Ronald Firbank

Gregory Mackie (University of British Columbia)

Ed. by Gillian Fenwick, University of Toronto
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Birmingham Newman University), Nicole Kennedy (University of Newcastle), Louise McDonald (Birmingham Newman University), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow), Sean Seeger (University of Essex)

Dates

Born 17 Jan 1886
Died 21 May 1926
Activity 1905-1926

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Cultural Identities

LGBTIQ+

Activities

Primary

Novelist

Resources

Although the writings of Ronald Firbank (1886-1926) are classics of high camp, they also represent an important contribution to the style and technique of literary modernism, and are the expression of a unique and highly idiosyncratic creative voice. Because of his self-consciously whimsical humour and ostensible frivolity, Firbank has received less attention from scholars of modernism than contemporaries such as Woolf, Joyce, or Forster (who, although appreciative, considered Firbank a literary “glow-worm”); Evelyn Waugh and the Sitwells, however, admired him. Firbank’s ambiguous status as a cult writer appealing to a limited audience dates from the 1920s, and he has generally been considered among the “minor” writers of the early twentieth century. More recently, however, critical reappraisals of Firbank, particularly from the perspective of queer studies, have led to a renewal of interest in this witty...

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2092 words

Citation: Mackie, Gregory. "Ronald Firbank". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 September 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1535, accessed 11 December 2025.]