Arnold Bennett
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Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist, who wrote prolifically. Between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaboration with other writers), and a daily journal totalling more than a million words. He wrote articles and stories for more than 100 newspapers and periodicals, worked in and briefly ran the Ministry of Information during the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, and wrote for the cinema in the 1920s. Sales of his books were substantial, and he was the most financially successful British author of his day. Born into a modest but upwardly mobile family in
Hanley Hanley is one of the Federation of Stoke-on-Trent, six towns that, along with Burslem, Longton, Staffordshire, Longton, Fenton, Staffordshire, Fenton, Tunstall, Staffordshire, Tunstall and Stoke-upon-Trent, amalgamated to form the City of Stoke- ...
, in the
Staffordshire Potteries The Staffordshire Potteries is the industrial area encompassing the six towns Burslem, Fenton, Hanley, Longton, Tunstall and Stoke (which is now the city of Stoke-on-Trent) in Staffordshire, England. North Staffordshire became a centre of c ...
, Bennett was intended by his father, a
solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...
, to follow him into the legal profession. Bennett worked for his father before moving to another law firm in London as a clerk at the age of 21. He became assistant editor and then editor of a women's magazine before becoming a full-time author in 1900. Always a devotee of French culture in general and
French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by French people, French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of Franc ...
in particular, he moved to Paris in 1903; there the relaxed milieu helped him overcome his intense shyness, particularly with women. He spent ten years in France, marrying a Frenchwoman in 1907. In 1912 he moved back to England. He and his wife separated in 1921, and he spent the last years of his life with a new partner, an English actress. He died in 1931 of
typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often th ...
, having unwisely drunk tap-water in France. Many of Bennett's novels and short stories are set in a fictionalised version of the Staffordshire Potteries, which he called The Five Towns. He strongly believed that literature should be accessible to ordinary people and he deplored literary cliques and élites. His books appealed to a wide public and sold in large numbers. For this reason, and for his adherence to realism, writers and supporters of the
modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
school, notably
Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...
, belittled him, and his fiction became neglected after his death. During his lifetime his journalistic "self-help" books sold in substantial numbers, and he was also a playwright; he did less well in the theatre than with novels but achieved two considerable successes with ''
Milestones A milestone is a marker of distance along roads. Milestone may also refer to: Measurements *Milestone (project management), metaphorically, markers of reaching an identifiable stage in any task or the project *Software release life cycle state, s ...
'' (1912) and '' The Great Adventure'' (1913). Studies by Margaret Drabble (1974), John Carey (1992), and others have led to a re-evaluation of Bennett's work. The finest of his novels, including '' Anna of the Five Towns'' (1902), '' The Old Wives' Tale'' (1908), '' Clayhanger'' (1910) and '' Riceyman Steps'' (1923), are now widely recognised as major works.


Life and career


Early years

Arnold Bennett was born on 27 May 1867 in
Hanley, Staffordshire Hanley is one of the six towns that, along with Burslem, Longton, Fenton, Tunstall and Stoke-upon-Trent, amalgamated to form the City of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. The town is the main business, commercial and cultural hub o ...
, now part of
Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...
but then a separate town.Hahn, Daniel, and Nicholas Robins
"Stoke-on-Trent"
, ''The Oxford Guide to Literary Britain and Ireland'', Oxford University Press, 2008. Retrieved 30 May 2020 .
He was the eldest child of the three sons and three daughters of Enoch Bennett (1843–1902) and his wife Sarah Ann, ''née'' Longson (1840–1914). Enoch Bennett's early career had been one of mixed fortunes: after an unsuccessful attempt to run a business making and selling pottery, he set up as a
draper Draper was originally a term for a retailer or wholesaler of cloth that was mainly for clothing. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. History Drapers were an important trade guild during the medieval period ...
and pawnbroker in 1866. Four years later, Enoch's father died, leaving him some money with which he articled himself to a local law firm; in 1876, he qualified as a
solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...
.Lucas, John
"Bennett, (Enoch) Arnold (1867–1931), writer"
, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 30 May 2020
The Bennetts were staunch Wesleyans, musical, cultured and sociable. Enoch Bennett had an authoritarian side, but it was a happy household, although a mobile one: as Enoch's success as a solicitor increased, the family moved, within the space of five years in the late 1870s and early 1880s, to four different houses in Hanley and the neighbouring
Burslem Burslem ( ) is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Staffordshire, Hanley, Tunstall, Staffordshire, Tunstall, Fenton, Staffordshire, Fenton, Longton, Staffordshire, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent form part of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in ...
. From 1877 to 1882, Bennett's schooling was at the Wedgwood Institute, Burslem, followed by a year at a grammar school in
Newcastle-under-Lyme Newcastle-under-Lyme is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. It is adjacent to the city of Stoke-on-Trent. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the population ...
. He was good at Latin and better at French; he had an inspirational headmaster who gave him a love for French literature and the French language that lasted all his life. He did well academically and passed
Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
examinations that could have led to an
Oxbridge Oxbridge is a portmanteau of the University of Oxford, Universities of Oxford and University of Cambridge, Cambridge, the two oldest, wealthiest, and most prestigious universities in the United Kingdom. The term is used to refer to them collect ...
education, but his father had other plans. In 1883, aged 16, Bennett left school and began work – unpaid – in his father's office. He divided his time between uncongenial jobs, such as rent collecting, during the day, and studying for examinations in the evening. He began writing in a modest way, contributing light pieces to the local newspaper. He became adept in Pitman's shorthand, a skill much sought after in commercial offices, and on the strength of that he secured a post as a clerk at a firm of solicitors in
Lincoln's Inn Fields Lincoln's Inn Fields is located in Holborn and is the List of city squares by size, largest public square in London. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a ...
, London. In March 1889, aged 21, he left for London and never returned to live in his native county.


