Arnold Bennett

Neil Cartlidge (University of Durham)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Birmingham Newman University), Louise McDonald (Birmingham Newman University), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Dates

Born 27 May 1867
Died 27 May 1931
Activity 1898-1931

Places

Born in England
Active in England; France

Activities

Primary

Novelist
Playwright / Dramatist
Story-writer

Other

Autobiographer
Essayist
Journalist
Letter-writer/ Diarist
Reviewer

Resources

Bennett's Works

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Arnold Bennett was born on 27 May 1867 at Hanley in the English West Midlands, a town in what was then a dourly industrial region dominated by the manufacture of crockery, and hence known as the “Potteries”. It is for his novels set in this region, which he always referred to in his fiction as “the Five Towns”, that Bennett is now best-known. Of these,

The Old Wives' Tale

(1908) and

Clayhanger

(1910) in particular have good claim to be considered as high points both of the Edwardian novel and of the English Realist tradition. Both are rich in observation and atmosphere, sociologically as well as psychologically sensitive, and technically much more complex than they at first appear.

The Old Wives' Tale

, for example, uses the contrasting destinies of two sisters to present a…

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2403 words

Citation: Cartlidge, Neil. "Arnold Bennett". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 November 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5068, accessed 23 November 2024.]