Arthur Quiller-Couch
Encyclopedia
Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (icon; 21 November 1863 – 12 May 1944) was a Cornish
writer, who published under the pen name
of Q. He is primarily remembered for the monumental Oxford Book Of English Verse 1250–1900
(later extended to 1918), and for his literary criticism
. He guided the taste of many who never met him, including American writer Helene Hanff
, author of 84, Charing Cross Road and its sequel, Q's Legacy; and the fictional Horace Rumpole via John Mortimer
, his literary amanuensis
.
in Cornwall
to the union of two ancient local families, the Quiller family and the Couch family, and was the third in line of intellectuals from the Couch family. His younger sisters Florence Mabel
and Lilian M. were also writers and folklorists. His father, Dr. Thomas Quiller Couch (d. 1884), was a noted physician, folklorist and historian. His grandfather, Jonathan Couch
, was an eminent naturalist, also a physician, historian, classicist, apothecary, and illustrator (particularly of fishes) in the style of the time. His son, Bevil Brian Quiller-Couch, was a war hero and poet, whose romantic letters to his fiancée, the poet May Wedderburn Cannan
, were published in Tears of War. He also had a daughter, Foy Felicia, to whom Kenneth Grahame
inscribed a first edition of his The Wind in the Willows
attributing Quiller-Couch as the inspiration for the character Ratty, auctioned by Bonhams
on Tuesday 23 March 2010 for £32,400.
He was educated at Newton Abbot Preparatory College, at Clifton College
, and Trinity College, Oxford
and later became a lecturer there. On taking his degree in 1886 he was for a short time classical lecturer at Trinity. After some journalistic experience in London
, mainly as a contributor to the Speaker, in 1891 he settled at Fowey
in Cornwall.
In Cornwall he was an active worker in politics for the Liberal Party. He was knighted in 1910, and in 1928 was made a Bard
of Gorseth Kernow
, taking the Bardic name
Marghak Cough ('Red Knight'). He was Commodore of the Royal Fowey Yacht Club
from 1911 until his death.
's Treasure Island
, and he followed this up with Troy Town (1888) and The Splendid Spur (1889). Quiller-Couch is well known for his story "The Rollcall of the Reef", based on the wreck of the HMS Primrose
in 1807. He published in 1896 a series of critical articles, Adventures in Criticism, and in 1898 he completed Robert Louis Stevenson
’s unfinished novel, St. Ives
.
From his Oxford days he was known as a writer of excellent verse. With the exception of the parodies entitled Green Bays (1893), his poetical work is contained in Poems and Ballads (1896). In 1895 he published an anthology
from the 16th- and 17th-century English lyricists, The Golden Pomp, followed in 1900 by the Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250–1900 (1900). Later editions of this extended the period covered up to 1918 and it remained the leading general anthology of English verse until Helen Gardner's New Oxford Book of English Verse appeared in 1972.
In 1910 he published The Sleeping Beauty and other Fairy Tales from the Old French. He was the author of a number of popular novels with Cornish settings (collected edition as 'Tales and Romances', 30 vols. 1928–29).
He was appointed to the King Edward VII Professorship of English Literature at the University of Cambridge
in 1912, and retained it for the rest of his life. Simultaneously he was elected to a Fellowship of Jesus College, which he held until his death. His inaugural lectures as the professor of English literature were turned into the book On the Art of Writing. His rooms were on C staircase, First Court, and known as the 'Q-bicle'. He oversaw the beginnings of the English Faculty there—an academic diplomat in a fractious community. He is sometimes regarded as the epitome of the school of English literary criticism later overthrown by F. R. Leavis
.
Alistair Cooke
was a notable student of Quiller-Couch and Nick Clarke
's semi-official biography of Cooke features Quiller-Couch prominently, noting that he was regarded by the Cambridge Establishment as "rather eccentric" even by the University's standards.
