Modern Writers in English. Notable British writers

Nick Hornby is known not only as the author of such popular novels as "Hi-Fi", "My Boy", but also as a screenwriter. The writer's cinematic style makes him very popular in adapting books by various authors for film adaptation: "Brooklyn", "Education of the Senses", "Wild".

In the past, an ardent football fan, he even splashed out his obsession in the autobiographical novel Football Fever.

Culture is often a key theme in Hornby's books, in particular, the writer does not like it when pop culture is underestimated, considering it as narrow-minded. Also, the key themes of the works are often the relationship of the hero with himself and others, overcoming and searching for himself.

Nick Hornby now lives in Highbury, North London, within easy reach of the stadium of his favorite football team, Arsenal.

Doris Lessing (1919 - 2013)

After the second divorce in 1949, she moved with her son to London, where at first she rented an apartment for a couple with a woman of easy virtue.

The topics that worried Lessing, as often happens, changed during her life, and if in 1949-1956 she was primarily occupied with social issues and communist themes, then from 1956 to 1969 the works began to be of a psychological nature. In later works, the author was close to the postulates of the esoteric trend in Islam - Sufism. In particular, this was expressed in many of her science fiction works from the Canopus series.

In 2007, the writer was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The world-wide success and love of millions of women brought the writer the novel "Bridget Jones's Diary", born from a column that Helen led in the Independent newspaper.

The plot of the "Diary" repeats in detail the plot of Jane Austen's novel "Pride and Prejudice", up to the name of the main male character - Mark Darcy.

They say that the writer was inspired by the 1995 series and especially by Colin Firth, as he migrated to the film adaptation of The Diary without any changes.

In the UK, Stephen is known as an esthete and a great original, driving around in his own cab. Stephen Fry incomparably combines two abilities: to be the standard of British style and to regularly shock the public. His bold statements about God put many into a stupor, which, however, does not affect his popularity in any way. He is openly gay - last year, 57-year-old Fry married a 27-year-old comedian.

Fry does not hide the fact that he used drugs and suffers from bipolar disorder, about which he even made a documentary.

It is not easy to define all areas of Fry's activity, he himself jokingly calls himself "a British actor, writer, king of dance, prince of swimming trunks and blogger." All of his books invariably become bestsellers, and interviews are sorted into quotes.

Stephen is considered a rare owner of a unique classic English accent, an entire book has been written about the art of "talking like Stephen Fry".

Julian Barnes has been called the "chameleon" of British literature. He perfectly knows how, without losing his individuality, to create works that are different from each other: eleven novels, four of which are detective stories written under the pseudonym Dan Kavanagh, a collection of short stories, a collection of essays, a collection of articles and reviews.

The writer has been repeatedly accused of Francophonie, especially after the publication of the book "Flaubert's Parrot", a kind of mixture of a biography of the writer and a scientific treatise on the role of the author in general. The writer's craving for everything French is partly due to the fact that he grew up in the family of a French teacher.

His novel A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters became a real event in literature. Written in the genre of dystopia, the novel seeks answers to a number of philosophical questions about the essence of man, his past, present and future.

A favorite of children and adults around the world, the restless Paddington bear was "born" in 1958, when Michael Bond realized at the last moment before Christmas that he forgot to buy a gift for his wife. Out of hopelessness, the author, who had already written many plays and stories by that time, bought his wife a toy bear in a blue cloak.

In 2014, based on his books, a film was made, where London became one of the characters in the story. He appears before us as if through the eyes of a small guest from dense Peru: at first rainy and inhospitable, and then sunny and beautiful. You can recognize Notting Hill, Portobello Road, the streets near Maida Vale Station, Paddington Station and the Natural History Museum in the painting.

It is interesting that now the writer lives in London just not far from Paddington station.

Rowling went from social welfare to the author of the best-selling series of books in history in just five years, which became the basis for films, which, in turn, are recognized as the second highest-grossing franchise.

According to Rowling herself, the idea for the book came to her while traveling by train from Manchester to London in 1990. .

Neil Gaiman has been called one of today's premier storytellers. Hollywood producers are lining up for the film rights to his books.

He also wrote scripts himself more than once. His famous novel Neverwhere was born from just such a script for a mini-series filmed on the BBC in 1996. Although, of course, the opposite is more often the case.

Scary Tales of the Nile are also loved because they blur the lines between intellectual and entertainment literature.

The writer is a laureate of prestigious awards, many of Ian's works have been filmed.

The first works of the writer were distinguished by cruelty and great attention to the theme of violence, for which the author was awarded the nickname Ian Creepy (Ian Macabre). He has also been called the black wizard of modern British prose and a world-class expert on all forms of violence.

In further work, all these themes remained, but seemed to fade into the background, passing like a red thread through the fate of the characters, while not lingering in the frame themselves.

The writer's childhood passed on the run: he was born in Czechoslovakia into an intelligent Jewish family. Because of her nationality, his mother moved to Singapore and then to India. Almost all of the writer's relatives died during the Second World War, and his mother, having married a British military man for the second time, raised her children as real Englishmen.

Stoppard's fame came with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, a reimagining of Shakespeare's Hamlet, which turned into a comedy under Tom's pen.

The playwright has a lot to do with Russia. He was here in 1977, working on a report on dissidents who were kept in psychiatric hospitals. "It was cold. Moscow seemed gloomy to me, ”the author shares his memories.

The writer also visited Moscow during the staging of a performance based on his play at the RAMT Theater in 2007. The theme of the 8-hour performance is the development of Russian political thought of the 19th century with its main characters: Herzen, Chaadaev, Turgenev, Belinsky, Bakunin.

Henry Rider Haggard (1856-1925).

Sir Henry Rider Haggard was born June 22, 1856 in Bradenham (Norfolk) in the family of Squire William Haggard, he was the eighth of his ten children. At nineteen, Henry Rider Haggard fell deeply and, as it turned out, for life, in love with the daughter of a squire who lived next door, Lily Jackson. But the father considered it premature that his son intended to marry and considered it best to send him to South Africa as secretary to Henry Bulwer, the English governor of the province of Natal. Thus was his only true love destroyed, as Haggard later wrote. Having abruptly broken the personal fate of a young man, a trip to South Africa determined his further creative destiny: it was Africa that became for Haggard an inexhaustible source of themes, plots, human types in his numerous books, and the longing for lost love itself became one of the defining themes of the writer's works, embodied in unusual images.

