Walter Lionel George (20 March 1882,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France – 30 January 1926) was an English writer, chiefly known for his popular fiction, which included

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...

, and

pro-labour The labour movement is the collective organisation of working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considere ...

themes.

Life

Although born of British parents, George grew up in

and did not learn English until the age of twenty. His paternal grandfather was

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

. In 1905 he moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, where he became a journalist. The success of his first novel, ''A Bed of Roses'' (1911), about a woman's descent into prostitution, allowed him to apply himself full-time to literary efforts. His subsequent books also generally sold well, often requiring more than one edition and appearing on both sides of the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

. In addition to novels and short stories, George also wrote literary essays and several political tracts on left-wing themes. He was married three times and widowed twice.

Reception and influence

In 1945

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...

included George in a list of "natural" novelists, not inhibited by "good taste", and particularly praised ''Caliban'' (a fictionalised account of the life of

Lord Northcliffe Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe (15 July 1865 – 14 August 1922), was a British newspaper and publishing magnate. As owner of the ''Daily Mail'' and the ''Daily Mirror'', he was an early developer of popular journal ...

) for its "memorable and truthful" picture of London life. According to

Alec Waugh Alexander Raban Waugh (8 July 1898 – 3 September 1981) was a British novelist, the elder brother of the better-known Evelyn Waugh, uncle of Auberon Waugh and son of Arthur Waugh, author, literary critic and publisher. His first wife was Ba ...

, he was commercially successful, helpful in practical terms to upcoming authors, but unpopular in the literary world for his subject matter, his hack journalism, and his left-wing views. Noting similarities between George's novel ''Children of the Morning'' (1926) and William Golding's celebrated ''

Lord of the Flies ''Lord of the Flies'' is the 1954 debut novel of British author William Golding. The plot concerns a group of prepubescent British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves that led to ...

'' (1954),

Auberon Waugh Auberon Alexander Waugh ( ; 17 November 1939 – 16 January 2001) was a British journalist and novelist, and eldest son of the novelist Evelyn Waugh. He was widely known by his nickname "Bron". After a traditional classical education at Downsid ...

suggested that George's work may have subliminally influenced Golding, although the latter denied having read it. In May 1922, George published in the

New York Herald The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the '' New-York Tribune'' to form the '' New York Herald Tribune''. Hi ...

an essay entitled '' What the World Will Be Like in a Hundred Years'', envisioning what the world would look like in 2022.

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

columnist John Kelly opined in 2022 that, although George had been unduly optimistic and gotten some details wrong, he "had gotten nearly all of it right", noting George's predictions of an eight-hour flight time between New York and London, decreased reliance on fossil fuels, the availability of legal birth control, motion pictures with sound and color, the displacement of freight railroads by an emerging trucking industry, and wireless telephones.

Cultural references

Saki Hector Hugh Munro (18 December 1870 – 14 November 1916), popularly known by his pen name Saki and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirise Edwardian society and ...

, in his short story "The Stalled Ox" (1913), slyly conveys the tastes of the character Adela Pingsford by placing a copy of George's novel ''Israel Kalisch'' (1913) in her morning room (where its cover is eaten by an intrusive Ayrshire ox).

Works

*''Engines of Social Progress'' (1907), tract *''France in the Twentieth Century'' (1908), tract *''Labour and Housing at Port Sunlight'' (1909), tract *''A Bed of Roses'' (1911), novel *''City of Light: A Novel of Modern Paris'' (1912), novel *''Woman and To-morrow'' (1913), tract *''Israel Kalisch'' (1913), novel, published in the United States as ''Until the Day Break'' *''The Making of an Englishman'' (1914), novel, reissued as ''The Little Beloved'' (1916) *''The Second Blooming'' (1914), novel *''Dramatic Actualities'' (1914), essays *''Olga Nazimov and Other Stories'' (1915), short stories *''Anatole France'' (1915), criticism *''The Intelligence of Woman'' (1916), tract *''The Strangers' Wedding, Or the Comedy of a Romantic'' (1916), novel *''A Novelist on Novels'' (1918), criticism, published in the United States as ''Literary Chapters'' *''Blind Alley'' (1919), novel *''Eddies of the Day'' (1919), tract *''Caliban'' (1920), novel *''The Confession of Ursula Trent'' (1921), novel, published in the United States as ''Ursula Trent'' *''A London Mosaic'' (1921) with illustrations Philippe Forbes-Robertson. *''Hail Columbia! Random Impressions of A Conservative English Radical'' (1921), travel writing *''The Stiff Lip'' (1922), novel, published in the United States as ''Her Unwelcome Husband'' (1922), reissued as ''One of the Guilty'' (1923) *''The Triumph of Gallio'' (1924), novel *''The Story of Woman'' (1925), tract *''Historic Lovers'' (1925, reissued 1994), popular history *''Children of the Morning'' (1926), novel *''Gifts of Sheba'' (1926), novel *''The Ordeal of Monica Mary'' (1927), novel *''The Selected Short Stories of W. L. George'' (1927), short stories In 1909 George along with a French collaborator

Raymond Lauzerte Raymond is a male given name of Germanic origin. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷ� ...

published a book on

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

which was reviewed in '' La Mercure de France''

ate unknown Ate or ATE may refer to: Organizations * Association of Technical Employees, a trade union, now called the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians * Swiss Association for Transport and Environment, a sustainable public transpo ...

The ''

Pall Mall Gazette ''The Pall Mall Gazette'' was an evening newspaper founded in London on 7 February 1865 by George Murray Smith; its first editor was Frederick Greenwood. In 1921, '' The Globe'' merged into ''The Pall Mall Gazette'', which itself was absorbed i ...

'' of 19 July 1909 printed a letter from George correcting various mistakes but the actual title of the book was not mentioned in the article. Previously George and Lauzerte had published an article on Shaw in Paris, "Les Idees et le theatre de G. Bernard Shaw." ''

Pages libres Page most commonly refers to: * Page (paper), one side of a leaf of paper, as in a book Page, PAGE, pages, or paging may also refer to: Roles * Page (assistance occupation), a professional occupation * Page (servant), traditionally a young ...

'' 363 (14 December 1907): 601-17.

Notes

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:George, W.L. 20th-century English novelists 1882 births 1926 deaths English male novelists 20th-century English male writers English people of Jewish descent Jewish English writers Writers from Paris