D. J. Enright
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Dennis Joseph Enright OBE
FRSL The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the ...
(11 March 1920 – 31 December 2002) was a British academic, poet, novelist and critic. He authored ''Academic Year'' (1955), ''Memoirs of a Mendicant Professor'' (1969) and a wide range of essays, reviews, anthologies, children's books and poems.


Life

Enright was born in
Royal Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply LeamingtonEven more colloquially, also referred to as Lem or Leam (). (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Pri ...
,
Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...
, to Irish postman father George Enright - a former soldier, "obliged in early life to enlist... as the result of the premature death of his father, a
Fenian The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood. They were secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries ...
" - and Welsh chapel-goer mother Grace (née Cleaver); he wrote about his "working-class, Black Country upbringing". Enright stated in his poem "Anglo-Irish" that his "father claimed to be descended from a king called Brian Boru, an ancient hero of Ireland..." but his "mother said that all Irishmen claimed descent from kings but the truth was they were Catholics." Enright's early life was characterised by poverty, the loss of his father, and relationship with his "overworked mother".D. J. Enright- Poet of Humanism, William Walsh, Cambridge University Press, 1974, p. 1 He was educated at Clapham Terrace Primary School,
Leamington College Leamington may refer to: Places * Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England * Leamington Hastings, Warwickshire, England * Leamington, Ontario, Canada * Leamington, Utah, US * Leamington, Cambridge, a suburb of Cambridge, New Zealand Other uses * ...
and
Downing College, Cambridge Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 950 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to the university between 1596 and 1869, and is often described as the oldest of ...
. After graduating he held a number of academic posts outside the United Kingdom: in
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
, Japan,
Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
and notably in
Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
(from 1960). He at times attributed his lack of success in finding a post closer to home to writing for '' Scrutiny'' and his short association with F. R. Leavis; whose influence he mainly and early, but not entirely, rejected. As a poet he was identified with the Movement. His 1955
anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...
, ''Poets of the 1950s'', served to delineate the group of British poets in question – albeit somewhat remotely and retrospectively, since he was abroad and it was not as prominent as the Robert Conquest collection '' New Lines'' of the following year. Returning to London in 1970, he edited '' Encounter'' magazine, with Melvin J. Lasky, for two years. He subsequently worked in publishing.


The "Enright Affair"

Enright gained some notoriety in Singapore after his inaugural lecture at the University of Singapore on 17 November 1960, titled "Robert Graves and the Decline of Modernism". His introductory remarks on the state of culture in Singapore were the subject of a ''
Straits Times ''The Straits Times'' (also known informally by its abbreviation ''ST'') is a Singaporean daily English-language newspaper owned by the SPH Media Trust. Established on 15 July 1845, it is the most-widely circulated newspaper in the country and ...
'' article. "'Hands Off' Challenge to 'Culture Vultures'", the next day. Among other things, he stated that it was important for
Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
and Malaya to remain "culturally open", that culture was something to be left for the people to build up, and that for the government to institute "a
sarong A sarong or a sarung (, ) is a large tube or length of textile, fabric, often wrapped around the waist, worn in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Western Asia, Northern Africa, East Africa, West Africa, and on many Pacific islands. The fabric often ...
culture, complete with
pantun ''Pantun'' ( Jawi: ) is a Malayic oral poetic form used to express intricate ideas and emotions. It generally consists of an even number of lines and is based on ABAB rhyming schemes. The shortest consists of two lines, known as the in Mal ...
competitions and so forth" was futile. Some quotes include:
Art does not begin in a test-tube, it does not take its origin in good sentiments and clean-shaven, upstanding young thoughts.
Leave the people free to make their own mistakes, to suffer and to discover. Authority must leave us to fight even that deadly battle over whether or not to enter a place of entertainment wherein lurks a juke-box, and whether or not to slip a coin into the machine.
The following day, Enright was summoned by the Ministry for Labour and Law regarding his foreigner work permit, and was handed a letter by the Minister for Culture,
S. Rajaratnam Sinnathamby Rajaratnam (; 25 February 1915 – 22 February 2006), better known as S. Rajaratnam, was a Singaporean statesman, journalist and diplomat who served as the first Minister for Foreign Affairs between 1965 and 1980, and 2nd De ...
, which had also been released to the press. The letter admonished Enright for "involv ng imselfin political affairs which are the concern of local people", not "visitors, including mendicant professors", and said that the government " asno time for asinine sneers by passing aliens about the futility of 'sarong culture complete with pantun competitions' particularly when it comes from beatnik professors". There was also some criticism that Enright had been insensitive towards Malays and their so-called "sarong culture". With some mediation from the Academic Staff Association of the university, it was agreed that to put the matter to rest, Enright would write a letter of apology and clarification, the government would reply, and both were to be printed in the newspapers. Although the affair was "essentially dead" after that, according to Enright, it would still be brought up periodically in discussions of local culture and academic freedom. Enright gave his account of the incident in ''Memoirs of a Mendicant Professor'' (pp. 124–151).