Quiller-Couch was a noted literary critic, publishing editions of some of Shakespeare's plays (in the New Shakespeare, published by Cambridge University Press
, with Dover Wilson) and several critical works, including Studies in Literature (1918) and On the Art of Reading (1920). He edited a successor to his verse anthology: Oxford Book of English Prose which was published in 1923. He left his autobiography
, Memories and Opinions, unfinished; it was nevertheless published in 1945.
's fictional character Horace Rumpole.
Castle Dor
, a retelling of the Tristan and Iseult
myth in modern circumstances, was left unfinished at Quiller-Couch's death and was completed many years later by Daphne du Maurier
. As she wrote in the Sunday Telegraph
on April 1962, she took up the job with considerable trepidation, at the request of Quiller-Couch's daughter and "in memory of happy evenings long ago when 'Q' was host at Sunday supper".
He features as a main character, played by Leo McKern
, in the 1992 BBC television feature The Last Romantics. The story focuses on his relationship with his protégé, F. R. Leavis
and the students.
His Cambridge inaugural lecture series, published as On the Art of Writing, is the source of the popular writers' adage "murder your darlings".
He is mentioned briefly in The Well of Lost Plots
by Jasper Fforde
as one of the few authors with a name beginning with Q.
A collected edition of Q's fiction appeared as Tales and Romances (30 volumes, 1928–29)
Cornish people
The Cornish are a people associated with Cornwall, a county and Duchy in the south-west of the United Kingdom that is seen in some respects as distinct from England, having more in common with the other Celtic parts of the United Kingdom such as Wales, as well as with other Celtic nations in Europe...
writer, who published under the pen name
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
of Q. He is primarily remembered for the monumental Oxford Book Of English Verse 1250–1900
Oxford Book of English Verse
The Oxford Book of English Verse most commonly means the Oxford Book of English Verse 1250–1900 edited by Arthur Quiller-Couch, an anthology of English poetry that had a very substantial influence on popular taste and perception of poetry for at least a generation...
(later extended to 1918), and for his literary criticism
Literary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
. He guided the taste of many who never met him, including American writer Helene Hanff
Helene Hanff
Helene Hanff was an American writer. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she is best known as the author of the book 84, Charing Cross Road, which became the basis for a stage play, , and film of the same name.- Career :...
, author of 84, Charing Cross Road and its sequel, Q's Legacy; and the fictional Horace Rumpole via John Mortimer
John Mortimer
Sir John Clifford Mortimer, CBE, QC was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author.-Early life:...
, his literary amanuensis
Amanuensis
Amanuensis is a Latin word adopted in various languages, including English, for certain persons performing a function by hand, either writing down the words of another or performing manual labour...
.
Life
Quiller-Couch was born at BodminBodmin
Bodmin is a civil parish and major town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated in the centre of the county southwest of Bodmin Moor.The extent of the civil parish corresponds fairly closely to that of the town so is mostly urban in character...
in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
to the union of two ancient local families, the Quiller family and the Couch family, and was the third in line of intellectuals from the Couch family. His younger sisters Florence Mabel
Mabel Quiller-Couch
Mabel Quiller-Couch was an English editor, compiler and children's writer.-Biography:Mabel Quiller-Couch was the daughter of Thomas Quiller Couch of Bodmin and his wife Mary and younger sister of the critic Arthur Quiller-Couch. She was one of five children of whom Arthur was the eldest son...
and Lilian M. were also writers and folklorists. His father, Dr. Thomas Quiller Couch (d. 1884), was a noted physician, folklorist and historian. His grandfather, Jonathan Couch
Jonathan Couch
Jonathan Couch was a British naturalist, the only child of Richard and Philippa Couch, of a family long resident at Polperro, a small fishing village between Looe and Fowey, on the south coast of Cornwall.-Biography:...
