Angus Wilson, Hemlock and After

Marina MacKay (University of Durham)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of Glasgow), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1952

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Bernard Sands, “Grand Old Man of Letters”, is, at the start of the novel, enjoying his triumph over Civil Service bureaucracy: he has finally managed to establish a home for young writers at a nearby stately home, Vardon Hall. Although jubilant at this victory, all is not well at the Sands home: Ella, Bernard's wife, has long suffered from an isolating depression, daughter Elizabeth cynically uses her mindless job at a woman's magazine to conceal her sense of emptiness, Sands's son, James, is a right wing, social-climbing Tory candidate. Bernard himself is struggling to negotiate the demands of his lately discovered homosexuality. In addition to this shock, his agnostic, liberal-humanist, worldview has recently been undermined by a “growing apprehension of evil”.

Although Bernard

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500 words

Citation: MacKay, Marina. "Hemlock and After". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 January 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4799, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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