Jan Morris

Gillian Fenwick (University of Toronto)

Ed. by Gillian Fenwick, University of Toronto
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

Born 2 Oct 1926
Activity 1950-ongoing

Places

Born in England
Active in England; Wales

Activities

Primary

Editor
Essayist
Reviewer
Travel writer

Resources

Morris' Works

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James Morris's professional writing life began, literally, on a high. Working for

The Times

in 1953, he achieved one of the great newspaper scoops of all time, reporting the news of the first successful ascent of Mount Everest on the morning of Elizabeth II's coronation. At the time of her death nearly fifty years later, Jan Morris was a hugely popular travel writer, successful around the world, a respected essayist and reviewer, author of nearly seventy books, and editor of and contributor to another ninety. Morris was widely recognised as an important and influential writer, yet even she said that on her death the headlines would read “Sex change author dies”. In her life as in her writing, she was, in her own words, passionate, infatuated, and obsessed, doing nothing by halves.…

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2688 words

Citation: Fenwick, Gillian. "Jan Morris". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 December 2007; last revised 05 July 2021. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11883, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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