, was an eminent naturalist, also a physician, historian, classicist, apothecary, and illustrator (particularly of fishes) in the style of the time. His son, Bevil Brian Quiller-Couch, was a war hero and poet, whose romantic letters to his fiancée, the poet May Wedderburn Cannan
May Wedderburn Cannan
May Wedderburn Cannan was a British poet who was active in World War I.-Early life:She was the second of three daughters of Charles Cannan, Dean of Trinity College, Oxford .In 1911, at the age of 18 she joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment, training as a nurse and eventually reaching...
, were published in Tears of War. He also had a daughter, Foy Felicia, to whom Kenneth Grahame
Kenneth Grahame
Kenneth Grahame was a Scottish writer, most famous for The Wind in the Willows , one of the classics of children's literature. He also wrote The Reluctant Dragon; both books were later adapted into Disney films....
inscribed a first edition of his The Wind in the Willows
The Wind in the Willows
The Wind in the Willows is a classic of children's literature by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. Alternately slow moving and fast paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphised animal characters in a pastoral version of England...
attributing Quiller-Couch as the inspiration for the character Ratty, auctioned by Bonhams
Bonhams
Bonhams is a privately owned British auction house founded in 1793. It is the third largest auctioneer after Sotheby's and Christie's, and conducts around 700 auctions per year. It has 700 employees....
on Tuesday 23 March 2010 for £32,400.
He was educated at Newton Abbot Preparatory College, at Clifton College
Clifton College
Clifton College is a co-educational independent school in Clifton, Bristol, England, founded in 1862. In its early years it was notable for emphasising science in the curriculum, and for being less concerned with social elitism, e.g. by admitting day-boys on equal terms and providing a dedicated...
, and Trinity College, Oxford
Trinity College, Oxford
The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It stands on Broad Street, next door to Balliol College and Blackwells bookshop,...
and later became a lecturer there. On taking his degree in 1886 he was for a short time classical lecturer at Trinity. After some journalistic experience in 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...
, mainly as a contributor to the Speaker, in 1891 he settled at Fowey
Fowey
Fowey is a small town, civil parish and cargo port at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, United Kingdom. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,273.-Early history:...
in Cornwall.
In Cornwall he was an active worker in politics for the Liberal Party. He was knighted in 1910, and in 1928 was made a Bard
Bard
In medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland...
of Gorseth Kernow
Gorseth Kernow
Gorseth Kernow is a non-political Cornish organisation, which exists to maintain the national Celtic spirit of Cornwall in the United Kingdom.-History:...
, taking the Bardic name
Bardic name
A bardic name is a pseudonym, used in Wales, Cornwall and Brittany, by poets and other artists, especially those involved in the eisteddfod movement....
Marghak Cough ('Red Knight'). He was Commodore of the Royal Fowey Yacht Club
Royal Fowey Yacht Club
The Royal Fowey Yacht Club is located in a waterfront setting at Fowey, on the south coast of Cornwall one of the UK's most secure harbours.Its antecedents can be traced back to 1880; its third Honorary Secretary, from 1893, was Arthur Quiller-Couch, who became Sir Arthur. The minutes and...
from 1911 until his death.
Literary and academic career
In 1887, while he was at Oxford, he published Dead Man's Rock, a romance in the vein of Robert Louis StevensonRobert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
's Treasure Island
Treasure Island
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
, and he followed this up with Troy Town (1888) and The Splendid Spur (1889). Quiller-Couch is well known for his story "The Rollcall of the Reef", based on the wreck of the HMS Primrose
HMS Primrose (1807)
HMS Primrose was a Royal Navy Cruizer class brig-sloop built by Thomas Nickells , at Fowey and launched in 1807. She was commissioned in November 1807 under Commander James Mein, who sailed her to the coast of Spain....
in 1807. He published in 1896 a series of critical articles, Adventures in Criticism, and in 1898 he completed Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
’s unfinished novel, St. Ives
St. Ives (novel)
St. Ives: Being The Adventures of a French Prisoner in England is an unfinished novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. It was completed in 1898 by Arthur Quiller-Couch....
.