Africa gave Haggard a delightful sense of personal freedom: by occupation and love of travel, he traveled a lot in Natal and the Transvaal, conquered by the boundless expanses of the African veld, the beauty of impregnable mountain peaks - Haggard poetically and romantically recreated these peculiar landscapes in many of his novels. He was fond of activities characteristic of an English gentleman in Africa - hunting, riding, etc. However, unlike many compatriots, he was also interested in the customs of the local residents, the Zulus, their history, culture, legends - Haggard got to know all this firsthand, having soon learned the Zulu language. He adopted the traditional “Englishman in Africa” dislike for the Boers and a patronizing, benevolent, paternalistic attitude towards the Zulus, for whom, Haggard believed, like the vast majority of his compatriots, the rule of the British was a boon (however, as can be judged from some of his statements, he was aware of the devastating effect of the English invasion on traditional Zulu customs). This position of "enlightened imperialism" Haggard retained until the end of his life.

In 1878, Haggard became the Governor and Registrar of the Supreme Court in the Transvaal, resigned in 1879, went to England, married, and returned to Natal with his wife at the end of 1880, determined to become a farmer. However, in South Africa, Hagard did not farm for long: already in September 1881, he finally settled in England. In 1884, Haggard passed the relevant examination and became a practicing lawyer. However, Haggard's law practice did not attract him - he wanted to write.

Haggard, with considerable success, tried his hand at composing historical, psychological and fantastic works. Everything he created is marked by a rich imagination, extraordinary credibility and scale of the story. Haggard is world famous for his novels of adventure in South Africa, in which the fantastic element plays a significant role; the constant fascination of the author with lost worlds, the ruins of ancient mysterious civilizations, archaic cults of immortality and the reincarnation of souls made him, in the eyes of many critics, one of the unconditional forerunners of modern fantasy. The popular hero of Haggard, the white hunter and adventurer Allan Quatermain, is a central character in many books.

For his contemporaries, Haggard was not only a popular prose writer, a writer of fascinating historical adventure novels. He is also a publicist, a singer of rural England, a measured and meaningful farming way of life, so familiar to Haggard from his Norfolk estate Ditchingham. He was actively engaged in farming, sought to improve it, mourned, seeing its decline, the gradual replacement by industry.

In the last two decades of his life, Haggard was violently involved in the political life of the country. He ran for Parliament in the election of 1895 (but lost), was a member and consultant of an endless number of various government committees and commissions on colonial affairs, as well as agriculture. The merits of Haggard were appreciated by the authorities: as a reward for his work for the benefit of the British Empire, he was knighted (1912), and in 1919 he received the Order of the British Empire.

Beatrice Potter (1866-1943).

Who does not know today the fairy tale about the forest washerwoman Uhti-Tukhti, who helped all the little animals to keep their clothes clean? Its author, Beatrix Potter, is one of the most popular English writers. Her fairy tales, basically didactic, turned almost into adventure novels, so the action was “twisted”, funny episodes quickly succeeded each other

In the art of England there is a concept - "the book of one person." The tradition of creating author's books, illustrations for which were made by the authors themselves, was very strong in England. Since the time of the great William Blake, English poets have reserved the right to supply a book with their own drawings and engravings. The poet became an artist; and the artist is a writer.

Potter was both a writer and an artist. She was born on July 28, 1866 in Bolton Gardens to a wealthy family. Parents hired governesses and home teachers for Beatrice, she did not go to school and had no friends. And her loneliness was brightened up by pets, which were allowed to be kept in the classroom. For hours, Beatrice looked after them, talked, shared children's secrets, painted them. The Potter family spent summers either in Scotland, or in Wales, and in the famous Lake District, where it was possible to communicate with animals in the wild. The first childhood impressions of young Beatrice were poetic. Potter biographers rightly believe that these cats and rabbits are the prototypes of characters in future children's books.

Arranging games for kids in the meadow near her house, staging her own fairy tales, Potter showed outstanding pedagogical (and acting!) abilities. She had a rare teaching gift. The forest lawn and in her books became for children a corner of the fairy-tale world, inhabited by funny hares, kind hedgehogs, and cheerful frogs. They were dressed in charming costumes, they had quite human headdresses, canes and even muffs. Comic comparisons of human manners and the habits of animals have always brought joy to readers.

Beatrice carried her first "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" with her own drawings to publishers for a long time, meeting rejection everywhere, and finally published it in 1901 at her own expense. The book had an unexpected success, was republished, and until 1910 the young artist-writer regularly composed, illustrated and published an average of two books a year, which immediately became the "bestsellers" of the time. Everyone liked her funny little animals - bunnies, mice, hedgehogs, goslings and other small creatures that funny copied people, but retained their bestial habits.

In 1903-1904, Potter's books "The Tailor of Gloucester", "Bunny Rabbit", "The Tale of Two Bad Mice" appeared, which secured the author's reputation as an artist with her own unique style. The father of the future artist was engaged in photography, and young Beatrice was also fond of photographing plants. During one of these walks, the idea of ​​the first fairy tale was born. Hence, probably, photographic, almost "documentary" accuracy in the depiction of nature. From photographic art, the artist takes both a subtle gradation of tones and soft light and shade transitions.

The irresistible charm of the Potter characters lies in the humanization of animals. Duck Jemima in a headscarf, Uhti-Tukhti in an apron, rabbits in children's costumes - all these are examples of comical combinations of nature and civilization.

The special charm of Potter's heroes, their touching weakness, defenselessness before the forces of nature captivates readers.

Drawings of Beatrix Potter live not only on book pages. Potter-style children's tableware has gained wide popularity. Let's add here decorative applique and embroidery on children's aprons. With full confidence, we can talk about the existence of a special Potter world.

In 1905, after the death of her husband, the publisher of her books, Beatrice buys Hill Top Farm in the Lake District and tries to live there as long as possible. Her drawings depict the landscapes surrounding the farm.