First years in London

In the solicitors' office in London, Bennett became friendly with a young colleague, John Eland, who had a passion for books. Eland's friendship helped alleviate Bennett's innate shyness, which was exacerbated by a lifelong stammer. Together, they explored the world of literature. Among the writers who impressed and influenced Bennett were George Moore,
Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, ; ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of Naturalism (literature), naturalism, and an important contributor to ...
,
Honoré de Balzac Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly ; ; born Honoré Balzac; 20 May 1799 â€“ 18 August 1850) was a French novelist and playwright. The novel sequence ''La Comédie humaine'', which presents a panorama of post-Napoleonic French life, is ...
,
Guy de Maupassant Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, celebrated as a master of the short story, as well as a representative of the naturalist school, depicting human lives, destinies and s ...
,
Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , ; ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. He has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country and abroad. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flaubert, realis ...
and
Ivan Turgenev Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev ( ; rus, links=no, Иван Сергеевич ТургеневIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; – ) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, poe ...
. He continued his own writing, and won a prize of twenty
guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...
from '' Tit-Bits'' in 1893 for his story 'The Artist's Model'; another short story, 'A Letter Home', was submitted successfully to ''
The Yellow Book ''The Yellow Book'' was a British quarterly literary periodical that was published in London from 1894 to 1897. It was published at The Bodley Head Publishing House by Elkin Mathews and John Lane, and later by John Lane alone, and edited by th ...
'', where it featured in 1895 alongside contributions from
Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
and other well-known writers. In 1894 Bennett resigned from the law firm and became assistant editor of the magazine ''Woman''. The salary, £150 a year, was £50 less than he was earning as a clerk, but the post left him much more free time to write his first novel. For the magazine he wrote under a range of female pen-names such as "Barbara" and "Cecile". As his biographer Margaret Drabble puts it: The informal office life of the magazine suited Bennett, not least because it brought him into lively female company, and he began to be a little more relaxed with young women. He continued work on his novel and wrote short stories and articles. He was modest about his literary talent: he wrote to a friend, "I have no inward assurance that I could ever do anything more than mediocre viewed strictly as art – very mediocre", but he knew he could "turn out things which would be read with zest, & about which the man in the street would say to friends 'Have you read so & so in the ''What-is-it''?" He was happy to write for popular journals like ''Hearth and Home'' or for the highbrow '' The Academy''. His debut novel, ''A Man from the North'', completed in 1896, was published two years later, by John Lane, whose reader,
John Buchan John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, British Army officer, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. As a ...
, recommended it for publication. It elicited a letter of praise from
Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 â€“ 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the Eng ...
and was well and widely reviewed, but Bennett's profits from the sale of the book were less than the cost of having it typed. In 1896 Bennett was promoted to be editor of ''Woman''; by then he had set his sights on a career as a full-time author, but he served as editor for four years. During that time he wrote two popular books, described by the critic John Lucas as " pot-boilers": ''Journalism for Women'' (1898) and ''Polite Farces for the Drawing Room'' (1899). He also began work on a second novel, '' Anna of the Five Towns'', the five towns being Bennett's lightly fictionalised version of the
Staffordshire Potteries The Staffordshire Potteries is the industrial area encompassing the six towns Burslem, Fenton, Hanley, Longton, Tunstall and Stoke (which is now the city of Stoke-on-Trent) in Staffordshire, England. North Staffordshire became a centre of c ...
, where he grew up.Birch, Dinah (ed).
"Bennett, Arnold"
''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'', Oxford University Press, 2009


Freelance; Paris

In 1900 Bennett resigned his post at ''Woman'', and left London to set up house at Trinity Hall Farm, near the village of Hockliffe in Bedfordshire, where he made a home not only for himself but for his parents and younger sister. He completed ''Anna of the Five Towns'' in 1901; it was published the following year, as was its successor, '' The Grand Babylon Hotel''. The latter, an extravagant story of crime in high society, sold 50,000 copies in hardback and was almost immediately translated into four languages. By this stage he was confident enough in his abilities to tell a friend: In January 1902 Enoch Bennett died, after a decline into dementia. His widow chose to move back to Burslem, and Bennett's sister married shortly afterwards. With no dependants, Bennett − always a devotee of French culture − decided to move to Paris; he took up residence there in March 1903.Pound, p. 127 Biographers have speculated on his precise reasons for doing so. Drabble suggests that perhaps "he was hoping for some kind of liberation. He was thirty-five and unmarried"; Lucas writes that it was almost certainly Bennett's desire to be recognised as a serious artist that prompted his move; according to his friend and colleague Frank Swinnerton, Bennett was following in the footsteps of George Moore by going to live in "the home of modern realism";Swinnerton (1950), p. 14 in the view of the biographer Reginald Pound it was "to begin his career as a man of the world". The
9th arrondissement of Paris The 9th arrondissement of Paris (''IXe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as (; "ninth"). The arrondissement, called Opéra, is located on the right bank of th ...
was Bennett's home for the next five years, first in the rue de Calais, near the Place Pigalle, and then the more upmarket rue d'Aumale. Life in Paris evidently helped Bennett overcome much of his remaining shyness with women. His journals for his early months in Paris mention a young woman identified as "C" or "Chichi", who was a chorus girl; the journals – or at least the cautiously selected extracts published since his death – do not record the precise nature of the relationship, but the two spent a considerable amount of time together. In a restaurant where he dined frequently a trivial incident in 1903 gave Bennett the germ of an idea for the novel generally regarded as his masterpiece. A grotesque old woman came in and caused a fuss; the beautiful young waitress laughed at her, and Bennett was struck by the thought that the old woman had once been as young and lovely as the waitress. From this grew the story of two contrasting sisters in '' The Old Wives' Tale''. He did not begin work on that novel until 1907, before which he wrote ten others, some "sadly undistinguished", in the view of his biographer Kenneth Young. Throughout his career, Bennett interspersed his best novels with some that his biographers and others have labelled pot-boilers.


