Nevil Shute
Nevil Shute | |
---|---|
Born | Nevil Shute Norway 17 January 1899 Ealing, Middlesex, England |
Died | 12 January 1960 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | (aged 60)
Occupation | Novelist aeronautical engineer |
Genre | Fiction |
Nevil Shute Norway (17 January 1899 – 12 January 1960) was an English novelist and
Early life
Shute was born in Somerset Road, Ealing (which was then in Middlesex), in the house described in his novel Trustee from the Toolroom. He was educated at the Dragon School, Shrewsbury School and Balliol College, Oxford; he graduated from Oxford in 1922 with a third-class degree in engineering science.
Shute was the son of Arthur Hamilton Norway, who became head of the Post Office in Ireland before the First World War and was based at the General Post Office, Dublin in 1916 at the time of the Easter Rising, and his wife Mary Louisa Gadsden. Shute himself was later commended for his role as a stretcher-bearer during the rising.[2][3] His grandmother Georgina Norway was a novelist.
Shute attended the
Career in aviation
An
Dissatisfied with the lack of opportunities for advancement, he took a position in 1924 with
The R100 was a prototype for passenger-carrying airships that would serve the needs of Britain's empire. The government-funded but privately developed R100 made a successful 1930 round trip to
Shute gives a detailed account of the development of the two airships in his 1954 autobiographical work, Slide Rule: Autobiography of an Engineer.[5] When he started, he wrote that he was shocked to find that before building the R38 the civil servants concerned '"had made no attempt to calculate the aerodynamic forces acting on the ship"' but had just copied the size of girders in German airships.[6] The calculations for just one transverse frame of the R100 could take two or three months, and the solution '"almost amounted to a religious experience."[7] But later he wrote that '"the disaster was the product of the system rather than the men at Cardington"; the one thing that was proved is that "government officials are totally ineffective in engineering development" and any weapons (they develop) will be bad weapons. The R101 made one short test flight in perfect weather, and was given an airworthiness certificate for her flight to India to meet the minister’s deadline. Norway thought it probable that a new outer cover for the R101 was taped on with rubber adhesive which reacted with the dope.[8] His account is very critical of the R101 design and management team, and strongly hints that senior team members were complicit in concealing flaws in the airship's design and construction. In The Tender Ship, Manhattan Project engineer and Virginia Tech professor Arthur Squires used Shute's account of the R100 and R101 as a primary illustration of his thesis that governments are usually incompetent managers of technology projects.[9]
In 1931, with the cancellation of the R100 project, Shute teamed up with the talented de Havilland-trained designer
For the innovation of developing a hydraulic retractable undercarriage for the Airspeed Courier, and his work on R100, Shute was made a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.
On 7 March 1931, Shute married Frances Mary Heaton, a 28-year-old medical practitioner. They had two daughters, (Heather) Felicity and Shirley.
Second World War
By the outbreak of the Second World War, Shute was a rising novelist. Even as war seemed imminent he was working on military projects with his former boss at Vickers,
So he ended up in the
His celebrity as a writer caused the
Literary career
Shute's first novel, Stephen Morris, was written in 1923, but not published until 1961 (with its 1924 sequel, Pilotage).
His first published novel was Marazan, which came out in 1926. After that he averaged one novel every two years through the 1950s, with the exception of a six-year hiatus while he was establishing his own aircraft construction company, Airspeed Ltd. Sales of his books grew slowly with each novel, but he became much better known after the publication of his third to last book, On the Beach, in 1957.
Shute's novels are written in a simple, highly readable style, with clearly delineated plot lines. Where there is a romantic element, sex is referred to only obliquely. Many of the stories are introduced by a narrator who is not a character in the story. The most common theme in Shute's novels is the
Another recurrent theme is the bridging of social barriers such as class (
Shute's heroes tended to be like himself: middle-class solicitors, doctors, accountants, bank managers, and engineers—generally university graduates. However (as in Trustee from the Toolroom), Shute valued the honest artisans and their social integrity and contributions to society more than the contributions of the upper classes.