In 1913, Beatrice marries again and completely devotes herself to agricultural concerns: a farm, sheep breeding, so there is no time left for creativity. But she has an important life goal: to preserve the beautiful Lake District in its original form. For the sake of this, Potter, sparing no expense, bought up plots around the farm, mountain and lake places. Dying in 1943, Beatrice bequeathed 4,000 acres of land and 15 farms to the state with the condition that they be turned into a nature reserve. It still exists today.

Alan Milne (1882-1956).

Alan Alexander Milne - prose writer, poet and playwright, classic of literature of the twentieth century, author of the famous "Winnie the Pooh" was born on January 18, 1882.

The English writer, of Scots origin, Alan Alexander Milne spent his childhood in London. He studied at a small private school owned by his father, John Milne. One of his teachers in 1889-1890 was HG Wells. Then he entered the Westminster School, and then to Trinity College, Cambridge, where from 1900 to 1903 he studied mathematics. As a student, he wrote notes for the student newspaper Grant. He usually wrote with his brother Kenneth, and they signed notes with the name AKM. Milne's work was noticed, and the British humor magazine Punch began to collaborate with him, later Milne became an assistant editor there.

In 1913, Milne married Dorothy Daphne de Selincourt, goddaughter of magazine editor Owen Seaman (claimed to be the psychological prototype of Eeyore), and in 1920 his only son, Christopher Robin, was born. By that time, Milne had managed to visit the war, write several funny plays, one of which - "Mr. Pym passed" (1920) was a success.

When his son was three years old, Milne began to write poems about him and for him, devoid of sentimentality and accurately reproducing children's egocentrism, fantasies and stubbornness. The enormous success of the book of poems illustrated by Ernest Shepard led Milne to write the fairy tales The Rabbit Prince (1924), The Princess Who Couldn't Laugh and The Green Door (both 1925), and in 1926 Winnie the Pooh was written. All the characters in the book (Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, Kang and Roo) except for Rabbit and Owl were found in the nursery (now the toys that served as prototypes are kept in the Museum of Toy Bears in the UK), and the topography of the Forest resembles the neighborhood of Cotchford, where the family Milna spent the weekend.

In 1926, the first version of Bear with sawdust in his head appeared (in English - Bear-with-very-small-brains) - "Winnie the Pooh". The second part of the stories, "Now there are six of us", appeared in 1927, and the final part of the book "The House at the Pooh Corner" - in 1928. Milne never read his own stories about Winnie the Pooh to his son, Christopher Robin, preferring to educate him on the works of the writer Wodehouse, beloved by Alan himself, and Christopher first read poems and stories about the Pooh bear only 60 years after their first appearance.

Before the publication of books about Winnie the Pooh, Milne was already a fairly well-known playwright, but the success of Winnie the Pooh acquired such proportions that Milne's other works are now practically unknown. Worldwide sales of Pooh Bear books translated into 25 languages ​​from 1924 to 1956 exceeded 7 million, and by 1996 had sold about 20 million copies, and only by Muffin (this figure does not include publishers in the US, Canada and non-English speaking countries). A survey conducted in 1996 by English radio showed that the book about Winnie the Pooh was ranked 17th in the list of the most striking and significant works published in the twentieth century. That same year, Milne's favorite teddy bear was sold in London at the Bonham House auction to an unknown buyer for £4,600. In 1952, Milne fell seriously ill, and spent the next four years, until his death, on his estate in Cotchford, Sussex.

In 1966, Walt Disney released the first animated film based on Milne's Winnie the Pooh.

In 1969-1972 in the USSR at the film studio "Soyuzmultfilm" three cartoons directed by Fyodor Khitruk "Winnie the Pooh", "Winnie the Pooh Comes to Visit" and "Winnie the Pooh and the Day of Worries" were released, which won the love of the children's audience of the Soviet Union. These cartoons and modern children watch with pleasure.

John Tolkien (1892-1973).

The future writer was born on January 3, 1892 in the city of Blumfotein (South Africa). The son of an English merchant settled in South Africa, Tolkien returned to England already at a conscious age, after the death of his father. Soon he lost his mother. Before her death, she converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism, so a Catholic priest became John's tutor and guardian. Religion had a significant impact on the writer's work.

In 1916, after graduating from Oxford University, Tolkien married Edith Brett, whom he loved from the age of 14 and with whom he did not part until her death in 1972. Edith became the prototype of one of Tolkien's favorite images - the elven beauty Luthien.

Since 1914, the writer has been busy implementing an ambitious plan - the creation of a "mythology for England", which would combine his favorite ancient tales of heroes and elves and Christian values. The result of these works was the "Book of Forgotten Tales" and the mythological code "Silmarillion" that grew out of it by the end of the writer's life.

In 1937, the magical story "The Hobbit, or There and Back Again" saw the light of day. In it, for the first time in a fictional world (Middle-earth), funny creatures appear, reminiscent of the inhabitants of rural "good old England".

The hero of the fairy tale, the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, becomes a kind of intermediary between the reader and the gloomy majestic world of ancient legends. Persistent requests from publishers prompted Tolkien to continue the story. This is how the fabulously epic trilogy The Lord of the Rings appeared (the novels The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, both 1954, and The Return of the King, 1955, revised edition 1966). In fact, it was a continuation not only and not so much of The Hobbit, but also of The Silmarillion, which was not published during the life of the writer, as well as the unfinished novel about Atlantis, The Lost Road.

The main idea of ​​The Lord of the Rings is the need for a consistent and unceasing fight against evil. It cannot be overcome without following Christian moral values. At the same time, only a “chance” will help to win the victory itself - the Providence of God. However, the writer does not impose his religious beliefs on the reader. The action in the novels takes place in a mythical pre-Christian world, and God is not mentioned even once in the entire trilogy (unlike The Silmarillion).

Tolkien devoted the remaining years of his life to finalizing The Silmarillion, which, however, never saw the light of day during the author's lifetime (1974). Having embodied ancient legends by means of modern literature, Tolkien became one of the creators of a new literary genre - fantasy.

Clive Lewis (1898-1963).

