Arnold Bennett
Encyclopedia
Early life
Bennett was born in a modest house in Hanley in the Potteries district of StaffordshireStaffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
. Hanley is one of a conurbation of six towns which joined together at the beginning of the twentieth century as Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...
. Enoch Bennett, his father, qualified as a solicitor in 1876, and the family were able to move to a larger house between Hanley and Burslem
Burslem
The town of Burslem, known as the Mother Town, is one of the six towns that amalgamated to form the current city of Stoke-on-Trent, in the ceremonial county of Staffordshire, in the Midlands of England.-Topography:...
. Bennett was educated locally in Newcastle-under-Lyme
Newcastle-under-Lyme
Newcastle-under-Lyme is a market town in Staffordshire, England, and is the principal town of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. It is part of The Potteries Urban Area and North Staffordshire. In the 2001 census the town had a population of 73,944...
.
Arnold was employed by his father—his duties included rent collecting. He was unhappy working for his father for little financial reward, and the theme of parental miserliness is important in his novels. In his spare time he was able to do a little journalism, but his breakthrough as a writer was to come after he had moved from the Potteries. At the age of twenty-one, he left his father's practice and went to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
as a solicitor's clerk.
Journalism and nonfiction
Bennett won a literary competition in Tit-BitsTit-Bits
Tit-Bits was a British weekly magazine founded by George Newnes on 22 October 1881 until 18 July 1984, when it was taken over by Associated Newspapers' Weekend, which itself closed in 1989. The last editors were David Hill and Brian Lee...
magazine in 1889 and was encouraged to take up journalism full time. In 1894, he became assistant editor of the periodical Woman. He noticed that the material offered by a syndicate to the magazine was not very good, so he wrote a serial which was bought by the syndicate for 75 pounds. He then wrote another. This became The Grand Babylon Hotel. Just over four years later, his first novel, A Man from the North, was published to critical acclaim and he became editor of the magazine.
From 1900 he devoted himself full time to writing, giving up the editorship. He continued to write journalism despite the success of his career as a novelist.
In 1926, at the suggestion of Lord Beaverbrook, he began writing an influential weekly article on books for the Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
newspaper.
As well as the novels, much of Bennett's non-fiction work has stood the test of time. One of his most popular non-fiction works, which is still read to this day, is the self-help book "How to Live on 24 Hours a Day". His diaries have yet to be published in full, but extracts from them are often quoted in the British press.
Move to France
In 1903, he moved to ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where other great artists from around the world had converged on Montmartre
Montmartre
Montmartre is a hill which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district...
and Montparnasse
Montparnasse
Montparnasse is an area of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail...
. Bennett spent the next eight years writing novels and plays. Bennett believed that ordinary people had the potential to be the subject of interesting books. In this respect, an influence which Bennett himself acknowledged was the French writer Maupassant
Guy de Maupassant
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents....
whose "Une Vie" inspired "The Old Wives' Tale." Maupassant is also one of the writers on whom Richard Larch, the protagonist of Bennett's first (and obviously semi-autobiographical) novel, A Man from the North, tries in vain to model his own writing.
In 1908 The Old Wives' Tale was published and was an immediate success throughout the English-speaking world. After a visit to America in 1911, where he had been publicized and acclaimed as no other visiting writer since Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
, he returned to England where Old Wives' Tale was reappraised and hailed as a masterpiece.
Public service
During the First World WarWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
he became Director of Propaganda for France at the Ministry of Information. (At that time the word propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
did not have the negative implications it acquired later in the twentieth century). His appointment was made directly on the recommendation of Lord Beaverbrook, who also recommended him as Deputy Minister of that Department at the end of the war. He refused a knighthood in 1918.
Osbert Sitwell
Osbert Sitwell
Sir Francis Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell, 5th Baronet, was an English writer. His elder sister was Dame Edith Louisa Sitwell and his younger brother was Sir Sacheverell Sitwell; like them he devoted his life to art and literature....
, in a letter to James Agate
James Agate
James Evershed Agate was a British diarist and critic. In the period between the wars, he was one of Britain's most influential theatre critics...
