, drugs, anarchy, and "decadence".[8]
Mr Love & Justice concerns two characters, Frank Love and Edward Justice, during late 1950s London. Mr Love is a novice ponce (
pimp
); Mr Justice is a police officer newly transferred to the plain-clothes division of the Vice Squad. Gradually their lives intermesh.
Adaptations and influence
Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London.[8]
David Bowie appeared in the film Absolute Beginners and recorded the title song, which was a hit around the world.[10]
MacInnes occurs as a character in Tainted Love (2005), Stewart Home's novel of 1960s and 1970s counterculture.[12]
Mr. Love & Justice
(2008) borrowed their titles from books by MacInnes.
The Jam released a single called "Absolute Beginners" in 1981.
Bibliography
- To the Victor the Spoils (MacGibbon & Kee, 1950; Allison & Busby, 1986)
- June in Her Spring (MacGibbon & Kee, 1952; Faber & Faber, 2008)
- City of Spades (MacGibbon & Kee, 1957; Allison & Busby, 1980)
- Absolute Beginners (MacGibbon & Kee, 1959; Allison & Busby, 1980)
- Mr Love & Justice (MacGibbon & Kee, 1960; Allison & Busby, 1980)
- England, Half English (MacGibbon & Kee, 1961) – a collection of previously published journalism
- London, City of Any Dream (Thames & Hudson, 1962) – photo essay
- Australia and New Zealand (Time Life, 1964)
- All Day Saturday (MacGibbon & Kee, 1966)
- Sweet Saturday Night (MacGibbon & Kee, 1967) – a history of British musichall
- Westward to Laughter (MacGibbon & Kee, 1969)
- Three Years to Play (MacGibbon & Kee, 1970)
- Loving Them Both: A Study of Bisexuality (Martin Brian and O'Keeffe, 1973)
- Out of the Garden (HarperCollins, 1974)
- No Novel Reader (Martin Brian & O'Keeffe, 1975)
- Out of the Way: Later Essays (Martin Brian & O'Keeffe, 1980)
- Absolute MacInnes: The Best of Colin MacInnes (Allison & Busby, 1985)
- Fancy Free Unpublished novel (MS and typescript); gifted to Fiona Green, 1973
- Visions of London (MacGibbon & Kee 1969)
Further reading
- Gould, Tony. Inside Outsider: The Life and Times of Colin MacInnes. London: Allison and Busby, 1983.
- White, Jerry. "Colin MacInnes: 'Absolute Beginners' - 1959". London Fictions. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
References
- ^ a b c d e Serle, Geoffrey, "Colin Campbell McInnes (1914–1976)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 26 March 2024
- ^ "Colin MacInnes". www.nndb.com. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
- ^ Hall, Anne (2021). Angela Thirkell A Writer's Life. Unicorn. pp. 73–74.
- ^ a b Biographical note Archived 16 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine (Colin MacInnes Papers), River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester.
- ^ Tony Gould, Inside Outsider: The Life and Times of Colin MacInnes, Allison & Busby, 1983.
- ^ Nick Bentley, "Writing 1950s London: Narrative Strategies in Colin MacInnes's City of Spades and Absolute Beginners" Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Literary London: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Representation of London.
- ISBN 0-85616-230-2.
- ^ a b Ed Vulliamy (15 April 2007). "Absolute MacInnes". The Observer. Retrieved 19 November 2008.
- ^ "Absolute Beginners (1986)", IMDb.
- ^ LeRoy, Dan. "Absolute Beginners – Original Soundtrack". AllMusic. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
- ^ City of Spades Archived 28 March 2022 at the Wayback Machine, BBC – Saturday Play.
- ^ Stewart Home, Tainted Love, London: Virgin Books, 2005.
External links
- "Colin MacInnes's 'City of Spades'", article on the London Fictions site
- "The London of 'Absolute Beginners'" on the London Fictions site
- "Kilburn and Stepney in 'Mr Love and Justice'" on London Fictions
- Colin MacInnes Archived 28 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine at Allison & Busby.
- Nick Bentley, "Writing 1950s London: Narrative Strategies in Colin MacInnes's City of Spades and Absolute Beginners", article in Literary London Journal.
