John Braine
John Braine | |
---|---|
Born | Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England | 13 April 1922
Died | 28 October 1986 | (aged 64)
Occupation | Novelist |
Known for | Room at the Top (1957) |
John Gerard Braine (13 April 1922 – 28 October 1986)[1] was an English novelist. Braine is usually listed among the angry young men, a loosely defined group of English writers who emerged on the literary scene in the 1950s.
Biography
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John Braine was born in the Westgate area of central
Although he wrote 12 works of fiction, Braine is chiefly remembered today for his first novel,
After achieving literary success, Braine moved to the south of England, living from 1966 until his death in Woking.[1] He wrote several more novels, including Life at the Top, a sequel to Room at the Top. His 1968 novel The Crying Game is set in London and captures some of the atmosphere of the 'Swinging Sixties' (it is not related to the 1992 film of the same name). His 1974 book, Writing a Novel, was a guide for aspiring novelists.
Braine was mildly left-wing in his youth, but, like his contemporaries (and fellow "angry young men") Kingsley Amis and John Wain, he later moved to the political right and supported America's involvement in the Vietnam War. In 1967, Braine, Robert Conquest, Amis and several others signed a controversial letter to The Times titled "Backing for U.S. Policies in Vietnam", supporting the US government in Vietnam.[3]
Braine was married to Helen Wood and had four children. They separated in the early 1980s with Wood moving to Shropshire with her two youngest children.[4] He died from a gastric haemorrhage in 1986 at the age of 64.[1]
Select bibliography
Fiction
- Room at the Top (1957) Reissued in 2013 by Valancourt Books
- The Vodi (1959) Reissued in 2013 by Valancourt Books
- Life at the Top (1962) Reissued in 2015 by Valancourt Books
- The Jealous God (1964)
- The Crying Game (1968) (not related to the 1992 film of the same title)
- Stay with Me Till Morning (1970) (U.S. title: "The View from Tower Hill")
- The Queen of a Distant Country (1972)
- The Pious Agent (1975)
- Waiting for Sheila (1976)
- Finger of Fire (1977)
- One and Last Love (1981)
- The Two of Us (1984)
- These Golden Days (1985)
- Man at the Top (Thames Television, 1970–1): five scripts for the first series of this drama based on Braine's character Joe Lampton[5]
Non-fiction
- A Personal Record (Monday Club, 1968)
- Writing a Novel (1974)
- J.B. Priestley (1978)
References
- ^ required.)
- ISSN 0140-0460.
- ^ John Wakeman,
World Authors 1950–1970 : a companion volume to Twentieth Century Authors. New York : H. W. Wilson Company, 1975; ISBN 0824204190(pp. 444-48).
- ^ "John Braine's fall from the top". The Yorkshire Post. 27 October 2006. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
- ^ See the review at DVDCompare, of the 2010 UK DVD release: DVDCompare review
External links
- John Braine – bibliography of first editions Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- John Braine archival collection at Leeds University Library