John Oliver Bayley, CBE, FBA,

FRSL The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 600 Fellows, elec ...

(27 March 1925 – 12 January 2015) was a British academic,

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. ...

and writer. He was the Warton Professor of English at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

from 1974 to 1992. His first marriage was to the novelist and philosopher

Iris Murdoch Dame Jean Iris Murdoch ( ; 15 July 1919 – 8 February 1999) was an Irish and British novelist and philosopher. Murdoch is best known for her novels about good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. Her ...

. Bayley was “acclaimed for his dissections of Goethe and Pushkin as well as of Jane Austen.” The “master of all he surveys,” he “is the reviewer’s reviewer,” excelling where “deep knowledge and logical examination come together”; his criticism “consists of attractively original examinations of subjects," "especially those devoted to poetry and to Russian and central European literature.”

Biography and career

Bayley was born in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th List of largest cities, most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is th ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, and educated at Eton, where he studied under G. W. Lyttelton, who also taught

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the prominent Huxle ...

J. B. S. Haldane John Burdon Sanderson Haldane (; 5 November 18921 December 1964), nicknamed "Jack" or "JBS", was a British-Indian scientist who worked in physiology, genetics, evolutionary biology, and mathematics. With innovative use of statistics in biolo ...

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalit ...

and

Cyril Connolly Cyril Vernon Connolly CBE (10 September 1903 – 26 November 1974) was an English literary critic and writer. He was the editor of the influential literary magazine '' Horizon'' (1940–49) and wrote ''Enemies of Promise'' (1938), which comb ...

. After leaving Eton, he read for a degree at

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at ...

, where he subsequently taught for almost fifty years. From 1974 to 1992, he was Warton Professor of nglishand a Fellow of St Catherine's College. Over the decades, he reviewed often in ''

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 i ...

''. The choice of these essays and his scholarly articles from 1962 to 2002 were selected by the literary editor of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', Leo Carey, and published as ''The Power of Delight: A Lifetime in Literature.'' Bayley was also a novelist. From 1956 until her death in 1999, he was married to the philosopher and novelist Dame

who said "that her husband was perhaps 'the greatest critic since Coleridge.'" He thought that sex was "inescapably ridiculous." In spite of, or because of, his feelings, his wife had multiple affairs with both men and women, which he occasionally witnessed for himself. In the mid-1990s, Murdoch fell ill with

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As ...

, diagnosed in 1997. Bayley then wrote the book ''Iris: A Memoir of Iris Murdoch'' (1998), which was made into the 2001 film '' Iris'' by

Richard Eyre Sir Richard Charles Hastings Eyre (born 28 March 1943) is an English film, theatre, television and opera director. Biography Eyre was born in Barnstaple, Devon, England, the son of Richard Galfridus Hastings Giles Eyre and his wife, Minna Mar ...

. In this film, Bayley was portrayed in his early years by Hugh Bonneville, and in his later years by

Jim Broadbent James Broadbent (born 24 May 1949) is an English actor. He won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his supporting role as John Bayley in the feature film '' Iris'' (2001), as well as winning a BAFTA TV Award and a Golden Globe for ...

. This film also stars

Kate Winslet Kate Elizabeth Winslet (; born 5 October 1975) is an English actress. Known for her work in independent films, particularly period dramas, and for her portrayals of headstrong and complicated women, she has received numerous accolades, inc ...

and Dame Judi Dench as Iris Murdoch. After Murdoch's death Bayley married Audi Villers, a family friend. He was appointed CBE in 1999. John Bayley died on 12January 2015.

Portrayal in the film ''Iris''

won the

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given in honor of an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role while worki ...

for his performance as John Bayley in the 2001 film '' Iris''. Hugh Bonneville portrayed the younger John Bayley in this film. For portraying Bayley, Broadbent also won the Golden Globe.

Bibliography

Novels

* ''In Another Country'' (1986) * ''Alice'' (1994) * ''The Queer Captain'' (1995) * ''George's Lair'' (1996) * ''The Red Hat'' (1997)

Other works

* ''The Romantic Survival'' (1953) * ''The Characters of Love: A Study in the Literature of Personality'' (1960) * ''

Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculos ...

and Reality'' (1969) * ''

Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

: A Comparative Commentary'' (1971) * ''The Uses of Division'' (1976) * ''An Essay on

Hardy Hardy may refer to: People * Hardy (surname) * Hardy (given name) * Hardy (singer), American singer-songwriter Places Antarctica * Mount Hardy, Enderby Land * Hardy Cove, Greenwich Island * Hardy Rocks, Biscoe Islands Australia * Hardy, Sout ...

'' (1978) * ''

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

and

Tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

'' (1981) * ''Selected Essays'' (1984) * ''The Order of Battle at Trafalgar'' (1987) * ''The Short Story: Henry James to

Elizabeth Bowen Elizabeth Bowen CBE (; 7 June 1899 – 22 February 1973) was an Irish-British novelist and short story writer notable for her books about the "big house" of Irish landed Protestants as well her fiction about life in wartime London. Life ...

'' (1988) * ''Tolstoy and the Novel'' (1988) * ''

Housman Alfred Edward Housman (; 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936) was an English classical scholar and poet. After an initially poor performance while at university, he took employment as a clerk in London and established his academic reputation by pub ...

's Poems'' (1992) * ''Iris: A Memoir of Iris Murdoch'' (1998) * '' Elegy for Iris: A Memoir'' (1999) * ''Iris and the Friends: A Year of Memories'' (1999) * ''Widower's House'' (2001)Andreas Dorschel, 'Kuschelecke Liebe. 'Das Haus des Witwers': John Bayley erinnert sich kaum an Iris', in: Süddeutsche Zeitung Nr. 115 (21 May 2002), p. 20. * ''Hand Luggage: A Personal Anthology'' (2001) * ''The Power of Delight'' (2005)

References

External links

"Marriage made in heaven" by Tim Adams
at ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'', based on a 2001 interview
NYRB articles by Bayley
at ''

'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bayley, John 1925 births 2015 deaths Alumni of New College, Oxford Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English biographers English literary critics Fellows of St Catherine's College, Oxford Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature People educated at Eton College Writers from Lahore English male novelists 20th-century English novelists 20th-century biographers 20th-century English male writers English male non-fiction writers British people in colonial India Male biographers