An extraordinarily prolific English writer of both literary-realist and mass-interest novels, short stories, pocket philosophy self-help manuals, plays, journal articles and book reviews, Arnold Bennett was acclaimed as an artist in his own time and was also politically and culturally influential. He served as director of the Ministry of Propaganda under
Lord Beaverbrook in the first world war. He estimated his own output in 1930 as seventy or eighty books written, of which only a handful were well-known.
His wealth and influence, as well as his painstaking realism, earned him the scorn of the modernist writers of the next generation.
Milestones
By 15 April 1898 AB, already a successful journalist himself, published
Journalism for Women: A Practical Guide, a 'how to' volume meant to provide aspirants with practical information on becoming successful journalists.
October 1908 AB's realist novel
The Old Wives' Tale was published. It established his name, and remains probably his best-known work.
By early October 1930 AB titled an ambitious novel,
Imperial Palace, from a phrase used by
William Wordsworth for the mysterious origins of the human individual.
Early on 27 March 1931 AB, novelist, died in
London after a long battle with typhoid fever (which he had contracted in France at the end of the previous year).
