Oliver Onions

Oliver Onions ( born November 13, 1873 in Bradford, England, since 1918 official real name George Oliver, † April 9, 1961 in Aberystwyth, Wales ) was a British writer. He published about 40 novels and short story collections.

Life

Oliver Onions, who was born the son of a bank employee in the northern English county of Yorkshire, studied from 1894 to 1897 Art at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, it is a one-year stay in Paris followed. Back in England, he worked as a poster designer and illustrator of books and magazines. In his first book The Compleat Bachelor ( 1900) and Tales from a Far Riding (1902 ) he collected short stories, which he had previously published in magazines. Both books he illustrated himself in 1903 he published his first novel ( The Odd Job Man), the others followed. 1909 Onions married the then largely unknown Berta Ruck, whose career as a writer he was the leading sponsor. The couple had two sons, Arthur (* 1912) and William (* 1913), the residence of the family was initially located in Henley-on -Thames, afterwards ( until 1939 ) in Hampstead in the former County of London.

With his collection of short stories Widdershins, which was a great success with the critics, Oliver Onions 1911 managed a breakthrough. Equally successful was his crime novel was In Accordance with the Evidence, which underwent several reprints and most recently in 1976 by the publisher Garland Publishing ( New York) within the series Fifty Classics of Crime Fiction 1900-1950 published the following year. Onions suffered since childhood under his family name ( English for " onions "). Contrary to the usual use in his relationship, he tried a debate with stretched initial vowel ( [o ː ʊnjənz ] instead of [ ʌnjənz ] ) enforce. To spare his sons the teasing that he himself had experienced as a child, he took in 1918 to the first names George and his family 's surname Oliver. Since he was at that time already known as a writer, he published, however, continue to be exclusively under its present name.

1939 Onions moved with his wife, the residence of the London metropolitan area in the Welsh resort of Aberdyfi. His 1946 published historical novel Poor Man's Tapestry was the oldest British literary prize with the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. His last novel in his lifetime, he published in 1952 (A Penny for the Harp ). At the age of 87 years, Oliver Onions, died in a hospital in located in near his home town of Aberdyfi Aberystwyth. From his estate was his widow in 1965 the unfinished novel, A Shilling to Spend out.

Importance

Oliver Onions ' novels mainly belong to the genres of historical novel, detective story, thriller and horror literature, he created a science fiction novel with The New Moon (1918). However, of particular importance gained his novella -like ghost stories, which he originally in the three collections Widdershins (1911 ), Ghosts in Daylight (1924 ) and The Painted Face ( 1929) published and reprinted several times in various combinations. When his most famous work applies the ghosts novella The Beckoning Fair One ( German title The attractive beautiful) from Widdershins, which included in numerous anthologies and in 1968 by 20th Century Fox for the U.S. and British television ( with Robert Lansing and John Fraser ) was filmed. From the literature, especially the portrayal of obsessive-compulsive disorder and paranoia in Onions ' showers stories is found to be remarkable. In German translation selected short stories published Onions ' in two volumes in the 1980s.

Trivia

The Italian pop music duo, Guido & Maurizio De Angelis temporarily used the pen name Oliver Onions.

Works (selection)

  • The Compleat Bachelor. John Murray, London 1900
  • Tales from a Far Riding. John Murray, London 1902
  • The Odd Job Man. John Murray, London 1903
  • Widdershins. Martin Secker, London 1911 (numerous reprints, most recently at Chatto & Windus, London 1968)
  • In Accordance with the Evidence. Martin Secker, London 1912 ( reprint 1915, 1925, 1968, most recently at Garland Publishing, New York 1976, ISBN 0-8240-2388-9 )
  • The New Moon. A Romance of Reconstruction. Hodder and Stoughton, London / New York 1918
  • Ghosts in Daylight. Chapman & Hall, London 1924
  • The Painted Face. William Heinemann, London 1929
  • The Open Secret. William Heinemann, London 1930 ( also: Bernhard Tauchnitz, Leipzig 1931)
  • The Collected Ghost Stories of Oliver Onions. Nicholson and Watson, London 1935 (reprinted by Dover, New York 1971)
  • The Hand of Cornelius Voyt. Hamish Hamilton. London 1939 ( emphasis in Lythway Press, Portway 1969, ISBN 0-85046-039-5 )
  • Poor Man's Tapestry. Michael Joseph, London, 1946 ( reprint 1966, most recently in 1973, ISBN 0-718-11146- X)
  • A Penny for the Harp. Michael Joseph, London 1952
  • A Shilling to Spend. Michael Joseph, London 1965

German translations

  • The painted face. Fantastic stories. Bastion - Luebbe Verlag, Bergisch Gladbach 1982, ISBN 3-404-72018-0
  • The alluring beauty. Haunting and other stories about love from the beyond. Bastion - Luebbe Verlag, Bergisch Gladbach 1984, ISBN 3-404-72036-9
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