Some only found out who Clive Lewis was when Narnia hit the screens. And for some, Clive Staples has been an idol since childhood, when they read the Chronicles of Narnia or the stories of Balamut. In any case, the writer Staples Lewis opened a magical land for many. And, going along with his books to Narnia, almost no one thought about the fact that Clive Staples Lewis, in fact, wrote about God and religion. Clive Staples Lewis really has a religious theme in almost all his works, but it is unobtrusive and dressed in a wonderful fairy tale, on which more than one generation of children has grown up.

Clive Staples was born November 29, 1898 in Ireland. When he was little, his life could indeed be called happy and carefree. He had a great brother and mother. Mother taught little Clive different languages, not even forgetting about Latin, and, moreover, raised him so that he would grow up as a real person, with normal views and understanding of life. But then grief happened and my mother died when Lewis was not even ten years old. For the boy, this was a terrible blow.

After that, his father, who never had a tender and cheerful character, sent the boy to a closed school. This was another blow for him. He hated school and education until he got to Professor Kirkpatrick. It is worth noting that this professor was an atheist, while Lewis has always been distinguished by religiosity. And yet, Clive simply adored his teacher. He treated him like an idol, a standard. The professor also loved his student and tried to pass on all his knowledge to him. In addition, the professor was really a very smart person. He taught the guy dialectics and other sciences, transferring to him all his knowledge and skills.

In 1917, Lewis was able to enter Oxford, but then he went to the front and fought on French territory. During the hostilities, the writer was wounded and ended up in the hospital. There he discovered Chesterton, whom he began to admire, but, at that time, he could not understand and love his views and concepts. After the war and the hospital, Lewis returned to Oxford, where he remained until 1954. Clive was very fond of the students. The fact is that he lectured on English literature so interestingly that many came to him again and again, in order to attend his classes again and again. At the same time, Clive wrote various articles, and then took up books. The first major work was a book published in 1936. It was called "Allegory of Love".

What can be said about Lewis as a believer. In fact, the history of his faith is not so simple. Perhaps that is why he never tried to impose his faith on anyone.

Rather, he wanted to present it in such a way that whoever wanted to see it could see it. As a child, Clive was a kind, gentle and believing person, but after the death of his mother, his faith was shaken. Then he met a professor who, being an atheist, was a much smarter and kinder person than many believers. And then came the university years. And, as Lewis himself said, unbelieving people, the same atheists like him, made him believe again. At Oxford, Clive made friends who were as smart, well-read and interesting as he was. In addition, these guys reminded him of the concepts of conscience and humanity, because, having come to Oxford, the writer had almost forgotten about these concepts, remembering only that one should not be too cruel and steal. But new friends were able to change his views, and he regained faith and remembered who he is and what he wants from life.

Clive Lewis wrote many interesting treatises, stories, sermons, fairy tales, novels. These are the Letters of the Balamut, and The Chronicles of Narnia, and the space trilogy, as well as the novel Until We Have Found Faces, which Clive wrote at a time when his beloved wife was very seriously ill. Lewis created his stories without trying to teach people how to believe in God. He was just trying to show where there is good and where there is evil, that everything is punishable, and even after a very long winter, summer comes, as it did in the second book of The Chronicles of Narnia.

Lewis wrote about God, about his associates, telling people about wonderful worlds. In fact, as a child, it is difficult to distinguish between symbolism and metaphor. But it is very interesting to read about the world that was created by the golden-maned lion Aslan, where you can fight and rule as a child, where animals talk, and various mythical creatures live in the forests. By the way, some church ministers treated Lewis extremely negatively. The point was that he mixed paganism and religion. In his books, naiads and dryads were, in fact, the same children of God as animals and birds. Therefore, the church considered his books unacceptable when viewed from the side of faith. But only some ministers of the church thought so. Many have a positive attitude towards Lewis's books and give them to their children, because, in fact, despite the mythology and religious symbols, in the first place, Lewis has always promoted goodness and justice. But his kindness is not perfect. He knows that there is evil that will always be evil. And, therefore, this evil must be destroyed. But this should not be done out of hatred and a sense of revenge, but only for the sake of justice.

Clive Staples lived a not very long, though not very short, life. He wrote many works of which he can be proud. In 1955 the writer moved to Cambridge. There he became head of the department. In 1962, Lewis was admitted to the British Academy. But then his health deteriorates sharply, he resigns. And on November 22, 1963, Clive Staples died.

Enid Blyton (1897-1968).

Enid Mary Blyton is a famous British writer, the creator of wonderful adventure works of children's and youth literature. She became one of the most successful teenage writers of the twentieth century.

Blyton was born on 11 August 1897 at 354 Lordship Lane, West Dulwich, London. She was the eldest daughter of Thomas Carey Blyton (1870-1920), a cutlery merchant, and his wife Theresa Mary, née Harrison (1874-1950). ). There were two younger sons, Hanley (b. 1899) and Carey (b. 1902), who were born after the family moved to the nearby suburb of Beckenham. From 1907 to 1915, Blyton studied at St. Christopher's School in Beckenham, where she excelled. Both academic work and physical activity were equally to her liking, although she did not like mathematics.

She was noted for several series of books intended for various age groups, with periodically recurring main characters. These books were a huge success in many parts of the world, with over 400 million copies sold. According to one assessment, Blyton is the fifth most popular author worldwide: according to the Translatability Index; By 2007, more than 3,400 translations of her books had been made by UNESCO; in this respect it is inferior to Lenin, but superior to Shakespeare.

One of the most famous characters of the writer is Noddy, who appears in stories for young children who are just learning to read. However, its main strength was novels, in which children got into exciting adventures and unraveled intriguing mysteries with little or no help from adults. In this genre, the series are especially popular: The Magnificent Five (consists of 21 novels, 1942-1963; the main characters are four teenagers and a dog), Five Young Detectives and a Faithful Dog (or Five Finders and a Dog, according to other translations ; consists of 15 novels, 1943-1961, in which five children certainly bypass the local police in investigating complicated incidents), as well as The Secret Seven (15 novels, 1949-1963, seven children solve various mysteries).