Timeline

* 11 March 1920: Born in Warwickshire * 1947–50: Lecturer in English, University of Alexandria * 1950–53: Organising Tutor, Extra-Mural Department,
Birmingham University The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...
* 1953–56: Visiting Professor, Konan University, Japan * 1956–67: Visiting Lecturer,
Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...
* 1967–69: British Council Professor,
Chulalongkorn University Chulalongkorn University (CU; ; , ) is a public university, public Autonomous university, autonomous research university in Bangkok, Thailand. The university was originally founded during King Chulalongkorn's reign as a school for training ro ...
* 1960–70: Professor of English, University of Singapore * 1970–72: Co-Editor, ''Encounter'' * 1974–82: Director, Chatto & Windus * 1975–80: Honorary Professor of English,
University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...
* 1981: Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry * 1991: OBE * 31 December 2002: Died in London


Bibliography


Poetry

Collections * ''The Laughing Hyena and other poems'' (1953) * ''Bread Rather than Blossoms'' (1956), poems * ''The Year of the Monkey'' (1956), poems * ''Some Men Are Brothers'' (1960), poems * ''Addictions'' (1962), poems * ''The Old Adam'' (1965) * ''Selected Poems'' (1968) * ''Unlawful Assembly'' (1968) * ''Daughters of Earth'' (1972), poems * ''Foreign Devils'' (1972), poems * ''The Terrible Shears – Scenes from a Twenties Childhood'' (1973) * ''Sad Ires'' (1975), poems * ''Paradise Illustrated'' (1978), poems (translated into Dutch by C. Buddingh' in 1982 as ''Het paradijs in beeld'' in a bilingual edition) * ''A Faust Book'' (1979), poems * ''Collected Poems'' (1981) * ''Collected Poems 1987'' * ''Selected Poems 1990'', Oxford * ''Under the Circumstances: Poems and Prose'' (1991) * ''Old Men and Comets'' (1993) poems * ''Collected Poems: 1948–1998'' (1998) Anthologies (edited) * ''Poets of the 1950s'' (1955) * ''The Poetry of Living Japan'' (1958), editor with Takamichi Ninomiya * ''A Choice of Milton's Verse'' (1975) editor * ''Penguin Modern Poets 26'' (1975) with Dannie Abse and
Michael Longley Michael George Longley (27 July 1939 – 22 January 2025) was a Northern Irish poet. In his later years Longley observed: "It's a mystery where poems come from. If I knew where poems came from I would go there ... When I write a poem I am movi ...
* '' The Oxford Book of Contemporary Verse 1945–1980'' (1980), editor List of poems * ''In the Basilica of the Annunciation (1971),'' broadsheet poem * ''The Rebel'' (1974), poem * ''Walking in the Harz Mountains, Faust Senses the Presence of God'' (1979), poem


Novels

* ''Academic Year'' (1955) * ''Heaven Knows Where'' (1957) * ''Insufficient Poppy'' (1960) * ''Figures of Speech'' (1965 ) * ''The Joke Shop'' (1976), novel * ''Wild Ghost Chase'' (1978), novel * ''Beyond Land's End'' (1979), novel


Literary criticism, memoirs and general anthologies

* ''A Commentary on Goethe's Faust'' (1949), translated into Polish by Bohdan Zadura:''Ksiega Fausta'', Wydawnictwo Lubelskie, Lublin 1984. * ''The World of Dew: Aspects of Living Japan'' (1955) * ''The Apothecary's Shop'' (1957) * ''Robert Graves and the Decline of Modernism'' (1960) * ''English Critical Texts 16th Century to 20th Century'' (1963), editor with Ernst de Chickera * ''Conspirators and Poets'' (1966) * ''Memoirs of a Mendicant Professor'' (1969) * ''Shakespeare and the Students'' (1970) * ''Man is an Onion: Reviews and Essays'' (1972) * ''Rhyme times rhyme'' (1974) * ''A Mania for Sentences: Essays on G. Grass, H. Boll, Frisch, Flaubert & Others'' (1983) * ''Fair of Speech: The Uses of Euphemism'' (1985), editor * ''Instant Chronicles: A Life'' (1985) * ''The Oxford Book of Death'' (1985), editor * ''The Alluring Problem – An Essay on Irony'' (1986) * ''Fields of Vision: Essays on Literature, Language, and Television'' (1988) * ''Ill at Ease: Writers on Ailments Real and Imagined'' (1989), editor * ''The Faber Book of Fevers and Frets'' (1989), editor * ''Oxford Book of Friendship'' (1991), editor with David Rawlinson * ''The Way of The Cat'' (1992) * ''The Oxford Book of the Supernatural'' (1994), editor * ''Interplay: A Kind of Commonplace Book'' (1995) * ''Telling Tales'' (1999) * ''Play Resumed: A Journal'' * ''Signs and Wonders: Selected Essays'' (2001) * ''Injury Time'' (2003)


Notes


References

* William Walsh (1974): ''D. J. Enright: Poet of Humanism'', Cambridge University Press, * Jacqueline Simms (editor; 1990). ''Life By Other Means. Essays on D. J. Enright'', Oxford University Press,


External links


"D.J. Enright"
Fellows Remembered, The Royal Society of Literature * (previous page of browse report mainly, as 'Enright, D. J. (Dennis Joseph), 1920–' without '2002')
"D.J. Enright"
The Rebel Analysis, (W3train – A Project of Hajvery Institute) {{DEFAULTSORT:Enright, Dennis Joseph 1920 births 2002 deaths 20th-century English novelists Academics of the University of Warwick English literary critics English male novelists English male poets Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Meanjin people Academic staff of the National University of Singapore Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Leamington Spa Translators of Marcel Proust