Marriage; Fontainebleau and US visit

In 1905 Bennett became engaged to Eleanor Green, a member of an eccentric and capricious American family living in Paris, but at the last moment, after the wedding invitations had been sent out, she broke off the engagement and almost immediately married a fellow American. Drabble comments that Bennett was well rid of her, but it was a painful episode in his life. In early 1907 he met Marguerite Soulié (1874–1960), who soon became first a friend and then a lover. In May he was taken ill with a severe gastric complaint, and Marguerite moved into his flat to look after him. They became still closer, and in July 1907, shortly after his fortieth birthday, they were married at the
Mairie In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...
of the 9th arrondissement. The marriage was childless.Swinnerton, Frank
"Bennett, (Enoch) Arnold (1867–1931)"
, ''Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 1949. Retrieved 1 June 2020
Early in 1908 the couple moved from the rue d'Aumale to the Villa des Néfliers in Fontainebleau-Avon, about 40 miles (64 km) south-east of Paris. Lucas comments that the best of the novels written while in France – ''Whom God Hath Joined'' (1906), ''The Old Wives' Tale'' (1908), and '' Clayhanger'' (1910) – "justly established Bennett as a major exponent of realistic fiction". In addition to these, Bennett published lighter novels such as ''
The Card ''The Card'' is a comic novel written by Arnold Bennett in 1911 (entitled ''Denry the Audacious'' in the American edition). It was later made into a 1952 movie, starring Alec Guinness and Petula Clark. Like much of Bennett's best work, it is ...
'' (1911). His output of literary journalism included articles for T. P. O'Connor's '' T. P.'s Weekly'' and the left-wing ''
The New Age ''The New Age'' was a British weekly magazine (1894–1938),credited as a major influence on literature and the arts during its heyday from 1907 to 1922, when it was edited by Alfred Richard Orage. It published work by many of the chief politi ...
''; his pieces for the latter, published under a pen-name, were concise literary essays aimed at "the general cultivated reader", a form taken up by a later generation of writers including J. B. Priestley and V. S. Pritchett. In 1911 Bennett made a financially rewarding visit to the US, which he later recorded in his 1912 book '' Those United States''. Crossing the Atlantic aboard the ''
Lusitania Lusitania (; ) was an ancient Iberian Roman province encompassing most of modern-day Portugal (south of the Douro River) and a large portion of western Spain (the present Extremadura and Province of Salamanca). Romans named the region after th ...
'', he visited not only New York and Boston but also Chicago, Indianapolis, Washington and Philadelphia in a tour that was described by US publisher George Doran as "one of continuous triumph": in the first three days of his stay in New York he was interviewed 26 times by journalists. While rival E.P. Dutton had secured rights to such Bennett novels as ''Hilda Lessways'' and ''the Card'' (retitled ''Denry the Audacious''), Doran, who travelled everywhere with Bennett while in America, was the publisher of Bennett's wildly successful 'pocket philosophies' '' How to Live on Twenty-Four Hours a Day'' and ''Mental Efficiency.'' Of these books the influential critic Willard Huntington Wright wrote that Bennett had "turned preacher and a jolly good preacher he is". While in the US Bennett also sold the serial rights of his forthcoming novel, ''The Price of Love'' (1913–14), to ''
Harpers Harpers may refer to: * Harpers, popular misnomer for ''Harper's Magazine'', American monthly magazine * ''Harper's Bazaar'', monthly American fashion magazine * ''Harpers Wine & Spirit'', formerly ''Harpers Magazine'' (since 1878), British trade ...
'' for £2,000, eight essays to '' Metropolitan'' magazine for a total of £1,200, and the American rights of a successor to ''Clayhanger'' for £3,000. During his ten years in France he had gone from a moderately well-known writer enjoying modest sales to outstanding success. Swinnerton comments that in addition to his large sales, Bennett's critical prestige was at its zenith.


Return to England

In 1912, after an extended stay at the Hotel Californie in Cannes, during which time he wrote ''The Regent'', a light-hearted sequel to ''The Card'', Bennett and his wife moved from France to England. Initially they lived in
Putney Putney () is an affluent district in southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ...
, but "determined to become an English country landowner", he bought
Comarques The comarques of Catalonia (singular ''comarca'', , ), often referred to in English as counties, are an administrative division of Catalonia. Each comarca comprises a number of municipalities, roughly equivalent to a county in the United States. ...
, an early-18th-century country house at
Thorpe-le-Soken Thorpe-le-Soken is a village and civil parish in the Tendring District, Tendring district of Essex, England. It is located east of Colchester, west of Walton-on-the-Naze and Frinton-on-Sea, and north of Clacton-on-Sea. History Since 2002, arch ...
, Essex, and moved there in February 1913. Among his early concerns, once back in England, was to succeed as a playwright. He had dabbled previously but his inexperience showed. ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' thought his 1911 comedy ''The Honeymoon'', staged in the West End with a starry cast, had "one of the most amusing first acts we have ever seen", but fell flat in the other two acts."Royalty Theatre", ''The Times'', 7 October 1911, p. 8 In the same year Bennett met the playwright Edward Knoblauch (later Knoblock) and they collaborated on ''
Milestones A milestone is a marker of distance along roads. Milestone may also refer to: Measurements *Milestone (project management), metaphorically, markers of reaching an identifiable stage in any task or the project *Software release life cycle state, s ...
'', the story of the generations of a family seen in 1860, 1885 and 1912. The combination of Bennett's narrative gift and Knoblauch's practical experience proved a success."Drama", ''The Athenaeum'', 9 March 1912, p. 291 The play was strongly cast, received highly favourable notices, ran for more than 600 performances in London and over 200 in New York, and made Bennett a great deal of money. His next play, '' The Great Adventure'' (1913), a stage version of his novel ''Buried Alive'' (1908), was similarly successful.Wearing, p. 327 Bennett's attitude to the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
was that British politicians had been at fault in failing to prevent it, but that once it had become inevitable it was right that Britain should join its allies against the Germans. He concentrated his attention on journalism, aiming to inform and encourage the public in Britain and allied and neutral countries. He served on official and unofficial committees, and in 1915 he was invited to visit France to see conditions at the front and write about them for readers at home. The collected impressions appeared in a book called ''Over There'' (1915). He was still writing novels, however: ''These Twain'', the third in his Clayhanger trilogy, was published in 1916 and in 1917 he completed a sequel, ''The Roll Call'', which ends with its hero, George Cannon, enlisting in the army. Wartime London was the setting for Bennett's ''The Pretty Lady'' (1918), about a high-class French '' cocotte'': although well reviewed, because of its subject-matter the novel provoked "a Hades of a row" and some booksellers refused to sell it. When
Lord Beaverbrook William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook (25 May 1879 – 9 June 1964), was a Canadian-British newspaper publisher and backstage politician who was an influential figure in British media and politics of the first half of the 20th century ...
became Minister of Information in February 1918 he appointed Bennett to take charge of propaganda in France. Beaverbrook fell ill in October 1918 and made Bennett director of propaganda, in charge of the whole ministry for the last weeks of the war. At the end of 1918 Bennett was offered, but declined, a
knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...
in the new
Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
instituted by
George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...
.Pound, p. 279 The offer was renewed some time later, and again Bennett refused it. One of his closest associates at the time suspected that he was privately hoping for the more prestigious
Order of Merit The Order of Merit () is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII, admission into the order r ...
. As the war was ending, Bennett returned to his theatrical interests, although not primarily as a playwright. In November 1918 he became chairman, with Nigel Playfair as managing director, of the
Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a nonprofit theatre on Lyric Square, off King Street, Hammersmith, London."About the Lyric" > "History" ''Lyric'' official website. Retrieved January 2024. Background The Lyric Theatre ...
. Among their productions were ''
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...
'' by John Drinkwater, and ''
The Beggar's Opera ''The Beggar's Opera'' is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of sati ...
'', which, in Swinnerton's phrase, "caught different moods of the post-war spirit", and ran for 466 and 1,463 performances respectively.