, notes that Bennett was not, despite current views, "the typical businessman, with his mean and narrow outlook." Sitwell cited a letter from Bennett to a friend of Agate, who remains anonymous, in Ego 5:
I find I am richer this year than last; so I enclose a cheque for 500 pounds for you to distribute among young writers and artists and musicians who may need the money. You will know, better than I do, who they are. But I must make one condition, that you do not reveal that the money has come from me, or tell anyone about it.
Final years
He separated from his French wife in 1922 and fell in love with the actress Dorothy Cheston, with whom he stayed for the rest of his life. He won the 1923 James Tait Black Memorial PrizeJames Tait Black Memorial Prize
Founded in 1919, the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are among the oldest and most prestigious book prizes awarded for literature written in the English language and are Britain's oldest literary awards...
for his novel Riceyman Steps.
He died of typhoid at his home in Baker Street
Baker Street
Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid the street out in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, who lived at a fictional 221B...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, on 27 March 1931, after returning from a visit to France. His ashes are buried in Burslem
Burslem
The town of Burslem, known as the Mother Town, is one of the six towns that amalgamated to form the current city of Stoke-on-Trent, in the ceremonial county of Staffordshire, in the Midlands of England.-Topography:...
cemetery. Their daughter, Virginia Eldin, lived in France and was president of the Arnold Bennett Society.
Criticism
Critically, Bennett has not always had an easy ride. His output was prodigious and, by his own admission, based on maximizing his income rather than from creative necessity.As Bennett put it:
Am I to sit still and see other fellows pocketing two guineas apiece for stories which I can do better myself? Not me. If anyone imagines my sole aim is art for art’s sake, they are cruelly deceived.
Contemporary critics—Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....
in particular—perceived weaknesses in his work. To her and other Bloomsbury authors, Bennett represented the "old guard" in literary terms. His style was traditional rather than modern, which made him an obvious target for those challenging literary conventions. Max Beerbohm criticized him as a social climber who had forgotten his origins. He drew a mature and well fed Bennett expounding, "All to plan, you see" to a younger tougher version of himself, who replies: "Yes—but MY plan."
For much of the 20th Century, Bennett's work was tainted by this perception; it was not until the 1990s that a more positive view of his work became widely accepted. The noted English critic John Carey
John Carey (critic)
John Carey is a British literary critic, and emeritus Merton Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford. He was born in Barnes, London, and educated at Richmond and East Sheen Boys’ Grammar School, winning an Open Scholarship to St John's College, Oxford. He served in the East...
was a major influence on his rehabilitation. He praises him in his 1992 book, , declaring Bennett to be his "hero" because his writings "represent a systematic dismemberment of the intellectuals' case against the masses" (p. 152).
Quotations
- My mother is far too clever to understand anything she doesn't like.
- Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.
Fiction
- A Man from the North - 1898
- The Grand Babylon HotelThe Grand Babylon HotelThe Grand Babylon Hotel is a novel by Arnold Bennett, published in 1902, about the mysterious disappearance of a German prince. It originally appeared as a serial in the Daily Mail.-Plot introduction:...
- 1902 - Anna of the Five TownsAnna of the Five TownsAnna of the Five Towns is a novel by Arnold Bennett, first published in 1902 and one of his best-known works.-Plot summary:The plot centres on Anna Tellwright, daughter of a wealthy but miserly and dictatorial father, living in the Potteries area of Staffordshire, England. Her activities are...
- 1902 - The Gates of Wrath - 1903
- Leonora - 1903
- A Great Man - 1904
- Teresa of Watling Street - 1904
- Sacred and Profane Love - 1905 (Revised and republished as The Book of Carlotta in 1911)
- Tales of the Five Towns - 1905 (short story collection)
- Whom God Hath Joined - 1906
- Hugo - 1906
- The Grim Smile of the Five Towns - (short stories 1907)
- The Ghost--a Modern Fantasy - 1907
- Buried Alive - 1908
- The Old Wives' TaleThe Old Wives' TaleThe Old Wives' Tale is a novel by Arnold Bennett, first published in 1908. It deals with the lives of two very different sisters, Constance and Sophia Baines, following their stories from their youth, working in their mother's draper's shop, into old age. It is generally regarded as one of...
