Arnold Bennett

Bennett, Arnold 

Born May 27, 1867, in Hanley, Staffordshire; died Mar. 27, 1931, in London. English writer.

After graduating from the university, Bennett worked as a clerk and a jurist. His first story was published in 1895. In The Old Wives’ Tale (1908), a story of two sisters appears as a tragedy of inevitable aging. In the social novels of everyday life Anna of the Five Towns (1902), Clay hanger (1910), and its sequel Hilda Lessways (1911), Bennett realistically portrays a provincial region that is turning into an industrial center. The novel Lord Raingo (1926) is a satire on the nouveaux riches who made their fortune during World War I (1914–18). The author has also written plays and critical essays, including The Truth About an Author (1903) and “Literary Taste” (1909).

WORKS

The Journals .... London, 1954.
The Grim Smile of the Five Towns. London, 1928.
Letters, vol. 1. London, 1966.
In Russian translation:
“Leonora.” Russkaia mysl’, 1913, NOS. 3–5.
Kar’era pisatelia. Moscow-Berlin, 1925.
Londonskie rasskazy. Petrograd, 1923.

REFERENCES

Istoriia angliiskoi literatury, vol. 3. Moscow, 1958.
Davis, O. H. The Master. . . . London, [1966].
Barker, D. Writer by Trade. . . . London [1966].