Last years

In 1921 Bennett and his wife
legally separated Legal separation (sometimes judicial separation, separate maintenance, divorce ', or divorce from bed-and-board) is a legal process by which a married couple may formalize a separation while remaining legally married. A legal separation is gra ...
. They had been drifting apart for some years and Marguerite had taken up with Pierre Legros, a young French lecturer. Bennett sold Comarques and lived in London for the rest of his life, first in a flat near
Bond Street Bond Street in the West End of London links Piccadilly in the south to Oxford Street in the north. Since the 18th century the street has housed many prestigious and upmarket fashion retailers. The southern section is Old Bond Street and the l ...
in the West End, on which he had taken a lease during the war. For much of the 1920s he was widely known to be the highest-paid literary journalist in England, contributing a weekly column to Beaverbrook's ''
Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...
'' under the title 'Books and Persons'; according to Frank Swinnerton, these articles were "extraordinarily successful and influential ... and made a number of new reputations". By the end of his career, Bennett had contributed to more than 100 newspapers, magazines and other publications. He continued to write novels and plays as assiduously as before the war. Swinnerton writes, "Endless social engagements; inexhaustible patronage of musicians, actors, poets, and painters; the maximum of benevolence to friends and strangers alike, marked the last ten years of his life".
Hugh Walpole Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (13 March 18841 June 1941) was an English novelist. He was the son of an Anglican clergyman, intended for a career in the church but drawn instead to writing. Among ...
,
James Agate James Evershed Agate (9 September 1877 – 6 June 1947) was an English diarist and theatre critic between the two world wars. He took up journalism in his late twenties and was on the staff of ''The Manchester Guardian'' in 1907–1914. He late ...
and Osbert Sitwell were among those who testified to Bennett's generosity. Sitwell recalled a letter Bennett wrote in the 1920s: In 1922 Bennett met and fell in love with an actress, Dorothy Cheston (1891–1977). Together they set up home in Cadogan Square, where they stayed until moving in 1930 to Chiltern Court, Baker Street. As Marguerite would not agree to a divorce, Bennett was unable to marry Dorothy, and in September 1928, having become pregnant, she changed her name by
deed poll A deed poll (plural: deeds poll) is a legal document binding on a single person or several persons acting jointly to express an intention or create an obligation. It is a deed, and not a contract, because it binds only one party. Etymology Th ...
to Dorothy Cheston Bennett.Drabble, p. 308 The following April she gave birth to the couple's only child, Virginia Mary (1929–2003). She continued to appear as an actress, and produced and starred in a revival of ''Milestones'' which was well reviewed, but had only a moderate run.Drabble, p. 335 Bennett had mixed feelings about her continuing stage career, but did not seek to stop it. During a holiday in France with Dorothy in January 1931, Bennett twice drank tap-water – not, at the time, a safe thing to do there. On his return home he was taken ill;
influenza Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These sympto ...
was diagnosed at first, but the illness was
typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often th ...
; after several weeks of unsuccessful treatment he died in his flat at Chiltern Court on 27 March 1931, aged 63. Bennett was cremated at
Golders Green Crematorium Golders Green Crematorium and Mausoleum was the first crematorium to be opened in London, and is one of the oldest crematoria in Britain. The land for the crematorium was purchased in 1900, costing £6,000 (the equivalent of £136,000 in 2021), ...
and his ashes were interred in Burslem Cemetery in his mother's grave. A memorial service was held on 31 March 1931 at
St Clement Danes St Clement Danes is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London. It is now situated near the 19th-century Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand in Aldwych. Although the first church on the site was reputedly founded in the 9th cent ...
, London, attended by leading figures from journalism, literature, music, politics and theatre, and, in Pound's words, many men and women who at the end of the service "walked out into a London that for them would never be the same again".