- 1908 - The CardThe CardThe Card is a short comedic novel written by Arnold Bennett in 1911, . It was later made into a 1952 movie starring Alec Guinness and Petula Clark. It chronicles the rise of Edward Henry Machin from washerwoman's son to Mayor of Bursley...
- 1910 - Clayhanger - 1910
- Helen with a High HandHelen with a High HandHelen with a High Hand is a short, comedic novel by Arnold Bennett, published in 1910. It was originally published in serial form as The Miser's Niece.-Plot summary:...
- 1910 (Serial title: The Miser's Niece) - Hilda Lessways - 1911
- Milestones - play written with Edward KnoblockEdward KnoblockEdward Knoblock was an American-born British playwright and novelist most remembered for the often revived 1911 play, Kismet-Biography:...
- The Matador of the Five Towns - (short stories 1912)
- The Regent - 1913 (US Title: The Old Adam)
- Paris Nights and other impressions of places and people - 1913 (Illustrated, E. A. Rickards; George H. Doran Company, NY)
- The Price of Love - 1914
- These Twain - 1916
- The Pretty Lady - 1918
- The Roll-Call - 1918
- Mr Prohack - 1922
- Riceyman StepsRiceyman StepsRiceyman Steps is the title of a novel by British novelist Arnold Bennett, first published in 1923 and winner of that year's James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction.-Background:...
- 1923 - Elsie and the Child - 1924
- The Clayhanger FamilyThe Clayhanger FamilyThe Clayhanger Family is a series of novels by Arnold Bennett, published between 1910 and 1918. Though the series is commonly referred to as a "trilogy", it consists of four books; the first three novels were released in one single volume as The Clayhanger Family in 1925.-Clayhanger :The novels are...
- 1925, the complete trilogy consisting of Clayhanger, Hilda Lessways, and These Twain - Lord Raingo - 1926
- The Woman who Stole Everything and Other Stories - 1927
- The Strange Vanguard - 1928
- Imperial PalaceImperial Palace (novel)Imperial Palace is the last and longest novel by author Arnold Bennett.Published in 1930, the year before Bennett's death, the novel follows the daily workings of a hotel modelled on the Savoy Hotel in London...
- 1930 - Venus Rising from the Sea - 1931
Non-fiction
- Journalism For Women - 1898
- Fame and Fiction - 1901
- How to Become an Author - 1903
- The Reasonable Life - 1907
- Literary Taste: How to Form ItLiterary Taste: How To Form ItLiterary Taste: How to Form it is a long essay by Arnold Bennett, first published in 1909, with a revised edition by his friend Frank Swinnerton appearing in 1937...
- 1909 - How to Live on 24 Hours a DayHow to Live on 24 Hours a DayHow to Live on 24 Hours a Day , written by Arnold Bennett, is part of a larger work entitled How to Live. In this volume, he offers practical advice on how one might live within the confines of 24 hours a day.-Philosophy:In the book, Bennett addressed the large and growing number of white-collar...
- 1910 - Mental Efficiency - 1911
- Those United StatesThose United StatesThose United States, subtitled Impressions of a First Visit, is a book detailing Arnold Bennett's first journey to the United States of America....
- 1912 (Also published as Your United States) - The Author's Craft - 1914
- Self and Self-Management - 1918
- The Human Machine - 1925
- How to Live - 1925, consisting of How to Live on 24 Hours a DayHow to Live on 24 Hours a DayHow to Live on 24 Hours a Day , written by Arnold Bennett, is part of a larger work entitled How to Live. In this volume, he offers practical advice on how one might live within the confines of 24 hours a day.-Philosophy:In the book, Bennett addressed the large and growing number of white-collar...
