Olivia Manning

Eve Patten (Trinity College Dublin)

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 Mar 1908
Died 23 Jul 1980
Activity 1929-1974

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Novelist

Resources

Manning's Works

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Olivia Manning is widely regarded as one of the leading illustrators, in fiction, of the experience of the Second World War in Europe and the Middle East. In her two major semi-autobiographical novel sequences, the

Balkan

and

Levant

trilogies, her portrait of a group of British expatriate teachers, writers and diplomats caught up in the disruptions of the conflict sets an intimate study of personal relationships in the context of international political and military intrigue across a five year period. Her fictionalized treatments of wartime Romania, Greece and Egypt convey as a backdrop the suffering caused by the collapse of old imperial Europe, the rampant spread of fascist ideology and the mass displacement of populations, while focusing in the foreground on the fragile marriage of the…

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2368 words

Citation: Patten, Eve. "Olivia Manning". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 November 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2923, accessed 16 April 2024.]

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