Enid Blyton's books contain children's adventure stories as well as fantasy elements, sometimes with magic involved. Her books were and still are extremely popular in Great Britain and in many other countries of the world, including Russia. Her work has been translated into over 90 languages, including Chinese, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Japanese, Malay, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Slovenian, Serbian, Croatian, Spanish and Turkish.

Pamela Travers (1899-1996).

Travers Pamela Liliana - famous English writer, poetess and publicist, author of a series of children's books about Mary Poppins; Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

She was born on August 9, 1899 in Maryborough, Australia, Queensland. Parents were Travers bank manager Robert Goff and Margaret Agnes, before marriage - Morehead. Her father died when she was seven years old.

She began writing from childhood - she wrote stories and plays for school plays, and entertained her brothers and sisters with magical stories. Her poems were published when she was not even twenty years old - she wrote for the Australian magazine The Bulletin.

As a young woman, she traveled to Australia and New Zealand, then went to England in 1923. At first she tried herself on the stage (Pamela is a stage name), playing exclusively in Shakespeare's plays, but then her passion for literature won, and she devoted herself completely to literature, publishing her works under the pseudonym “P. L. Travers" (the first two initials were used to hide a woman's name - a common practice for English-speaking writers).

In 1925, in Ireland, Travers met the mystic poet George William Russell, who had a great influence on her both as a person and as a writer. He was then editor of the magazine and accepted several of her poems for publication. Through Russell, Travers met William Butler Yeats and other Irish poets, who instilled in her an interest in and knowledge of world mythology. Yeats was not only an outstanding poet, but also a noble occultist. This direction becomes decisive for Pamela Travers until the last days of her life.

In 1934, the publication of Mary Poppins was Travers' first literary success. The writer admitted that she did not remember how the idea of ​​​​this fairy tale arose. In response to persistent questions from journalists, she usually cited the words of Clive Lewis, who believed that there is “only one Creator” in the world, and the writer’s task is only to “collect already existing elements into a single whole”, and by remaking reality, they change themselves.

The Disney film Mary Poppins was released in 1964 (starring Mary Poppins was played by actress Julie Andrews). The film was nominated for an Oscar in 13 categories and won five awards. In the Soviet Union in 1983, the film "Mary Poppins, goodbye!" Was released.

In her life, the writer was distinguished by the fact that she tried not to advertise the facts of her personal life, including her Australian origin. “If you are interested in the facts of my biography,” Travers once said, “the story of my life is contained in Mary Poppins and my other books.”

Although she has never been married, shortly before her 40th birthday, Travers adopted an Irish boy named Camillus, while separating him from his twin brother, since she refused to take two children (the boys were not reunited until a few years later).

In 1977, Travers was awarded the title of Officer of the Order of the British Empire. Her talent as a writer was recognized everywhere, and as another confirmation - a simple fact: in 1965-71 she lectured on writing in colleges in the UK and the USA. Her house was filled with books, books were everywhere, on countless shelves along the walls, on tables, on the floor. The author once joked: “If I were left without a roof over my head, I could build a house out of books.” In general, she was an active and active woman, traveled a lot, and even in extreme old age, from 1976 until her death in 1996, she worked as an editor of the mythological magazine Parabola. Her later writings include the travel essays and essay collections What the Bee Knows: Reflections on Myth, Symbol, and Plot.

Pamela Travers died in 1996, but the writer believed in the infinity of life: "Where the core is strong, there is neither beginning nor end, there is no word goodbye ...". It's probably right: storytellers don't die...

Mary Norton (1903-1992).

Mary Pearson was born on December 10 in London, and was the only girl among five children. Soon the family moved to Bedfordshire, to the same house that was described in The Getters. After graduating from high school and briefly working as a secretary, she became an actress.

After two years of theater life in 1927, Mary Pearson married Edward Norton and left with her husband for Portugal. She had two sons and two daughters there, and it was there that she began to write.

After the outbreak of war, Mary's husband entered the service in the Navy, and in 1943 she herself returned with her children to England. In 1943, her first children's book, The Magic Knob, or How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons, was published, followed by The Fire and the Broom. A few years later, both tales were reworked and combined into one, "The Head and the Broom", the film rights to which were sold to Disney Studios for a very small amount.

Norton's most famous fairy tale, The Getters, was published in 1952 and won the Carnegie Medal, the premier award for English children's writers. "Getters" were filmed many times.

Movies and TV shows based on Mary Norton's books are drawing new generations of readers to them.

Mary Norton died in Devon, England in 1992.

Donald Bisset (1910-1995)

Donald Bisset is an English children's writer, artist, film actor and theater director. Born August 30, 1910 in Brentford, Middlesex, England.

He studied at the school of clerks. During World War II he served as an artillery lieutenant.

Bisset began writing fairy tales for London television. Soon he began to read them in children's programs. And since he was a professional actor, he read his fairy tales just fine. He accompanied his reading with a display of amusing and expressive drawings. The broadcast lasted about eight minutes, and, accordingly, the volume of the tale did not exceed two or three pages.

In 1954, he published the first book of his short stories, published in the Read It Yourself series. The book was called "I'll Tell You When You Want". It was followed by "I'll tell you another time", "I'll tell you someday." This series was followed by collections united by the same heroes - "Yak", "Conversations with a Tiger", "The Adventures of Miranda the Duck", "Horse Named Smoky", "Uncle Tick-Tock's Journey", "Trip to the Jungle" . All books were illustrated with drawings by Bisset himself.

As an actor, Bisset played roles in 57 films and television series, which, unfortunately, remained unknown outside of England. Bisset played his first role in the film Carousel in 1949. He also distinguished himself as an inventive theater director. He himself staged his tales at the Royal Shakespeare Theater in Stratford-upon-Avon and even played a dozen small roles in them. The last time in the movie he played in 1991 in the English television series "Bill" the role of Mr. Grimm. On television, he staged and hosted the program for children "The Adventures of Yak" (1971-1975).

Bisset wrote about himself like this : “... Scot. I live in London… Gray hair, blue eyes, 5.9 feet tall. I have been working in the theater since 1933. He began telling fairy tales for children in 1953 on television. ... In philosophy, I am a materialist. By temperament, he is an optimist. My greatest desire is to publish one of my children's books with my own color illustrations... My favorite children's books are The Wind in the Willows, Winnie the Pooh, Alice in Wonderland. As well as folk tales about giants and witches. I don't really like the fairy tales of Hans Andersen and the Brothers Grimm.