Works

From the outset, Bennett believed in the "democratisation of art which it is surely the duty of the minority to undertake". He admired some of the
modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
writers of his time, but strongly disapproved of their conscious appeal to a small élite and their disdain for the general reader. Bennett believed that literature should be inclusive, accessible to ordinary people.Koenigsberger, Kurt
"Bennett, Arnold"
, ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature'', Oxford University Press, 2006. Retrieved 4 June 2020
From the start of his career, Bennett was aware of the appeal of regional fiction.
Anthony Trollope Anthony Trollope ( ; 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among the best-known of his 47 novels are two series of six novels each collectively known as the ''Chronicles of Barsetshire ...
,
George Eliot Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrot ...
and
Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Literary realism, Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry ...
had created and sustained their own locales, and Bennett did the same with his Five Towns, drawing on his experiences as a boy and young man. As a realistic writer he followed the examples of the authors he admired – above all George Moore, but also Balzac,
Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , ; ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. He has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country and abroad. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flaubert, realis ...
and
Maupassant Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, celebrated as a master of the short story, as well as a representative of the Naturalism (literature), naturalist School of thought, sc ...
among French writers, and
Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian and world literature, and many of his works are considered highly influenti ...
,
Turgenev Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev ( ; rus, links=no, Иван Сергеевич ТургеневIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; – ) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, poe ...
and
Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using pre-reform Russian orthography. ; ), usually referr ...
among Russians. In writing about the Five Towns, Bennett aimed to portray the experiences of ordinary people coping with the norms and constraints of the communities in which they lived. J. B. Priestley considered that the next influence on Bennett's fiction was his time in London in the 1890s, "engaged in journalism and ingenious pot-boiling of various kinds."''Quoted'' in Howarth, pp. 11–12


Novels and short stories

Bennett is remembered chiefly for his novels and short stories. The best known are set in, or feature people from, the six towns of the Potteries of his youth. He presented the region as "the Five Towns", which correspond closely with their originals: the real-life
Burslem Burslem ( ) is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Staffordshire, Hanley, Tunstall, Staffordshire, Tunstall, Fenton, Staffordshire, Fenton, Longton, Staffordshire, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent form part of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in ...
,
Hanley Hanley is one of the Federation of Stoke-on-Trent, six towns that, along with Burslem, Longton, Staffordshire, Longton, Fenton, Staffordshire, Fenton, Tunstall, Staffordshire, Tunstall and Stoke-upon-Trent, amalgamated to form the City of Stoke- ...
, Longton, Stoke and Tunstall become Bennett's Bursley, Hanbridge, Longshaw, Knype and Turnhill. These "Five Towns" make their first appearance in Bennett's fiction in '' Anna of the Five Towns'' (1902) and are the setting for further novels including ''Leonora'' (1903), ''Whom God Hath Joined'' (1906), ''The Old Wives' Tale'' (1908) and the Clayhanger trilogy – ''Clayhanger'' (1910), ''Hilda Lessways'' (1911) and ''These Twain'' (1916) – as well as for dozens of short stories. Bennett's fiction portrays the Five Towns with what ''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'' calls "an ironic but affectionate detachment, describing provincial life and culture in documentary detail, and creating many memorable characters". In later life Bennett said that the writer George Moore was "the father of all my Five Towns books" as it was reading Moore's 1885 novel ''A Mummer's Wife'', set in the Potteries, that "opened my eyes to the romantic nature of the district I had blindly inhabited for over twenty years". It was not only locations on which Bennett drew for his fiction. Many of his characters are discernibly based on real people in his life. His Lincoln's Inn friend John Eland was a source for Mr Aked in Bennett's first novel, ''A Man from the North'' (1898); ''A Great Man'' (1903) contains a character with echoes of his Parisienne friend Chichi; Darius Clayhanger's early life is based on that of a family friend and Bennett himself is seen in Edwin in ''Clayhanger''. He has been criticised for making literary use in that novel of the distressing details of his father's decline into senility, but in Pound's view, in committing the details to paper Bennett was unburdening himself of painful memories. ''These Twain'' is Bennett's "last extended study of Five Towns life". The novels he wrote in the 1920s are largely set in London and thereabouts: '' Riceyman Steps'' (1923), for instance, generally regarded as the best of Bennett's post-war novels, was set in
Clerkenwell Clerkenwell ( ) is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an Civil Parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish from the medieval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The St James's C ...
: it was awarded the James Tait Black novel prize for 1923, "the first prize for a book I ever had", Bennett noted in his journal on 18 October 1924. His ''Lord Raingo'' (1926), described by Dudley Barker as "one of the finest of political novels in the language", benefited from Bennett's own experience in the Ministry of Information and his subsequent friendship with Beaverbrook: John Lucas states that "As a study of what goes on in the corridors of power 'Lord Raingo''has few equals". And Bennett's final – and longest – novel, '' Imperial Palace'' (1930), is set in a grand London hotel reminiscent of the
Savoy Savoy (; )  is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...
, whose directors assisted him in his preliminary research. Bennett usually gave his novels subtitles; the most frequent was "A fantasia on modern themes", individual books were called "A frolic" or "A melodrama", but he was sparing with the label "A novel" which he used for only a few of his books – for instance ''Anna of the Five Towns'', ''Leonora'', ''Sacred and Profane Love'', ''The Old Wives' Tale'', ''The Pretty Lady'' (1918) and ''Riceyman Steps''. Literary critics have followed Bennett in dividing his novels into groups. The literary scholar Kurt Koenigsberger proposes three categories. In the first are the long narratives – "freestanding, monumental artefacts" – ''Anna of the Five Towns'', ''The Old Wives' Tale'', ''Clayhanger'' and ''Riceyman Steps'', which "have been held in high critical regard since their publication". Koenigsberger writes that the "Fantasias" such as ''The Grand Babylon Hotel'' (1902), ''Teresa of Watling Street'' (1904) and '' The City of Pleasure'' (1907), have "mostly passed from public attention along with the 'modern' conditions they exploit". His third group includes "Idyllic Diversions" or "Stories of Adventure", including ''Helen with the High Hand'' (1910), ''The Card'' (1911), and ''The Regent'' (1913), which "have sustained some enduring critical and popular interest, not least for their amusing treatment of cosmopolitanism and provinciality". Bennett published 96 short stories in seven volumes between 1905 and 1931. His ambivalence about his native town is vividly seen in "The Death of Simon Fuge" in the collection ''The Grim Smile of the Five Towns'' (1907), judged by Lucas the finest of all the stories. His chosen locations ranged widely, including Paris and Venice as well as London and the Five Towns. As with his novels, he would sometimes give a story a label, calling "The Matador of the Five Towns" (1912) "a tragedy" and "Jock-at-a-Venture" from the same collection "a frolic". The short stories, particularly those in ''Tales of the Five Towns'' (1905), ''The Grim Smile of the Five Towns'' (1907), and ''The Matador of the Five Towns'' contain some of the most striking examples of Bennett's concern for realism, with an unflinching narrative focus on what Lucas calls "the drab, the squalid, and the mundane". In 2010 and 2011 two further volumes of Bennett's hitherto uncollected short stories were published: they range from his earliest work written in the 1890s, some under the pseudonym Sarah Volatile, to US magazine commissions from the late 1920s.