, The Human Machine, Mental Efficiency, and Self and Self-Management - The Savour of Life - 1928
Opera
- Don Juan de Mañera
For further guidance consult Studies in the Sources of Arnold Bennett's Novels by Louis Tillier (Didier, Paris 1949), and Arnold Bennett and Stoke-on-Trent by E. J. D. Warrilow (Etruscan Publications, 1966). Also, Arnold Bennett: A Biography by Margaret Drabble (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1974).
In gastronomy
Bennett is one of a select number of celebrities to have a dish named after them. While staying at the Savoy HotelSavoy Hotel
The Savoy Hotel is a hotel located on the Strand, in the City of Westminster in central London. Built by impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the hotel opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by...
in London, the chefs perfected an omelette incorporating smoked haddock, Parmesan cheese and cream, which pleased the author so much he insisted on it being prepared wherever he travelled. The 'Omelette Arnold Bennett' has remained a Savoy standard dish ever since.
The George Hotel in Burslem
Burslem
The town of Burslem, known as the Mother Town, is one of the six towns that amalgamated to form the current city of Stoke-on-Trent, in the ceremonial county of Staffordshire, in the Midlands of England.-Topography:...
, Stoke-on-Trent, has a restaurant named after Bennett. It is adorned with Arnold Bennett photographs and memorabilia.
Other geographical links
- 1907/8 Paris: Old Wives Tale written here.
- 1908 French Riviera: convalescence after typhoid fever. Married and moved to Fountainbleau.
- 1914: Camarques, Thorpe-le-SokenThorpe-le-SokenThorpe-le-Soken is a village in Essex, located west of Walton-on-the-Naze, Frinton-on-Sea and north of Clacton-on-Sea.-History:Thorpe-le-Soken's history can be traced back to Saxon times....
, Essex coast: here he had the yacht Velsa and trips from this 'home in the country' to Frinton-on-SeaFrinton-on-SeaFrinton-on-Sea is a small seaside town in the Tendring District of Essex, England. It is part of the Parish of Frinton and Walton.-History:...
gave rise to one of the characters in The Price of Love. - 1917 Bennett's bachelor pad is at Thames Yacht Club: a couple of rooms 'furnished to his own taste'
- 1920 A month trip to Portugal with Frank Swinnerton, as Bennett was at a particularly low ebb.
- May–June 1926, Bennett stayed in the village of Amberley, West SussexAmberley, West SussexAmberley is a village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England.Amberley is situated at the foot of the South Downs. Its neighbours are Storrington, West Chiltington and Arundel. The village is noted for its many thatched cottages...
where he wrote the last two thirds of The Vanguard in 44 days, noting 'I have never worked more easily than in the last six weeks. - 1928 house rented in Le Touquet for the summer
London
- Strand Palace Hotel London: on London trips, he frequented as it offered a bedside light during his periods of insomnia.
- His wife Marguerite's London flat was over a bank on the corner of New Oxford Street and Rathbone Place.
- "large flat" George Street, Hanover Square, which subsequently Marguerite came to live in
- 1921-ish: 75, Cadogan Square; Dorothy moved in here. From here, they moved in 1930 (according to plaque on the building) to Chiltern Court, an "impressive block of flats" at Baker Street Railway Station (where H. G. Wells also lived).
- 1931 Bennett dies at Chiltern Court on March 26.
External links
- Arnold Bennett's biography by his biographer Frank Swinnerton
- The Potteries
- Portraits of Arnold Bennett at the National Portrait Gallery (London).
- Omelette Arnold Bennett A late supper dish that was created at the Savoy HotelSavoy HotelThe Savoy Hotel is a hotel located on the Strand, in the City of Westminster in central London. Built by impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the hotel opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by...
specially for Mr. Bennett - The Literary Debate Between Arnold Bennett and Virginia Woolf
- Stoke-on-Trent Museums cares for a historic collection of Benett's letters and personal effects
- Images of England Photo of the Bennett family home
- Free book downloads in HTML, PDF, text formats at ebooktakeaway.com
- Public domain audio books of works by Arnold Bennett at Librivox
- Arnold Bennett Society