From his Oxford days he was known as a writer of excellent verse. With the exception of the parodies entitled Green Bays (1893), his poetical work is contained in Poems and Ballads (1896). In 1895 he published an anthology
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
from the 16th- and 17th-century English lyricists, The Golden Pomp, followed in 1900 by the Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250–1900 (1900). Later editions of this extended the period covered up to 1918 and it remained the leading general anthology of English verse until Helen Gardner's New Oxford Book of English Verse appeared in 1972.
In 1910 he published The Sleeping Beauty and other Fairy Tales from the Old French. He was the author of a number of popular novels with Cornish settings (collected edition as 'Tales and Romances', 30 vols. 1928–29).
He was appointed to the King Edward VII Professorship of English Literature at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
in 1912, and retained it for the rest of his life. Simultaneously he was elected to a Fellowship of Jesus College, which he held until his death. His inaugural lectures as the professor of English literature were turned into the book On the Art of Writing. His rooms were on C staircase, First Court, and known as the 'Q-bicle'. He oversaw the beginnings of the English Faculty there—an academic diplomat in a fractious community. He is sometimes regarded as the epitome of the school of English literary criticism later overthrown by F. R. Leavis
F. R. Leavis
Frank Raymond "F. R." Leavis CH was an influential British literary critic of the early-to-mid-twentieth century. He taught for nearly his entire career at Downing College, Cambridge.-Early life:...
.
Alistair Cooke
Alistair Cooke
Alfred Alistair Cooke KBE was a British/American journalist, television personality and broadcaster. Outside his journalistic output, which included Letter from America and Alistair Cooke's America, he was well known in the United States as the host of PBS Masterpiece Theater from 1971 to 1992...
was a notable student of Quiller-Couch and Nick Clarke
Nick Clarke
Nicholas Campbell Clarke , was an English radio and television presenter and journalist, primarily known for his work on BBC Radio 4....
's semi-official biography of Cooke features Quiller-Couch prominently, noting that he was regarded by the Cambridge Establishment as "rather eccentric" even by the University's standards.
Quiller-Couch was a noted literary critic, publishing editions of some of Shakespeare's plays (in the New Shakespeare, published by Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
, with Dover Wilson) and several critical works, including Studies in Literature (1918) and On the Art of Reading (1920). He edited a successor to his verse anthology: Oxford Book of English Prose which was published in 1923. He left his autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
, Memories and Opinions, unfinished; it was nevertheless published in 1945.
Legacy
His Book of English Verse is oft-quoted by John MortimerJohn Mortimer
Sir John Clifford Mortimer, CBE, QC was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author.-Early life:...
's fictional character Horace Rumpole.
Castle Dor
Castle Dor (novel)
Castle Dor is a 1961 historical novel by Daphne du Maurier Set in 19th Century Cornwall-Plot introduction:...
, a retelling of the Tristan and Iseult
Tristan and Iseult
The legend of Tristan and Iseult is an influential romance and tragedy, retold in numerous sources with as many variations. The tragic story is of the adulterous love between the Cornish knight Tristan and the Irish princess Iseult...
myth in modern circumstances, was left unfinished at Quiller-Couch's death and was completed many years later by Daphne du Maurier
Daphne du Maurier
Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning DBE was a British author and playwright.Many of her works have been adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca and Jamaica Inn and the short stories "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now". The first three were directed by Alfred Hitchcock.Her elder sister was...
. As she wrote in the Sunday Telegraph
Sunday Telegraph
The Sunday Telegraph is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961. It is the sister paper of The Daily Telegraph, but is run separately with a different editorial staff, although there is some cross-usage of stories...
on April 1962, she took up the job with considerable trepidation, at the request of Quiller-Couch's daughter and "in memory of happy evenings long ago when 'Q' was host at Sunday supper".
He features as a main character, played by Leo McKern
Leo McKern
Reginald "Leo" McKern, AO was an Australian-born British actor who appeared in numerous British and Australian television programmes and movies, and more than 200 stage roles.-Early life:...