Aviation and engineering provide the backdrop for many of Shute's novels. He identified how engineering, science, and design could improve human life and more than once used the anonymous epigram, "It has been said an engineer is a man who can do for ten shillings what any fool can do for a pound."[4]
Several of Shute's novels explored the boundary between accepted science and rational belief, on the one hand, and
Twenty-four of his novels and novellas have been published. Many of his books have been adapted for the screen, including
Vintage Books reprinted all 23 of his books in 2009.[14]
Shute's final work was published more than 40 years after his death. The Seafarers was first drafted in 1946–47, rewritten, and then put aside. In 1948, Shute again rewrote it, changing the title to Blind Understanding, but he left the manuscript incomplete. According to Dan Telfair in the foreword of the 2002 edition, some of the themes in The Seafarers and Blind Understanding were used in Shute's 1955 novel Requiem for a Wren.[15]
Activities after the war
In 1948, Shute flew his own Percival Proctor aeroplane to Australia and back, accompanied by the writer James Riddell, who published a book, Flight of Fancy, based on the trip, in 1950.[16]
On his return, concerned about what he saw as he "felt oppressed by British taxation", he decided that he and his family would move to Australia. In 1950, he settled with his wife and two daughters on farmland at
Shute died in Melbourne in 1960 after a stroke.[22]
Honours
Norway Road and Nevil Shute Road at
The public library in Alice Springs, Northern Territory is the Nevil Shute Memorial Library.[23]
In the Readers' List of the
Works
- ISBN 1-84232-297-4(with Pilotage). A young pilot takes on a daring and dangerous mission.
- Pilotage(1924, published 1961): a continuation of Stephen Morris.
- ISBN 1-84232-265-6. A convict rescues a downed pilot who helps him break up a drug ring.
- Italian Fascistsagainst a group of Russian spies.
- ISBN 1-84232-261-3. This novel deals with conspiracies and counterconspiracies, and experiments with writing styles.
- ISBN 1-84232-290-7: U.S. title: Kindling. A rich banker revives a town economically with a shipbuilding company through questionable financial dealings. He goes to jail for fraud, but the shipyard revives. Ruined City was distilled from Shute's experiences in trying to set up his own aircraft company.
- ISBN 1-84232-302-4. U.S. title: Ordeal. Foretells the German bombing of Southampton early in WWII.
- ISBN 1-84232-275-3. The story of a pilot hired to take aerial photographs of a site in Greenland, who suffers a drug-induced flashback to Viking times.
- ISBN 1-84232-258-3. A young RAF pilot and a British barmaid fall in love. His career suffers a setback when he is thought to have sunk a British submarine in error, but he is vindicated.
- ISBN 1-84232-278-8. An old man rescues seven children (one of them the niece of a Gestapo officer) from France during the Nazi invasion.
- ISBN 1-84232-269-9. Unconventional attacks on German forces during WWII, using a French fishing boat.
- ISBN 1-84232-277-X. Crew relations and love at an airbase in rural surroundings in wartime England.
- ISBN 1-889439-11-8
- ISBN 1-889439-32-0. The story of a dashing British naval Lieutenant and a Wren who meet right at the end of the Second World War. Their romance is blighted by differences in social background and economic constraints; in unhappiness each turns to odd jobs in boating circles.[25]
- ISBN 1-84232-248-6. A dying man looks up three wartime comrades, one of whom sees Burma during Japanese occupation and in its independence period after the war. The novel contains a discussion of racism in the US and in the US Army stationed in Britain: British townsfolk prefer the company of black soldiers.
- metal fatigue in a new airliner, but is not believed. The Cometfailed for just this reason several years later, in 1954.
- Alice".
- ISBN 1-84232-289-3. About a new religion developing around an aircraft mechanic. Shute considered this his best novel. It tackles racism, condemning the White Australia policy.
- ISBN 1-84232-251-6. A young woman travels to Australia. About the economic plight of Britain after WWII, in light of high wool prices providing prosperity to sheep farmers in Australia in the same period. A doctor condemns the National Health Service, another overcomes prejudice to operate.
- British socialismand anti-monarchist democratic sentiment.
- Shute, Nevil (1954). Slide Rule: Autobiography of an Engineer. London: William Heinemann Ltd. ISBN 1-84232-291-5; (1964: Ballantine, New York)
- ISBN 1-84232-286-9. U.S. title: The Breaking Wave. The story of a young British woman who, plagued with guilt after shooting down a plane carrying Polish refugees in World War II, moves to Australia to work anonymously for the parents of her (now deceased) Australian lover, whilst the lover's brother searches for her in Britain. The title echoes William Faulkner's Requiem for a Nun.
- ISBN 1-84232-246-X. The ethical standards of an unconventional family living in a remote part of Australia are compared with those of a conventional family living in Oregon.
