Sir Angus Wilson

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Wilson, Sir Angus (Frank Johnstone) (1913–91), born in Bexhill, educated at Merton College, Oxford. His novels include Hemlock and After (1952), about the doomed attempts of a middle-aged novelist, Bernard Sands, to establish a writer's centre in a country house; Anglo-Saxon Attitudes (1956), which also has a middle-aged protagonist, historian Gerald Middleton, who tries to reconstruct and understand the past, including the mystery of a possible archaeological forgery; The Middle Age of Mrs Eliot (1958), about the reversed fortunes of Meg Eliot, who finds herself suddenly widowed in reduced circumstances; The Old Men at the Zoo (1961), which reflects Wilson's concern with conflicts between the wild and the tame, the disciplined and the free, and ends with a portrayal of Europe at war; Late Call (1964), set in a New Town; No Laughting Matter (1967), a family saga covering some fifty years in the history of the Matthews family, which marks a departure from the realism of earlier works, mingling parody and dramatization with direct narration in a rich and complex evocation of family politics and neuroses; As if by Magic (1973); and Setting the World on Fire (1980). The Wrong Set (1949), Such Darling Dodos (1950), and A Bit off the Map (1957) are volumes of short stories. Wilson has also written on Zola (1950), Dickens (1970), and Kipling (1977), and an interesting account of his own sources and creative processes, The Wild Garden (1963). His works display a brilliant satiric wit, acute social observation, and a love of the macabre and the farcical, combined with humanity.

Sir Angus Wilson 1913–91, English novelist, b. South Africa. As a novelist, he attempted to delineate a society in which traditional values have lost their force and human relationships are corrupted by pretension and sham. After the publication of two volumes of short stories his first novel, Hemlock and After (1952), appeared. It was followed by Anglo-Saxon Attitudes (1956), considered to be his major achievement, The Middle Age of Mrs. Eliot (1958), Late Call (1965), No Laughing Matter (1967), and Setting the World on Fire (1980). Wilson taught for many years at the Univ. of East Anglia, and was knighted in 1980. Wilson's other writings include Death Dance: 25 Stories (1969) and studies of Zola (1952), Dickens (1970), and Kipling (1977).

Bibliography: See studies by K. W. Gransden (1969), P. Faulkner (1980), and A. Gardner (1985).