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{{Short description|British writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2013}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2013}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2013}}

[[File:Robert Hichens 001.jpg|thumb|Robert Hichens 1912]]
{{Infobox writer
⚫
'''Robert Hichens''' (Robert Smythe Hichens, 14 November 1864 – 20 July 1950) was an English journalist, novelist, music lyricist, short story writer, music critic and collaborated on successful plays. He is best remembered as a [[satire|satirist]] of the "[[Gay Nineties|Naughty Nineties]]".<ref name=sutherland>[[John Sutherland (author)|John Sutherland]]. "HICHENS, Robert" in ''The Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction''. 1989</ref><ref name=stableford>[[Brian Stableford]], "Hichens, Robert (Smythe)" in [[David Pringle]], ed. ''St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost and Gothic writers''. Detroit, MI: St. James Press, 1998, {{ISBN|1-55862-206-3}} (pp. 268-70).</ref>
| name = Robert Hichens
| image = Robert Hichens 001.jpg
| caption = Hichens in 1912
| occupation = [[Writer]], [[journalist]], [[music critic]]
| birth_date = 14 November 1864
| death_date = 20 July 1950 (aged 85)
| birth_place = [[Speldhurst]], Kent, England
| alma_mater = {{unbulleted list | [[Clifton College]] | [[Royal College of Music]] }}
| death_place = [[Zurich, Switzerland]]
}}

⚫
'''Robert Smythe Hichens''' (14 November 1864 – 20 July 1950) was an English journalist, novelist, music lyricist, short story writer, music critic and collaborated on successful plays. He is best remembered as a [[satire|satirist]] of the "[[Gay Nineties|Naughty Nineties]]".<ref name=sutherland>[[John Sutherland (author)|John Sutherland]]. "HICHENS, Robert" in ''The Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction''. 1989</ref><ref name=stableford>[[Brian Stableford]], "Hichens, Robert (Smythe)" in [[David Pringle]], ed. ''St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost and Gothic writers''. Detroit, MI: St. James Press, 1998, {{ISBN|1-55862-206-3}} (pp. 268-70).</ref>


==Biography==
==Biography==
Hichens was born in [[Speldhurst]] in Kent, the eldest son of a clergyman.<ref name=sutherland/> He was educated at [[Clifton College]],<ref>"Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. p84: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April, 1948 </ref> the [[Royal College of Music]] and early on had a desire to be a musician.<ref name=sutherland/> Later in life he would be a music critic on the ''World'', taking the place of [[George Bernard Shaw]].<ref name=sutherland/> He studied at the [[London School of Journalism]]. Hichens was a great traveller. Egypt was one of his favourite destinations – he first went there in the early 1890s for his health.<ref name=sutherland/> For most of his later life he lived outside England, in Switzerland and the [[Riviera]].<ref name=sutherland/> Hichens was a homosexual;<ref name=denisoff>"Like Douglas and Turner, Hichens was sexually attracted to men". [[Dennis Denisoff]], ''Aestheticism and Sexual Parody 1840-1940''.Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2006 {{ISBN|0521024897}}, (p. 115).</ref> he never married.<ref name=sutherland/>
Hichens was born in [[Speldhurst]] in Kent, the eldest son of the Rev. Frederick Harrison Hichens, and his wife Abigail Elizabeth Smythe.<ref>{{cite ODNB|id=33851|first=Stacy|last=Gillis|title=Hichens, Robert Smythe}}</ref><ref>{{alox2|title=Hichens, Frederick Harrison}}</ref> He was educated at [[Clifton College]],<ref>"Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. p84: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April, 1948</ref> the [[Royal College of Music]] and early on had a desire to be a musician.<ref name=sutherland/> Later in life he would become music critic on ''[[The World (journal)|The World]]'', taking the place of [[George Bernard Shaw]].<ref name=sutherland/> He studied at the [[London School of Journalism]]. Hichens was a great traveller. Egypt was one of his favourite destinations – he first went there in the early 1890s for his health.<ref name=sutherland/> For most of his later life he lived outside England, in Switzerland and the [[Riviera]].<ref name=sutherland/> Hichens was a homosexual;<ref name=denisoff>"Like Douglas and Turner, Hichens was sexually attracted to men". [[Dennis Denisoff]], ''Aestheticism and Sexual Parody 1840-1940''.Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2006 {{ISBN|0521024897}}, (p. 115).</ref> he never married.<ref name=sutherland/>