When Donald Bisset was asked why he became a writer, he replied: “Because the grass is green and the trees are growing. Because I can hear the thunder and the rain. Because I love children and animals. I take my hat off to the ladybug. I love stroking cats and riding horses... And also writing fairy tales, playing in the theater, drawing... When you love both, then you are rich. Whoever loves nothing cannot be happy.”

He invented and settled in Africa a beast that is never bored: one half of it consists of the Charming Cat, and the other of the Resourceful Crocodile. The animal's name is Crococat. Donald Bisset's favorite friend is the tiger cub Rrrr, with whom Donald Bisset loves to travel along the river of time until the end of the Rainbow, and he knows how to move his brains so much that his thoughts rustle. The main enemies of Donald Bisset and Rrrr Tiger Cub are Vrednyugs with the names Don't, Nesmey and Be ashamed.

Bisset visited Moscow twice, spoke on television, and visited a kindergarten, where he even composed a fairy tale “I do what I want” with the children.

Despite the fact that Bisset has more than one and a half hundred fairy tales, in the English-speaking world he is practically forgotten. Bisset is still reprinted in Russia, and his fairy tales are widely known. In the eighties, a cycle of seven cartoons was filmed in the USSR under the general name "Tales of Donald Bisset" - "The Girl and the Dragon", "Forgotten Birthday", "Crococcote", "Raspberry Jam", "Snowfall from the Refrigerator", "Music Lesson "," Vrednyuga.

Gerald Durrell (1925-1995) - English naturalist, writer, founder of the Jersey Zoo and the Wildlife Conservation Trust, which now bear his name.

He was the fourth and youngest child of British civil engineer Lawrence Samuel Durrell and his wife Louise Florence Darrell (née Dixie). According to relatives, already at the age of two, Gerald fell ill with "zoomania", and his mother recalled that one of his first words was "zoo" (zoo).

In 1928, after the death of their father, the family moved to England, and seven years later, on the advice of Gerald's older brother Lawrence, to the Greek island of Corfu.

Gerald Durrell's early home teachers had few real educators. The only exception was the naturalist Theodore Stephanides (1896-1983). It was from him that Gerald received the first systematic knowledge of zoology. Stephanides appears on the pages of Gerald Durrell's most famous book, My Family and Other Beasts. The books "Birds, Beasts and Relatives" (1969) and "Amateur Naturalist" (1982) are dedicated to him.

In 1939 (after the outbreak of World War II), Gerald and his family returned to England and got a job in the London Aquarium store.

But the real start to Darrell's career as an explorer was at Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire. Here Gerald got a job immediately after the war as a "student-caretaker", or "boy on pets", as he called himself. It was here that he received his first professional training and began to collect a "dossier" containing information about rare and endangered species of animals (and this was 20 years before the appearance of the International Red Book).

After the end of the war, 20-year-old Darrell decides to return to his historical homeland - to Jamshedpur.

In 1947, Gerald Durrell, having reached the age of majority (21 years old), received part of his father's inheritance. With this money, he organized three expeditions - two to British Cameroon (1947-1949) and one to British Guiana (1950). These expeditions do not bring profit, and in the early 50s, Gerald finds himself without a livelihood and work.

Not a single zoo in Australia, the United States and Canada was able to offer him a position. At this time, Lawrence Durrell, Gerald's older brother, advises him to take up a pen, especially since "English people love books about animals."

Gerald's first story, "The Hunt for the Hairy Frog," was an unexpected success, and the author was even invited to personally read this work on the radio. His first book, The Overloaded Ark (1953), was about a trip to Cameroon and received rave reviews from readers and critics alike.

The author was noticed by major publishers, and the fee for The Overloaded Ark and the second book by Gerald Durrell - Three Tickets to Adventure (1954) - allowed him to organize an expedition to South America in 1954. However, a military coup took place in Paraguay at that time, and almost the entire collection of animals had to be left there. Durrell described his impressions of this trip in his next book, Under the Canopy of the Drunken Forest (1955). At the same time, at the invitation of his brother - Lawrence - Gerald was resting in Corfu.

Familiar places evoked a lot of childhood memories - this is how the famous "Greek" trilogy appeared: "My Family and Other Beasts" (1956), "Birds, Beasts and Relatives" (1969) and "Garden of the Gods" (1978). The first book in the trilogy was a wild success. Only in the UK, "My Family and Other Animals" was reprinted 30 times, in the US - 20 times.

In total, Gerald Durrell wrote about 40 books (almost all of them were translated into dozens of languages) and made 35 films. The debut four-episode television film "In Bafut with the Hounds", released in 1958, was very popular in England.

Thirty years later, Darrell managed to shoot in the Soviet Union, with active participation and assistance from the Soviet side. The result was the thirteen-episode film "Darrell in Russia" (also shown on the first channel of the USSR television in 1986-1988) and the book "Darrell in Russia" (not officially translated into Russian).

In the USSR, Darrell's books were printed repeatedly and in large print runs. These books are still being reprinted.

In 1959, Durrell created a zoo on the island of Jersey, and in 1963, the Jersey Wildlife Conservation Fund was organized on the basis of the zoo.

Darrell's main idea was to breed rare and endangered species of animals in a zoo in order to further resettle them in their natural habitats. This idea has now become an accepted scientific concept. If not for the Jersey Foundation, many species of animals would be preserved only as stuffed animals in museums. Thanks to the Foundation, the pink dove, Mauritius kestrel, monkeys: golden lion marmoset and marmoset, Australian corroboree frog, Madagascar radiant tortoise and many other species have been saved from extinction.

Alan Garner (born 1934) is a British fantasy writer whose work is based on Old English legends. Writers was born on October 17, 1934.

Alan Garner spent his early childhood in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, England. His ancestors lived there for over three hundred years. This influenced his work. Most of the works, including The Magic Stone of Breezingamen, are written based on the legends of those places.

