Leonard Merrick (1864-1939) was an English novelist and short-story writer whose work was admired in his time by many of his fellow authors, but never achieved the recognition they felt it deserved. After a brief theatrical career as an actor and actor-manager in the 1880s, he published a dozen novels between 1888 and 1911, but in later years concentrated on writing short stories. Merrick’s fiction often explores, in George Orwell’s words, the “shabby-genteel” world of struggling actors and writers. “If there is one thing above all others for which he deserves to be remembered”, wrote Orwell in 1945, “it is his extraordinarily convincing and glamourless picture of stage life” (Orwell: 74). Among Merrick’s best-appreciated novels are
The Actor-Manager(1898),
Conrad in1372 words
Citation: Baker, William. "Leonard Merrick". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 May 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=14718, accessed 21 November 2024.]