Stage and screen

In 1931 the critic Graham Sutton, looking back at Bennett's career in the theatre, contrasted his achievements as a playwright with those as a novelist, suggesting that Bennett was a complete novelist but a not-entirely-complete dramatist. His plays were clearly those of a novelist: "He tends to lengthy speeches. Sometimes he overwrites a part as though distrusting the actor. He is more interested in what his people are than in what they visibly do. He 'thinks nowt' of mere slickness of plot."Sutton, Graham. "The Plays of Arnold Bennett", ''The Bookman'', December 1931, p. 165 Bennett's lack of a theatrical grounding showed in the uneven construction of some of his plays, such as his 1911 comedy ''The Honeymoon'', which played for 125 performances from October 1911. The highly successful ''Milestones'' was seen as impeccably constructed but the credit for that was given to his craftsmanlike collaborator, Edward Knoblauch (Bennett being credited with the inventive flair of the piece). By far his most successful solo effort in the theatre was ''The Great Adventure'', based on his 1908 novel '' Buried Alive'', which ran in the West End for 674 performances, from March 1913 to November 1914. Sutton praised its "new strain of impish and sardonic fantasy" and rated it a much finer play than ''Milestones''. After the First World War, Bennett wrote two plays on metaphysical questions, ''Sacred and Profane Love'' (1919, adapted from his novel) and ''Body and Soul'' (1922), which made little impression. '' The Saturday Review'' praised the "shrewd wit" of the former, but thought it "false in its essentials ... superficial in its accidentals". Of the latter, the critic Horace Shipp wondered "how the author of ''Clayhanger'' and ''The Old Wives' Tale'' could write such third-rate stuff". Bennett had more success in a final collaboration with Edward Knoblock (as Knoblauch had become during the war) with ''Mr Prohack'' (1927), a comedy based on his 1922 novel; one critic wrote "I could have enjoyed the play had it run to double its length", but even so he judged the middle act weaker than the outer two. Sutton concludes that Bennett's ''forte'' was character, but that the competence of his technique was variable. The plays are seldom revived, although some have been adapted for television. Bennett wrote two opera libretti for the composer Eugene Goossens: ''Judith'' (one act, 1929) and ''Don Juan'' (four acts, produced in 1937 after the writer's death). There were comments that Goossens's music lacked tunes and Bennett's libretti were too wordy and literary. The critic Ernest Newman defended both works, finding Bennett's libretto for Judith "a drama told simply and straightforwardly" and ''Don Juan'' "the best thing that English opera has so far produced ... the most dramatic and stageworthy", but though politely received, both operas vanished from the repertory after a few performances. Bennett took a keen interest in the cinema, and in 1920 wrote ''The Wedding Dress'', a scenario for a silent movie, at the request of Jesse Lasky of the
Famous Players Famous Players Limited Partnership was a Canadian-based subsidiary of Cineplex Entertainment. As an independent company, it existed as a film exhibitor and cable television service provider. Famous Players operated numerous film, movie theatre ...
film company. It was never made, though Bennett wrote a full-length treatment, assumed to be lost until his daughter Virginia found it in a drawer in her Paris home in 1983; subsequently the script was sold to the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery and was finally published in 2013. In 1928 Bennett wrote the scenario for the silent film ''
Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, England, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road (England), A4 road that connects central London to ...
'', directed by E. A. Dupont and starring
Anna May Wong Wong Liu Tsong (January 3, 1905 – February 3, 1961), known professionally as Anna May Wong, was an American actress, considered the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood, as well as the first Chinese American actress to gain internat ...
, described by the
British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
as "one of the true greats of British silent films". In 1929, the year the film came out, Bennett was in discussion with a young
Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 â€“ 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...
to script a silent film, ''Punch and Judy'', which foundered on artistic disagreements and Bennett's refusal to see the film as a "talkie" rather than silent. His original scenario, acquired by
Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...
, was published in the UK in 2012.


