V. S. Pritchett

Sir Victor Sawdon Pritchett CH CBE ( born December 16, 1900 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England; † March 20, 1997 in London) was a British literary critic and writer who was best known for his 1971 memoirs Midnight Oil.

Life

Career

Pritchett, son of a businessman, attended St. John 's School, Alleyn 's School and Dulwich College, and was then worked in the leather trade, before he then worked as a correspondent in France, Morocco and Spain. Later, he was literary editor from 1926 to 1965 in the political weekly The New Statesman.

During the Second World War, he was also an employee of the Ministry of Information. In 1953 he accepted an appointment as a professor at Princeton University and in 1962 at the University of California. In addition, also worked as a professor at Columbia University and at Smith College.

Pritchett, who also worked for the daily newspaper The Christian Science Monitor, has been appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1968. In 1975, he was raised as a Knight Bachelor in the personal nobility and led henceforth the title " Sir ". Last 1993, he was also a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour.

Literary career

In the late 1920s he began his literary career and first wrote travel reports as Marching Spain (1928) and Clare Drummer ( 1929).

Besides a series of short stories such as The Spanish Virgin and Other Stories (1932 ), You Make Your Own Life (1938 ), Collected Stories (1956 ), Blind Love and Other Stories (1969 ) More Collected Stories (1983 ) and A Careless Widow and Other Stories (1989 ), he also wrote the novels Nothing Like Leather ( 1935), Dead Man Leading (1937) and Mr. Beluncle ( 1951).

In addition, he wrote his memoirs under the titles A Cab at the Door (1968) and Midnight Oil (1971 ), but also a number of biographies of George Meredith ( George Meredith and English Comedy, 1970), Honoré de Balzac ( Balzac, 1973 ), Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev ( The Gentle Barbarian: the Life and Work of Turgenev, 1977) as well as by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov ( Chekhov, 1988).

Finally, he also published three volumes of essays under the titles The Myth Makers (1979 ), A Man of Letters ( 1985) and The Complete Collected Essays of VS Pritchett (1991).

Pritchett's style was witty and self-willed and his satirical themes. He was especially on bigotry and blame the " Puritans " interested and portrayed this with a growing sense of humor in his novels. As a well-traveled, especially teaching in the U.S. literary critic, he was highly regarded.

Works (selection)

  • Midnight Oil. In 1971.
  • George Meredith. and English comedy. In 1970.
  • Honoré de Balzac. In 1973.
  • The gentle barbarian. The life and work of Turgenev. In 1977.
  • Chekhov. In 1988.
  • Come what may come. Short stories ( "It may never happen" ). Dorn, Bremen 1947.
  • The red motorcycle. Eight stories ( " Sense of humor" ). Nymphenburg Verlagshandlung, Munich 1959.
  • When my girl comes home ... Nine stories ( "When my girl comes home ..."). Diogenes Verlag, Zurich 1965.
  • The double bed. Narratives ("Double divan "). Reclam, Leipzig 1975.
  • Tea with Mrs. Bittell. Klett- Cotta, Stuttgart 1982.
  • The vagaries of nature. Narrative ( " On the edge of the cliff and other stories" ). Klett- Cotta, Stuttgart 1987.
  • The return of the prodigal daughter. Narrative. Fischer -Taschenbuch -Verlag, Frankfurt / M. 1992, ISBN 3-596-11265-6.
  • Mr. Beluncle. A novel. Modern Library, New York 2005, ISBN 0-8129-7379-8 ( Nachdr d ed London 1951).
  • The living novel. 32 essays ( "The living novel" ). Transmare Verlag, Berlin, 1947.
  • London. Heart and face of a city ( " London proclaimed "). Droemer / Knaur, Munich 1964.
  • New York. Heart and face of a city ("New York proclaimed "). Droemer / Knaur, Munich 1966.
  • The Pritchett Century. The selected writings. Chatto & Windus. London 1998, ISBN 0-7011-6636-3.
797300
de