The writer's childhood fell on the Second World War, during which the boy suffered three serious illnesses (diphtheria, meningitis, pneumonia), lying almost motionless on the bed and allowing his imagination to travel beyond the white ceiling and the window sealed in case of bombing. Alan was an only child, and although his entire family survived the war, the forced years of loneliness did not go unnoticed for the formation of the personality and worldview of the writer.

At the insistence of a village teacher, Garner was sent to the Manchester Grammar School, later, the library at this school was named after him. After graduating from college, Garner entered the University of Oxford, in the department of Celtic mythology. Without completing his studies, he joined the Royal Artillery, where he served for two years.

The most famous are his books The Magic Stone of Breezingamen (1960), as well as the sequel - The Moon on the Eve of Gomrat (1963), and the story Elidor (1965). After their publication, Garner was talked about as a "very special" children's writer in England. However, the definition of "children's" is not entirely correct. Garner himself claims that he does not write specifically for children; although the characters in his books are always children, he appeals to readers of all ages.

Now the writer lives in his native Alderley Edge in eastern Cheshire in an old house that has stood there since the 16th century. The almost realistic "Stone Book" (1976-1978), composed of "four short stories, four prose poems" about the generations of the Garner family, is devoted to the history of this region.

Jacqueline Wilson (born 1945).

Jacqueline Atkin was born on December 17, 1945, in the center of Somerset, the city of Bath. Her father was a civil servant and her mother an antique dealer. Much of Wilson's childhood was spent in the town of Kingston upon Thames, where she attended Lachmere Primary School. At the age of nine, the girl wrote her first story, 22 pages long. At school, she was remembered as a dreamy child who was at odds with the exact sciences, and was even given the nickname "Jackie Dream", which Jacqueline later used in her autobiography.

After leaving school at the age of 16, Wilson went to secretarial courses, but soon changed jobs, getting a job in the girls' magazine Jackie (Jackie). Because of this, she had to move to Scotland, but it was there that she met and fell in love with her future husband, William Millar Wilson. In 1965 they got married, and two years later they had a daughter, Emma, ​​who later also became a writer.

In 1991, a book was published that brought her fame - "Tracey Beaker's Diary", although since the 60s, Jacqueline has written about 40 books for children. The diary formed the basis of the popular British television series of the BBC channel - "The Tracey Beaker Story", which ran successfully from 2002 to 2006.

In 2011, the National Center for Children's Books "Seven Stories" ("Seven stories") in Newcastle opened an exhibition dedicated to the life and career of the English writer.

JK Rowling (b. 1965).

Joan Kathleen Rowling was born on July 31, 1965 in the English city of Bristol. A few years later, the family moved to Winterburn, where the Potters lived next to the Rowlings, with whose children Joan played in the yard.

When Rowling was 9 years old, the family moved to the small town of Tutshill near a large forest. Rowling's parents were Londoners and always dreamed of living in nature.

After a school where Joan's favorite subject was English and her least favorite was physical education, Rowling entered the University of Exeter and earned a degree in French.

After university, Rowling worked in the London office of Amnesty International as a secretary. She says the best thing about this job was that you could use your office computer to type in your stories when no one was watching. It was while working for Amnesty International, while traveling by train from Manchester to London in the summer of 1990, that Rowling came up with the idea for a book about a boy who is a wizard but doesn't know it. By the time the train arrived at Charing Cross Station in London, many chapters of the first book had already been written.

In 1992, Rowling went to Portugal to work as an English teacher. She returned back with her little daughter and a suitcase full of notes about Harry Potter. Rowling settled in Edinburgh and devoted herself entirely to writing the book. When the book was finished, Rowling, after several unsuccessful attempts to get publishers interested, assigned the task of selling the book to literary agent Christopher Little. She got a job teaching French.

In 1997, an agent told her that Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone had been published by Bloomsbury. The book was a success almost immediately. It sold superbly and won several literary prizes. The rights to publish it in America were already bought for $105,000, $101,000 more than the English ones.

It is from this moment that the rapid ascent of JK Rowling on the ladder of fame begins. Books and films about Harry Potter brought Joan a huge fortune, today it is estimated at one billion one hundred million dollars. The writer herself is a Chevalier of the Order of the Legion of Honor, as well as the owner of the Hugo Award and many other no less significant awards.

Now Rowling is actively involved in charitable work, supporting the Single Parents Foundation and the Multiple Sclerosis Research Foundation, from which her mother died.

The selection of the most famous works of English writers. These are British novels, detective stories and short stories popular with readers around the world. We did not stop at one genre or time. There are science fiction, fantasy, humorous stories, dystopias, children's adventures and other masterpieces from the Middle Ages to the present. The books are different, but they have something in common. All of them made a significant contribution to the development of world literature and art, reflected the national characteristics of the people of Great Britain.

famous english writers

The phrase "English literature" brings to mind a number of names. William Shakespeare, Somerset Maugham, John Galsworthy, Daniel Defoe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, Charles Dickens - the list is long. These writers are the luminaries of the English classics. They have gone down in history forever and more than one generation of book lovers will admire the subtlety and relevance of their work.

Let's not forget about Iris Murdoch, John Le Carr, JK Rowling, Ian McEwan, Joanne Harris, Julian Barnes and other talented contemporary English writers. Another striking example of a gifted author is Kazuo Ishiguro. In 2017, this famous Japanese-born British writer received the Nobel Prize in Literature. In the selection is his novel about touching love and a sense of duty, The Rest of the Day. Add and read. And then be sure to watch the wonderful film adaptation - with Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson in the lead roles - "At the end of the day" (dir. James Ivory, 1993).

Literary awards and film adaptations

Almost all books from this selection were awarded world literary prizes: Pulitzer, Booker, Nobel and others. Without the novels "1984" by George Orwell, "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde, the comedies and tragedies of Shakespeare, no book list from the "Books Everyone Should Read" or "The Best Books of All Time" series is complete.

These works are a storehouse of inspiration for directors, stage directors, screenwriters. It is hard to imagine that if Bernard Shaw had not written the play "Pygmalion", we would not have seen the stunning transformation of Audrey Hepburn from an illiterate flower girl into a sophisticated aristocrat. We are talking about the film "My Fair Lady" (dir. George Cukor, 1964).