Journalism and self-help books

Bennett published more than two dozen non-fiction books, among which eight could be classified as "self-help": the most enduring is '' How to Live on 24 Hours a Day'' (1908), which is still in print and has been translated into several languages. Other "self-help" volumes include ''How to Become an Author'' (1903), ''The Reasonable Life'' (1907), '' Literary Taste: How to Form It'' (1909), ''The Human Machine'' (1908), ''Mental Efficiency'' (1911), ''The Plain Man and his Wife'' (1913), ''Self and Self-Management'' (1918) and ''How to Make the Best of Life'' (1923). They were, says Swinnerton, "written for small fees and with a real desire to assist the ignorant". According to the Harvard academic Beth Blum, these books "advance less scientific versions of the argument for mental discipline espoused by William James". In his biography of Bennett Patrick, Donovan argues that in the US "the huge appeal to the ordinary readers" of his self-help books "made his name stand out vividly from other English writers across the massive, fragmented American market."Donovan, p. 99 As Bennett put it to his London-based agent J. B. Pinker, these "pocket philosophies are just the sort of book for the American public". However, ''How to Live on 24 Hours'' was aimed initially at "the legions of clerks and typists and other meanly paid workers caught up in the explosion of British office jobs around the turn of the century … they offered a strong message of hope from somebody who so well understood their lives". Bennett never lost his journalistic instincts, and throughout his life sought and responded to newspaper and magazine commissions with varying degrees of enthusiasm: "from the start of the 1890s right up to the week of his death there would never be a period when he was not churning out copy for newspapers and magazines". In a journal entry at the end of 1908, for instance, he noted that he had written "over sixty newspaper articles" that year; in 1910 the figure was "probably about 80 other articles". While living in Paris he was a regular contributor to ''T. P.'s Weekly''; later he reviewed for ''
The New Age ''The New Age'' was a British weekly magazine (1894–1938),credited as a major influence on literature and the arts during its heyday from 1907 to 1922, when it was edited by Alfred Richard Orage. It published work by many of the chief politi ...
'' under the pseudonym Jacob Tonson and was associated with the ''
New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...
'' as not only a writer but also a director.


Journals

Inspired by the '' Journal des Goncourt'', Bennett kept a journal throughout his adult life. Swinnerton says that it runs to a million words; it has not been published in full. Edited extracts were issued in three volumes, in 1932 and 1933. According to Hugh Walpole, the editor,
Newman Flower Sir Walter Newman Flower (8 July 1879 – 12 March 1964) was an English publisher and author. He transformed the fortunes of the publishing house Cassell & Co, and later became its proprietor. As an author, he published studies of the composers G ...
, "was so appalled by much of what he found in the journals that he published only brief extracts, and those the safest".Lyttelton and Hart-Davis, p. 176 Whatever Flower censored, the extracts he selected were not always "the safest": he let some defamatory remarks through, and in 1935 he, the publishers and printers had to pay an undisclosed sum to the plaintiff in one libel suit and £2,500 in another.


Critical reputation


Novels and short stories

The literary modernists of his day deplored Bennett's books, and those of his well-known contemporaries
H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...
and
John Galsworthy John Galsworthy (; 14 August 1867 – 31 January 1933) was an English novelist and playwright. He is best known for his trilogy of novels collectively called '' The Forsyte Saga'', and two later trilogies, ''A Modern Comedy'' and ''End of th ...
. Of the three, Bennett drew the most opprobrium from modernists such as
Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...
,
Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an List of poets from the United States, American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Ita ...
and
Wyndham Lewis Percy Wyndham Lewis (18 November 1882 – 7 March 1957) was a British writer, painter and critic. He was a co-founder of the Vorticist movement in art and edited ''Blast (British magazine), Blast'', the literary magazine of the Vorticists. His ...
who regarded him as representative of an outmoded and rival literary culture.Howarth, p. 5; and Drabble p. 289 There was a strong element of class-consciousness and
snobbery ''Snob'' is a pejorative term for a person who feels superior due to their social class, education level, or social status in general;De Botton, A. (2004), ''Status Anxiety''. London: Hamish Hamilton it is sometimes used especially when they pr ...
in the modernists' attitude: Woolf accused Bennett of having "a shopkeeper's view of literature" and in her essay " Mr Bennett and Mrs Brown" accused Bennett, Galsworthy and Wells of ushering in an "age when character disappeared or was mysteriously engulfed". In a 1963 study of Bennett, James Hepburn summed up and dissented from the prevailing views of the novels, listing three related evaluative positions taken individually or together by almost all Bennett's critics: that his Five Towns novels are generally superior to his other work, that he and his art declined after ''The Old Wives' Tale'' or ''Clayhanger'', and that there is a sharp and clear distinction between the good and bad novels. Hepburn countered that one of the novels most frequently praised by literary critics is ''Riceyman Steps'' (1923) set in Clerkenwell, London, and dealing with material imagined rather than observed by the author. On the third point he commented that although received wisdom was that ''The Old Wives' Tale'' and ''Clayhanger'' are good and ''Sacred and Profane Love'' and ''Lillian'' are bad, there was little consensus about which other Bennett novels were good, bad or indifferent. He instanced ''The Pretty Lady'' (1918), on which critical opinion ranged from "cheap and sensational" ... "sentimental melodrama" to "a great novel". Lucas (2004) considers it "a much underrated study of England during the war years, especially in its sensitive feeling for the destructive frenzy that underlay much apparently good-hearted patriotism". In 1974 Margaret Drabble published ''Arnold Bennett'', a literary biography. In the foreword she demurred at the critical dismissal of Bennett: Writing in the 1990s the literary critic John Carey called for a reappraisal of Bennett in his book ''The Intellectuals and the Masses'' (1992): In 2006 Koenigsberger commented that one reason why Bennett's novels had been sidelined, apart from "the exponents of modernism who recoiled from his democratising aesthetic programme", was his attitude to gender. His books include the pronouncements "the average man has more intellectual power than the average woman" and "women as a sex love to be dominated"; Koenigsberger nevertheless praises Bennett's "sensitive and oft-praised portrayals of female figures in his fiction". Lucas concludes his study with the comment that Bennett's realism may be limited by his cautious assumption that things are as they are and will not change. Nevertheless, in Lucas's view, successive generations of reader have admired Bennett's best work, and future generations are certain to do so.


