Edward Richard Buxton Shanks (11 June 1892 – 4 May 1953) was an English writer, known as a war poet of

World War I 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 ...

, then as an academic and journalist, and literary critic and biographer. He also wrote some science fiction. E. F. Bleiler and Richard Bleiler. ''Science-Fiction: The Early Years''. Kent State University Press, 1990. (p.668). . He was born in London, and educated at Merchant Taylors' School and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

. He passed his B.A. in history in 1913. He was editor of ''

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story's supreme ability to describe, illuminate and make ...

'' from 1912 to 1913. He served in World War I with the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

in France, but was invalided out in 1915, and did administrative work until war's end. He was later a literary reviewer, working for the '' London Mercury'' (1919–22) and for a short while a lecturer at the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

(1926). He was the chief leader-writer for the ''

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 ...

'' from 1928 to 1935. ''The People of the Ruins'' (1920) was a science-fiction novel in which a man wakes after being put into suspended animation in 1924, to discover a devastated Britain 150 years in the future. ''The People of the Ruins'' has an

anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

subtext (the future 1924 is devastated by

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

revolutionaries). John Lucas, ''The Radical Twenties''. Rutgers University Press 1999. (p. 154-55).

Awards and honors

He was the first recipient of the Hawthornden Prize in 1919.

Works

*''Songs'' (1915) poems *''Hilaire Belloc, the man and his work'' (1916) with C. Creighton Mandell *''Poems'' (1916) *''The Queen of China and Other Poems'' (1919) poems *''The Old Indispensables'' (1919) novel *''The People of the Ruins'' (1920) nove
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at Project Gutenberg Australia *''The Island of Youth and Other Poems'' (1921) poems *''The Richest Man'' (1923) novel *''First Essays on Literature'' (1923) criticism *'' Fête Galante'' (1923) opera libretto *''Bernard Shaw'' (1924) criticism *''The Shadowgraph and Other Poems'' (1925) *''Collected Poems (1900–1925)'' (1926) *''The Beggar's Ride'' (1926) drama *''Second Essays on Literature'' (1927) criticism (W. Collins Sons & Co. Ltd., London) *''Queer Street'' (1933) *''The Enchanted Village'' (1933) (A sequel "Queer Street", however, this one more uncommon) *''Poems 1912–1932'' (1933) *''Tom Tiddler's Ground'' (1934) *''Old King Cole'' (1936) novel *''Edgar Allan Poe'' (1937) *''My England'' (1939) *''Rudyard Kipling – A Study in Literature and Political Ideas'' (1940) *''Poems 1939–1952'' (1953)

Notes

External links

Science fiction writers from England * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shanks, Edward 1892 births 1953 deaths English science fiction writers English male journalists People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood Artists' Rifles soldiers English male poets English male novelists 20th-century English poets 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English male writers

Awards and honors

Works

Notes

Further reading

External links