A. N. Wilson

Confessions (eBook, PDF)

A Life of Failed Promises

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

Known for his journalism, biographies and novels, A. N. Wilson turns a merciless searchlight on his own early life, his experience of sexual abuse, his catastrophic mistakes in love (sacred and profane) and his life in Grub Street - as a prolific writer.

Before he came to London, as one of the "Best of Young British" novelists, and Literary Editor of the Spectator, we meet another A. N. Wilson. We meet his father, the Managing Director of Wedgwood, the grotesque teachers at his first boarding school, and the dons of Oxford - one of whom, at the age of just 20, he married, Katherine Duncan-Jones, the renowned Shakespearean scholar.

The book begins with his heart-torn present-day visits to Katherine, now for decades his ex-wife, who has slithered into the torments of dementia.

At every turn of this reminiscence, Wilson is baffled by his earlier self - whether he is flirting with unsuitable lovers or with the idea of the priesthood. His chapter on the High Camp seminary which he attended in Oxford is among the funniest in the book.

We follow his unsuccessful attempts to become an academic, his aspirations to be a Man of Letters, and his eventual encounters with the famous, including some memorable meetings with royalty.

The princesses, dons, paedophiles and journos who cross the pages are as sharply drawn as figures in Wilson's early comic fiction. But there is also a tenderness here, in his evocation of those whom he has loved, and hurt, the most.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury UK
• Seitenzahl: 320
• Erscheinungstermin: 1. September 2022
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781472994783
• Artikelnr.: 64715757

Autorenporträt

A. N. Wilson is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and holds a prominent position in the world of literature and journalism. He is a prolific and award-winning biographer and celebrated novelist. His novel, Winnie and Wolf, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. His last book The Mystery of Charles Dickens was published in 2020 to great critical acclaim and is at present being dramatized by Andrew Davies for British television.

Inhaltsangabe

Introduction 1. Ungentle A. N. 2. Remind Me 3. Sorrowful Lay 4. Living up
to the Blue China 5. Best of Young British 6. Masks 7. Norman Wilson's Son
8. Leaving Germany 9. The Works 10. Frail Travelling 11. Andrew Woods 12.
Contrasts 13. Warfare Accomplished 14. Miscarriages 15. What is my Name?
16. Convent Thoughts 17. Newcastle Road 18. When I Get There, I'll Be Glad
19. Put Your Cap On, I Should 20. Notes for Boys 21. Little Bryan 22. Acqua
Non Fizzimento 23. Journalistic Debut 24. A Bit of a Ruin 25. Mme de
Liencourt, Mr Lowry and Others 26. Galsworthy Scholar 27. Kibbutznik 28.
Lost Causes 29. Angel Fluffs 30. "Are they twa sweethearts?" 31. St
Trinian's 32. Superficial Journey 33. St Andrew's by the Northern Sea 34.
Prosaic and Drivelling 35. Clare 36. The Green Stick Index

Rezensionen

His memoir is, of course, highly readable; full of gossip and catty stories about the people he mixed with in the worlds of journalism, academia and publishing…A diverting read from an author who never minds giving the dirty details of people’s lives.