Crime fiction

Bennett dabbled in crime fiction, in ''The Grand Babylon Hotel'' and ''The Loot of Cities'' (1904). In ''Queen's Quorum'' (1951), a survey of crime fiction,
Ellery Queen Ellery Queen is a pseudonym created in 1928 by the American detective fiction writers Frederic Dannay (1905–1982) and Manfred Bennington Lee (1905–1971). It is also the name of their main fictional detective, a mystery writer in New York City ...
listed the latter among the 100 most important works in the genre. This collection of stories recounts the adventures of a millionaire who commits crimes to achieve his idealistic ends. Although it was "one of his least known works", it was nevertheless "of unusual interest, both as an example of Arnold Bennett's early work and as an early example of dilettante detectivism".


Legacy


Arnold Bennett Society

The society was founded in 1954 "to promote the study and appreciation of the life, works and times not only of Arnold Bennett himself but also of other provincial writers, with particular relationship to North Staffordshire." In 2021 its president was Denis Eldin, Bennett's grandson; among the vice presidents was Margaret Drabble. In 2017 the society instituted an annual Arnold Bennett Prize as part of the author's 150th-anniversary celebrations, to be awarded to an author who was born, lives or works in North Staffordshire and has published a book in the relevant year or to the author of a book which features the region. In 2017 John Lancaster won the award for his poetry collection ''Potters: A Division of Labour''. Subsequent winners have been Jan Edwards for her novel ''Winter Downs'' (2018), Charlotte Higgins for ''Red Thread: On Mazes and Labyrinths'' (2019) and Lisa Blower for her story collection ''It's Gone Dark Over Bill's Mother's'' (2020). The prize was not awarded in 2021 because of the Covid-19 situation, but in 2022 it was won by John Pye, a former detective inspector turned crime writer, for his novel ''Where the Silent Screams Are Loudest.'' The prize in 2023 went to Philip Nanney Williams for his book ''Adams: Britain's Oldest Potting Dynasty''.


Plaques and statuary

Bennett has been commemorated by several plaques. Hugh Walpole unveiled one at Comarques in 1931, and in the same year another was placed at Bennett's birthplace in Hanley. A plaque to and bust of Bennett were unveiled in Burslem in 1962, and there are
blue plaques A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...
commemorating him at the house in Cadogan Square where he lived from 1923 to 1930 and on the house in Cobridge where he lived in his youth. The southern Baker Street entrance of Chiltern Court has a plaque to Bennett on the left and another to H. G. Wells on the right. A blue plaque has been placed on the wall of Bennett's home in Fontainebleau. There is a two-metre-high bronze statue of Bennett outside The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, unveiled on 27 May 2017 during the events marking the 150th anniversary of his birth.


Archives

There are substantial archives of Bennett's papers and artworks, including drafts, diaries, letters, photographs, and watercolours, at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent and at
Keele University Keele University is a Public university#United Kingdom, public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, it was granted uni ...
. Other Bennett papers are held by
University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
, the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
, Staffordshire University's Special Collections and, in the US,
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
and
Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...
universities and the Berg Collection in the
New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...
.


Omelette

Bennett shares with the composer
Gioachino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote man ...
, the singer
Nellie Melba Dame Nellie Melba (born Helen Porter Mitchell; 19 May 186123 February 1931) was an Australian operatic lyric coloratura soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early twentieth century, and was the f ...
and some other celebrities the distinction of having a well-known dish named in his honour. An
omelette An omelette (sometimes omelet in American English; see spelling differences) is a dish made from eggs (usually chicken eggs), fried with butter or oil in a frying pan. It is a common practice for an omelette to include fillings such as chiv ...
Arnold Bennett is one that incorporates smoked
haddock The haddock (''Melanogrammus aeglefinus'') is a saltwater ray-finned fish from the Family (biology), family Gadidae, the true cods. It is the only species in the Monotypy, monotypic genus ''Melanogrammus''. It is found in the North Atlantic Oce ...
, hard cheese (typically Cheddar), and cream. It was created at the Savoy Grill in London for Bennett, who was an ''habitué'',Ayto, John
"Arnold Bennett"
''The Diner's Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2020
by the chef Jean Baptiste Virlogeux. It remains a British classic; cooks from
Marcus Wareing Marcus Wareing (born 29 June 1970) is an English celebrity chef who was Chef-Owner of the one- Michelin-starred restaurant Marcus until its permanent closure in December 2023. Since 2014, Wareing has been a judge on '' MasterChef: The Professiona ...
to
Delia Smith Delia Ann Smith (born 18 June 1941) is an English cook and television presenter, known for teaching basic cookery skills in a direct style. One of the best-known celebrity chefs in British popular culture, Smith has influenced viewers to bec ...
and
Gordon Ramsay Gordon James Ramsay (; born ) is a British celebrity chef, restaurateur, television presenter, and writer. His restaurant group, List of restaurants owned or operated by Gordon Ramsay, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, was founded in 1997 and has ...
have published their recipes for it,"Marcus Wareing's omelette Arnold Bennett"
. ''Delicious''
"Easy Omelette Arnold Bennett"
, Delia Online; an
"Savoy Grill Arnold Bennett Omelette Recipe"
, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants. All retrieved 3 June 2020
and a variant remains on the menu at the Savoy Grill.


Notes, references and sources


Notes


References


Sources

* * (The English Novelists series) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* Shapcott, John (2017). ''Arnold Bennett Companion'', Vol. II. Leek, Staffs: Churnet Valley Books. . * Squillace, Robert (1997). ''Modernism, Modernity and Arnold Bennett''. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press. .


External links


Works

* * * * *


Other


Website of the Arnold Bennett Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Arnold 1867 births 1931 deaths 19th-century English short story writers 19th-century English novelists 20th-century English short story writers 20th-century English diarists 20th-century English dramatists and playwrights 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English screenwriters Alumni of the University of London British propagandists Burials in Staffordshire Deaths from typhoid fever in the United Kingdom English crime fiction writers English expatriates in France English male dramatists and playwrights English male novelists English opera librettists English self-help writers Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn Infectious disease deaths in England James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients People from Hanley, Staffordshire Victorian novelists Writers from Staffordshire English male short story writers