- atomic war. It was serialised in more than 40 newspapers, and adapted into a 1959 film starring Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner. In 2007, Gideon Haigh wrote an article in The Monthly arguing that On the Beach is Australia's most important novel: "Most novels of apocalypse posit at least a group of survivors and the semblance of hope. On The Beach allows nothing of the kind".[26][27]
- ISBN 1-84232-283-4. One man's three love stories; narration shifts from the narrator to the main character and back.
- ISBN 1-84232-301-6. Shute's last novel, about the recovery of a lost legacy of diamonds from a wrecked yacht. Set in Britain, the Pacific Islands, and the American northwest.
References
- ^ Shute1954, p. 65.
- ^ a b c d Ryan, A. P. "Extract from the Dictionary of National Biography 1951–1960". Nevil Shute Foundation. Archived from the original on 2 September 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
- ^ "Photo Timeline: 1911–1920 page 2". Nevil Shute Foundation. Archived from the original on 19 April 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
- ^ a b Shute 1954, p. 63.
- ^ Shute 1954, pp. 54–149.
- ^ Shute 1954, p. 55.
- ^ Shute 1954, p. 76.
- ^ Shute 1954, pp. 128, 129.
- ISBN 978-0-8176-3312-7.
- ^ Stead, Mark (26 October 2013). "New aviation museum planned for city centre". The Press. York. Archived from the original on 14 July 2015.
- ^ Shute 1954, p. 3.
- ^ Gerald Pawle (1957), Secret Weapons of World War II (original title, The Secret War), 1967 reprint, New York: Ballantine, Part II, "The Enemy under the Waters", Ch. 18, "Harrying the U-boats", pp. 183-186.
- ^ Murray, Scott (1996). Australia on the small screen, 1970-1995: The complete guide to tele-features and mini-series. Oxford University Press. p. 193.
- ^ Hensher, Philip (4 December 2009). "Nevil Shute: profile". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 2 June 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
- ISBN 9781889439327. Archivedfrom the original on 22 October 2023. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
- ^ "Nevil Shute Foundation—Title". Nevil Shute Foundation. Archived from the original on 7 December 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
- ^ Croft (2002)
- ^ Shute 1954, pp. 113–114.
- ^ "Citizenship in Australia – Fact sheet 187". National Archives of Australia. Archived from the original on 22 January 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
- ^ Meacham, Steve (25 July 2003). "Remaindered with little honour in his adopted land". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 7 May 2008.
- ^ "Photo Timeline 1951–1960 page 5". Nevil Shute Norway Foundation. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
- ^ "Books: The Two Lives of Nevil Shute" Archived 20 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Time, 25 January 1960. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
- ^ Alice Springs public library history Archived 28 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 29 April 2013
- ^ "The Modern Library's 100 Best Novels: The Reader's List | Book awards | LibraryThing". www.librarything.com. Archived from the original on 22 November 2021. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
- ^ Milgram, Shoshana. "The Seafarers". Book Review. Nevil Shute Norway Foundation. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
- ^ Haigh, Gideon (June 2007). "Shute the Messenger – How the end of the world came to Melbourne (6800 words)". The Monthly (24). Archived from the original on 23 July 2013. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
- ^ Haigh, Gideon (1 June 2007). "Shute's sands of time". The Daily Telegraph. Australia. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
- Smith, Julian Nevil Shute: A Biography The Paper Tiger, Creskill, NJ (2002) ISBN 1-889439-30-4. (First published in 1976 as part of Twayne's English Author Series)
- Croft, Julian (2000) 'Norway, Nevil Shute (1899–1960)' in Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 15 Melbourne University Press, pp 498–499 Accessed 14 June 2007
- Giffuni, Cathy (1988) Nevil Shute, a bibliography Adelaide: Auslib Press ISBN 0-9589895-7-5.
- Haigh, Gideon (2007) 'Shute's sands of time' in The Daily Telegraph http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,,21826948-5001031,00.html Archived 3 July 2012 at archive.today Accessed 14 June 2007
- Anderson, John, Parallel Motion – a biography of Nevil Shute Norway The Paper Tiger, (2011) ISBN 978-1-889439-37-2
- Thorn, Richard, "Shute:The engineer who became a prince of storytellers" Matador, (2017) (ISBN 9781788032575)
External links
- The Nevil Shute Foundation
- The Nevil Shute Book Page – General Nevil Shute biographical information and extensive first edition collection tips
- A Brief Account of the Engineer and Novelist, Nevil Shute from ibooknet
- Works by Nevil Shute Norway at Faded Page (Canada)