Arnold Bennett
Born 27 May 1867 · Died 27 March 1931
From Burslem, England, United Kingdom · Nationality: United Kingdom · Writes fiction and nonfiction
Enoch Arnold Bennett was an English novelist, playwright, and journalist, whose novels and plays generally reflected middle-class life in north Staffordshire. He was born in Hanley, Staffordshire (which is now Stoke-on-Trent), the son of a solicitor. He was educated in Newcastle-under-Lyme. After school, he worked for his father, and in his spare time he was a journalist. At age twenty-one, he moved to London to work as a solicitor's clerk. In 1889 he won a writing competition in Tit-Bits magazine and decided to become a full-time journalist. In 1894, he became assistant editor of the periodical Woman, for which he also began writing serial fiction. His first novel, A Man from the North, was published in 1898, the same year he became the editor of Woman. In 1900 he left the magazine and moved to Hockliffe, Bedfordshire, to become a full-time writer. In 1903 he moved to join the artist community in Paris, where he wrote several novels and plays. In 1908 he published The Old Wives' Tale, which was a best-seller. He visited to America in 1911 on a much-publicized trip. His excellent detective fiction includes The Loot of Cities (1905), six stories about Cecil Thorold, a rogue-detective millionaire "in search of joy' and not above blackmail and theft to corral his criminals. [Leslie S. Klinger, In the Shadow of Sherlock Holmes (2011)] During World War I he was Director of Propaganda for France at the Ministry of Information. He refused a knighthood in 1918.
Quotes
“A cause may be inconvenient, but it's magnificent. It's like champagne or high heels, and one must be prepared to suffer for it.”
The Title, Act I “A prig is a pompous fool who has gone out for a ceremonial walk, and without knowing it has lost an important part of his attire, namely, his sense of humour.”
How to Live on Twenty-Four Hours a Day, Chapter 12 “Being a husband is a whole-time job. That is why so many husbands fail. They can't give their entire attention to it.”
The Title, Act I “Does there, I wonder, exist a being who has read all, or approximately all, that the person of average culture is supposed to have read, and that not to have read is a social sin? If such a being does exist, surely he is an old, a very old man.”
The Journals of Arnold Bennett, ed. Newman Flower pub. Cassell, 1932 “Yes books are valuable. But not reading of books will take the place of a daily, candid, honest examination of what one has recently done, and what one is about to do - of a steady looking at one's self in the face (disconcerting though the sight may be).”
How to Live on Twenty-Four Hours a Day, Chapter 8
Quotes from Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Books by Arnold Bennett in order
Books by Arnold Bennett in the order they were published, from Mental Efficiency (1887) to Simple Success (2023).
- 1Mental Efficiency
Mental Efficiency1887 - 2A Man from the North
A Man from the North1898 - 3Literary Taste
Literary Taste1900 - 4The Price of Love
The Price of Love1900 - 5Anna of the Five Towns
Anna of the Five Towns1902 - 6The Grand Babylon Hotel
The Grand Babylon Hotel1902 - 7Tales of the Five Towns
Tales of the Five Towns1905 - 8The Loot of Cities
The Loot of Cities1905 - 9Things That Have Interested Me
Things That Have Interested Me1906 - 10The Ghost, a Modern Fantasy
The Ghost, a Modern Fantasy1907 - 11How to Live on 24 Hours a Day
How to Live on 24 Hours a Day1908 - 12The Human Machine
The Human Machine1908 - 13The Old Wives Tale
The Old Wives Tale1908 - 14Glimpse
Glimpse1909 - 15Clayhanger
Clayhanger1910 - 16Denry the Audacious
Denry the Audacious1910 - 17These Twain
These Twain1916 - 18Self and Self-management
Self and Self-management1918 - 19Judith
Judith1919 - 20The Love Match
The Love Match1922 - 21Riceyman Steps
Riceyman Steps1923 - 22The Journal of Arnold Bennett
The Journal of Arnold Bennett1932 - 23The Oxford Bookworms Library: Stage 2
The Oxford Bookworms Library: Stage 21996 - 24Simple Success
Simple Success2023