, in the 1992 BBC television feature The Last Romantics. The story focuses on his relationship with his protégé, F. R. Leavis
F. R. Leavis
Frank Raymond "F. R." Leavis CH was an influential British literary critic of the early-to-mid-twentieth century. He taught for nearly his entire career at Downing College, Cambridge.-Early life:...
and the students.
His Cambridge inaugural lecture series, published as On the Art of Writing, is the source of the popular writers' adage "murder your darlings".
He is mentioned briefly in The Well of Lost Plots
The Well of Lost Plots
The Well of Lost Plots is the third book by Jasper Fforde and the continuation of the adventures of literary detective Thursday Next from The Eyre Affair and Lost in a Good Book...
by Jasper Fforde
Jasper Fforde
Jasper Fforde is a British novelist. Fforde's first novel, The Eyre Affair, was published in 2001. Fforde is mainly known for his Thursday Next novels, although he has written several books in the loosely connected Nursery Crime series and begun two more independent series: The Last Dragonslayer...
as one of the few authors with a name beginning with Q.
Fiction
- Dead Man's Rock (1887)
- Troy Town (1888)
- The Splendid Spur (1889)
- The Blue Pavilions (1891)
- St Ives (1898), completing an unfinished novel by Robert Louis Stevenson
- The Ship of Stars (1899)
- Hetty Wesley (1903)
- The Adventures of Harry Revel (1903)
- Fort Amity (1904)
- The Shining Ferry (1905)
- Sir John Constantine (1906)
A collected edition of Q's fiction appeared as Tales and Romances (30 volumes, 1928–29)
Criticism and anthologies
- Adventures in Criticism (1896)
- The Golden Pomp, (1895)
- Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250–1900Oxford Book of English VerseThe Oxford Book of English Verse most commonly means the Oxford Book of English Verse 1250–1900 edited by Arthur Quiller-Couch, an anthology of English poetry that had a very substantial influence on popular taste and perception of poetry for at least a generation...
(1900) - The Sleeping Beauty and other Fairy Tales from the Old French (1910)
- The Oxford Book of Ballads (1911)
- Studies in Literature (1918)
- On the Art of Reading (1920)
- On the Art of Writing (1916)
- Oxford Book of English Prose (1923)
Sources
- Brittain, Frederick, Arthur Quiller-Couch, a Biographical Study of Q (Cambridge: University Press, 1947)
- Quiller-Couch, A. T., Memories and Opinions (Unfinished; it was nevertheless published in 1945 though only the years up to 1887 are covered.)
- Rowse, A. L.A. L. RowseAlfred Leslie Rowse, CH, FBA , known professionally as A. L. Rowse and to friends and family as Leslie, was a British historian from Cornwall. He is perhaps best known for his work on Elizabethan England and his poetry about Cornwall. He was also a Shakespearean scholar and biographer...
, Quiller-Couch: a Portrait of "Q" (1988)
Further reading
- Archer, WilliamWilliam Archer (critic)William Archer , Scottish critic, was born in Perth, and was educated at the University of Edinburgh, where he received the degree of M.A. in 1876. He was the son of Thomas Archer....
Poets of the Younger Generation (New York, 1902) - Joshi, S. T., 'A brief essay on Quiller-Couch's ghost storiesGhost storyA ghost story may be any piece of fiction, or drama, or an account of an experience, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them. Colloquially, the term can refer to any kind of scary story. In a narrower sense, the ghost story has...
', in S. T. JoshiS. T. JoshiSunand Tryambak Joshi — known as S. T. Joshi — is an award-winning Indian American literary critic, novelist, and a leading figure in the study of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and other authors of weird and fantastic fiction...
(ed.), The Evolution of the Weird Tale (2004) - Quiller-Couch, A. T., Quiller-Couch's lectures on the art of writing
External links
- On the Art of Writing
- The Warwickshire Avon by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (Harper's Magazine)
- 'Quiller-Couch Family Papers' at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
- 'Quiller-Couch', dedicated website