Patrick McGrath is the author of seven novels and two volumes of short stories. British by birth and upbringing, he left for North America as a young man and has never returned to live in Britain permanently. Much of his earlier fiction is set in an England of the recent past, a landscape and society viewed through a Gothic lens. He acknowledges that early in his career his intention was to breathe new life into the Gothic by parodying its conventions in such a way as to recast its perpetual concern with transgression and decay. Although the most powerful literary influence on his early work was Edgar Allan Poe, he also recognizes the role of his background in shaping him as a writer. The son of the medical superintendent of Broadmoor (Britain’s most famous secure psychiatric hospital)…
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Citation: Zlosnik, Sue. "Patrick McGrath". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 November 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5974, accessed 25 April 2024.]