From modern books and their successful film adaptations, pay attention to The Long Fall. Nick Hornby wrote an ironic novel about the relationship between good human interaction and the desire to live. The film of the same name with Pierce Brosnan and Toni Collette (dir. Pascal Chaumel, 2013) turned out to be sincere and life-affirming.

Geographic reference

Often there is geographic confusion in compiling such lists. Let's figure it out. England is an independent country that is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland along with three other countries: Scotland, Ireland and Wales. However, the term "English Literature" includes the masterpieces of native writers throughout the United Kingdom. Therefore, you will find here the works of the Irishman Oscar Wilde, the Welshman Ian Banks, the Scotsman Ken Follett.

The selection of English writers and their works turned out to be impressive - more than 70 books. This is a real book challenge! Add your favorite books and immerse yourself in a slightly prim, but such an elegant world!

If you are interested in the classics of world literature, famous English writers and their works, then after reading this article, you will definitely find new and interesting information for yourself.

Famous English writers and their works

(1564-1616) - English playwright, poet and actor. Considered the most famous playwright in the world, he is the author of about 17 comedies, 10 chronicles, 11 tragedies, 5 poems and a cycle of 154 sonnets.
The most famous works: "Romeo and Juliet" (1594-1595), "Hamlet" (1603), "Othello" (1604), etc.

(1865-1936) - English prose writer and poet. Known as the creator of children's fairy tales about Mowgli, an inquisitive baby elephant, a cat that likes to walk by itself, about the mongoose Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, etc. The youngest winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The most famous works:"The Jungle Book" (1893-1894), "Riki-Tiki-Tavi", "Hunting Kaa" (1894), etc.

(1854-1900) - an outstanding English-speaking poet, playwright, writer, essayist. One of the most famous playwrights of the late Victorian period. The most famous work is The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890).

(1788-1824) - English poet, was a symbol of romanticism and political liberalism in 19th century Europe. Introduced into literature the "Byronic" hero and the term "Byronism".
Creative heritage:"Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" (1812), "Don Juan" (1819-1824) and others.

Arthur Conan Doyle(1859-1930) - English writer, known for his works about Sherlock Holmes. The most famous are his detective stories about Sherlock Holmes, science fiction about Professor Challenger, as well as historical novels. In addition, he wrote plays and poetry.
creative heritage"White Squad" (1891), "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1900), etc.

Warm greetings to my readers!

Both small and big. Although today's lesson will be more about the first. We are waiting for English writers for children and their works. We will also touch on the "old men" from the 19th century. And consider the "youth" of the 20th century. And I will also give you a list where their famous books and famous ones are arranged in the order of my sincere love :).

Let `s start?

• Lewis Carroll

Many people know this writer for his restless heroine Alice and her endless travels either to Wonderland or through the Looking Glass. The writer's biography itself is no less interesting than his books. He grew up in a large family - with 3 brothers and 7 sisters. He loved to draw and dreamed of becoming an artist.

The story itself tells us about a girl who finds herself in a wonderful magical world. Where he meets many interesting characters: the Cheshire cat, the mad hatter, and the queen of cards.

• Roald Dahl

Roald was born in Wales to a Norwegian family. He spent most of his childhood in boarding houses. One of the latter was located next to the famous chocolate factory Cadbury. It is believed that it was then that the idea came to him to write his best children's story - "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".

This story is about a boy, Charlie, who gets one of the five tickets. This ticket will let him into the closed chocolate factory. Together with 4 other participants, he completes all tasks in the factory and remains the winner.

• Rudyard Kipling

This author is known to us for his story "The Jungle Book", which tells about a boy named Mowgli, who grew up among wild forests along with a variety of animals. Most likely, this story was inspired by his own childhood. The fact is that Rudyard was born and spent the first 5 years of his life in India.

• Joanne Rowling

The most famous "storyteller" of our time gave us that very one. Joan wrote this story for her children. And at that time their family lived very poorly.

And the books themselves give us the opportunity to plunge into the world of magic and magic. The boy Harry finds out that he is a wizard and goes to Hogwarts school. Amusing adventures await him there.

This is where you can buy books!

• Joan Aiken

This woman simply had to become a writer, because everyone in her family wrote: from father to sister. But Joan was engaged in children's literature. So her most famous work was the story "A piece of heaven in a pie." And it was her filmed by our domestic TV channels. True to the Russian people, this story is known under the name "Apple Pie".

• Robert Louis Stevenson

Not a man - a pirate! It makes you want to scream “Hey-gay!”, because this man invented the pirate Captain Flint in his story “Treasure Island”. Hundreds of boys did not sleep at night to follow the adventures of this hero.

The author himself was born in cold Scotland. Trained as an engineer and lawyer. At the same time, his first book came out when Robert was only 16 years old on the money borrowed from his father. But he came up with the story about the treasure island much later. And what is interesting - while playing with my son. Together they drew a treasure map and came up with stories.

• John Tolkien

The creator of modern from another world - "The Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings" - stories so fantastic and exciting that it takes your breath away.

The author of the books, John, worked as a teacher. As a child, he learned to read early, so he did it often. He admitted that he hated the story "Treasure Island" with a fierce hatred, but madly loved "Alice in Wonderland". The author himself wrote stories for which he was called the "father of fantasy".

• Pamela Travers

This woman's real name is Helen. She was born in far, far away Australia. But at the age of 8 she moved with her mother to Wales. As a child, Pamela was very fond of animals. She fiddled in the yard, and she represented herself as a bird. When she grew up, she traveled a lot, but still then returned to England.

Once she was asked to sit with two small and restless children. So, during the game, she began to invent a story about a nanny who carried things with her in a suitcase, and who had an umbrella with a handle in the shape of a parrot. Then the plot develops on paper and so the world got the famous nanny Mary Poppins. The first book was followed by others - continuations of the story about the nanny.

On this, I think, we will end. Read interesting books, learn the language and develop yourself. And do not miss the opportunity to receive new blog articles instantly in your mail - subscribe to the newsletter.

See you soon!

In the video below, there are some more great writers and their works that are worth reading!