Charles James Lee (2 March 1870 – 11 May 1956) was a British author. He published five novels in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in addition to many short stories and plays about the working people of

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

Life

Charles Lee was born in London to an artistic family. He was educated at

Highgate School Highgate School, formally Sir Roger Cholmeley's School at Highgate, is a co-educational, fee-charging, private day school, founded in 1565 in Highgate, London, England. It educates over 1,400 pupils in three sections – Highgate Pre-Preparato ...

,Highgate School Roll 1833–1912, Unwin Brothers Ltd 1913 was awarded a BA from

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

in 1889 and published his first novel, ''Widow Woman'', in 1896. Suffering from bad health, he visited Cornwall in 1900 for its better climate, and stayed in Cornwall for seven years. There he lived amongst the group of artists who formed the

Newlyn School The Newlyn School was an art colony of artists based in or near Newlyn, a fishing village adjacent to Penzance, on the south coast of Cornwall, from the 1880s until the early twentieth century. The establishment of the Newlyn School was remini ...

. His ''Cornish Tales'' had an introduction by Sir

Arthur Quiller-Couch Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (; 21 November 186312 May 1944) was a Cornish people, British writer who published using the pen name, pseudonym Q. Although a prolific novelist, he is remembered mainly for the monumental publication ''The Oxfor ...

. After relocating to the London suburbs, he worked as senior editor for J. M. Dent, where, owing to his talent for editing prose, he came to be known as "the man with the green pen."

Works

*''Widow Woman'', 1896 *''Our Little Town'' *''Paul Carah Cornishman'' *''Dorinda's Birthday'' *''Cynthia in the West'' *''Chasing Tales: The Lost Stories of Charles Lee'', editor Simon Parker, (Giss 'On Books, 2002, ) * ''The Stuffed Owl: an anthology of bad verse'' (with D.B. Wyndham Lewis) (Dent, London, 1930; enlarged 1948; reissued 2003, ) As well as a number of short stories he wrote several plays, journals, and musical scores and a guide book of

St Mawgan St Mawgan or St Mawgan in Pydar () is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The population of this parish at the 2011 census was 1,307. The village is situated four miles northeast of New ...

:- ''The Vale of Lanherne'', . In collaboration with D.B. Wyndham Lewis he compiled '' The Stuffed Owl'', an anthology of bad (mainly inappropriate and

bathetic Bathos ( ;''Oxford English Dictionary'', 1st ed. "bathos, ''n.'' Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1885. , "depth") is a literary term, first used in this sense in Alexander Pope's 1727 essay " Peri Bathous", to describe an amusingly ...

) verse, a volume reissued by New York Review Books Classics in 2003 with an introduction by

Billy Collins William James Collins (born March 22, 1941) is an American poet who served as the Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003. He was a Distinguished Professor at Lehman College of the City University of New York, retiring in 2016. Co ...

. Despite contemporary acclaim, he is almost forgotten today.

References

External links

*http://www.cornwall-calling.co.uk/famous-cornish-people/lee.htm *
Charles Lee
at ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of ...

'' (as at 2014) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Charles 1870 births 1956 deaths People educated at Highgate School Newlyn School of Artists British male novelists Dramatists and playwrights from Cornwall Novelists from Cornwall 19th-century British novelists 20th-century British novelists 19th-century English male writers 20th-century English male writers