John Wain
John Barrington Wain CBE (14 March 1925 – 24 May 1994) was an English poet, novelist, and critic, associated with the literary group known as "The Movement". He worked for most of his life as a freelance journalist and author, writing and reviewing for newspapers and the radio.
Life and education
Wain was born and grew up in
Literary career
Wain wrote his first novel, Hurry on Down, in 1953: a comic
Wain was also a prolific poet and critic, with critical works on fellow
Academic career
Wain taught at the
Literary associations
Wain was often referred to as one of the "
Yet it may be more accurate to link Wain with The Movement, a group of post-war poets including Kingsley Amis, D. J. Enright, Thom Gunn, Elizabeth Jennings and Philip Larkin. Amis and Larkin, good friends of Wain's for a time, were also associated with the "Angries". But aside from their poetry, it may be more apposite to refer to them, as was sometimes done at the time, as "The New University Wits" – writers who wished to communicate rather than experiment and often did so in a comic manner. However, they all became more serious after their initial work. Wain is still known for his poetry (for example, his Apology for Understatement) and literary interests (contributions to The Observer), although his work is no longer as popular as it was. Critical remarks about him by Amis and Larkin in their posthumously published letters may have contributed to dimming his reputation.
Wain's tutor at
Works
Novels
- Hurry on Down (1953), also Born in Captivity (US title)
- Living in the Present (1955)
- The Contenders (1958)
- A Travelling Woman (1959)
- Strike the Father Dead (1962)
- The Young Visitors (1965)
- The Smaller Sky (1967)
- A Winter in the Hills (1970)
- The Pardoner's Tale (1978)
- Lizzie's Floating Shop (1981)
- Whitbread Prize)
- Where the Rivers Meet (1988)
- Comedies (1990)
- Hungry Generations (1994)
Poetry
- A Word Carved on a Sill (1956)
- Weep Before God (1961)
- Wildtrack (1965)
- Letters to Five Artists, poems (1969)
- Feng, a poem (1975)
- Poems 1949–79 (1980)
- Poems for the Zodiac (1980)
- The Twofold (1981)
- Open Country (1987)
Short stories
- Manhood (1980)
- The Valentine Generation
- Down our Way
- A Message from the Pig-man
Plays
- Johnson is Leaving (1973), monodrama
- Harry in the Night (1975)
- Frank (1984), radio play
Short story collections
- Nuncle and Other Stories (1960)
- Death of the Hind Legs and Other Stories (1966)
- The Life Guard (1971)
Literary criticism
- Interpretations, essays on twelve English poems (1955 and 1972)
- Preliminary Essays (1957)
- American Allegory (1959)
- Strength and Isolation in "The Living Milton", ed. Frank Kermode (1960)
- Essays on Literature and Ideas (1963)
- The Living World of Shakespeare, a playgoer's guide (1964)
- Theodore Roethke (1964) (in Critical Quarterly)
- Arnold Bennett (1967)
- A House for the truth, critical essays (1972)
- Johnson as critic (1973)
- An Edmund Wilson celebration (1978)
- Edmund Wilson, the man and his work (1978)
- Professing poetry (1979)
- Introduction to Milton's Paradise Lost (1991) published by The Folio Society (2003)
Biography
- Sprightly Running: Part of an Autobiography (1962)
- Samuel Johnson: A Biography (1975)
- Dear Shadows. Portraits from Memory (1986)
See also
References
- ^ Sillery, A.; Sillery, V. (1975). St. John's College Biographical Register 1919-1975. Vol. 3. Oxford: St. John’s College. p. 180.
- ^ Who Was Who. Oxford University Press. December 2007. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/55823. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ British Library Retrieved 19 April 2018.
- ^ Maschler, Tom, ed. (1957). Declaration. London: MacGibbon and Kee.
- ^ Feldman, Gene and Gartneberg, Max (editors) (1958). Protest: The Beat Generation and the Angry Young Men. New York: Citadel Press.
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has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ As an undergraduate, Wain would not have been considered for what passed for "membership" anyway.
Literature
- Elizabeth Hatziolou, 1997. John Wain, A Man of Letters
- Diana Glyer, 2007. The Company They Keep: C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien as Writers in Community ISBN 978-0-87338-890-0
- Edward Black, 1965. "L'Art de John Wain, poète": PhD thesis, Université de Caen, 1965
- Dr. K. Kumar, 1999. "The Novels of John Wain": , PhD Thesis, Ranchi University