A Alvarez

A. Alvarez (Alfred Alvarez) , 1929-, English writer and critic, b. London, grad. Oxford. He has been a theater critic, a writer for the British Broadcasting Corp., a poetry editor and critic, and a visiting professor at numerous universities. His writing, characterized by a vigorous style, includes his Poems (1978) and the novels Hunt (1979) and Day of Atonement (1991). Among his critical works are The New Poetry (1962), Beyond All This Fiddle (1968), and Samuel Beckett (1973); and other nonfiction works include The Savage God (1972), a meditation on suicide, Feeding the Rat (1989), and Night (1995), a multifaceted study of nighttime.

Bibliography: See his memoir, Where Did It All Go Right? (1999).

Alvarez, Al Alfred Alvarez (1929– ), poet, broadcaster, and critic, born in London, and educated at Oundle and Corpus Christi, Oxford. His works include The Shaping Spirit (1958), a critical study of modern poetry, and The Savage God: A Study of Suicide (1971), which opens with an account of the death of Plath, whom he knew, and whose work he published when he was poetry editor of the Observer. He edited an influential anthology of verse, The New Poetry (1962, with work by Ted Hughes, Gunn, Larkin, and others), and has also written on subjects as diverse as poker-playing (The Biggest Game in Town, 1983), mountain climbing, and oil- rigs. His New and Selected Poems appeared in 2002.