Hichens first novel, ''The Coastguard's Secret'' (1886), was written when he was only seventeen. He first became well known among the reading public with ''[[The Green Carnation]]'' (1894), a satire of Hichens's friends [[Oscar Wilde]] and [[Lord Alfred Douglas]]; since the work made clear Wilde was homosexual it was withdrawn from publication in 1895,<ref name=sutherland/> but not before helping set the stage for Wilde's public disgrace and downfall.<ref name=sutherland/><ref name=denisoff/>
Hichens first novel, ''The Coastguard's Secret'' (1886), was written when he was only seventeen. He first became well known among the reading public with ''[[The Green Carnation]]'' (1894), a satire of Hichens's friends [[Oscar Wilde]] and [[Lord Alfred Douglas]]; since the work made clear Wilde was homosexual it was withdrawn from publication in 1895,<ref name=sutherland/> but not before helping set the stage for Wilde's public disgrace and downfall.<ref name=sutherland/><ref name=denisoff/>


Hichens was also friends with several other writers, including [[E. F. Benson]] and [[Reginald Turner (writer)|Reggie Turner]],<ref name=denisoff/> as well as the composer [[Maude Valerie White]].<ref>"White also had friends with several gay men including... the novelist Robert Hichens, whom she met in the late 1890s". Sophie Fuller and Lloyd Whitesell, ''Queer Episodes in Music and Modern Identity''. University of Illinois Press, 2002 {{ISBN|025202740X}}, (p. 90).</ref>
Hichens was also friends with several other writers, including [[E. F. Benson]] and [[Reginald Turner (writer)|Reggie Turner]],<ref name=denisoff/> as well as the composer [[Maude Valérie White]].<ref>"White also had friends with several gay men including... the novelist Robert Hichens, whom she met in the late 1890s". Sophie Fuller and Lloyd Whitesell, ''Queer Episodes in Music and Modern Identity''. University of Illinois Press, 2002 {{ISBN|025202740X}}, (p. 90).</ref>
[[File:Robert Hichens in Aug.-Sept. 1895 Edition of The Bookman.jpg|thumb|Hichens in August-September 1895 edition of ''[[The Bookman (New York City)|The Bookman]]'']]

Hichens's first big success was ''An Imaginative Man'' (1895); set in the city of [[Cairo]], Egypt, a place which fascinated Hichens, it is a study of insanity, in which the hero has a number of sexual adventures and then smashes his head against the [[Great Sphinx]].<ref name=sutherland/> Other early fiction includes ''The Folly of Eustace'' (1896), a collection of stories including some supernatural;<ref name=sutherland/> ''Flames'' (1897), a story resembling ''[[Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde]]'';<ref name=sutherland/> ''The Londoners'' (1898), a satire about decadent London;<ref name=sutherland/> ''The Slave'' (1899), a fantasy about an amazing emerald;<ref name=sutherland/> ''Tongues of Conscience'' (1900), a collection of five horror stories including "How Love Came to Professor Guildea" (this story is about a supernatural visitation and is thought by some to be Hichens's best fiction – it is frequently anthologised).<ref name=sutherland/><ref name=stableford/> "How Love Came to Professor Guildea" was not initially well-received, with [[Frederic Taber Cooper]] calling the story "a hideous bit of morbidity"<ref name=colavito>"Frederic T. Cooper", "Robert Hichens",in: Colavito, Jason, ed. ''A Hideous Bit of Morbidity: An Anthology of Horror Criticism from the Enlightenment to World War I''. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-3968-3}} (pp. 307–324). (Reprinted from Cooper's ''Some English Story Tellers'', 1912. pp. 342–375.)</ref> and [[Edmund Wilson]] dismissing the story as "trash".<ref name=colavito /> Later reviews of the story were more positive; [[J. A. Cuddon]] called it "outstanding" and compared it with "[[The Horla]]" by [[Guy de Maupassant]] and "The Beckoning Fair One" by [[Oliver Onions]].<ref>J. A. Cuddon, ''The Penguin Book of Horror Stories''. London, Bloomsbury. {{ISBN|978-1-870630-94-8}} (p. 44)</ref> [[Brian Stableford]] described the story as an "authentic masterpiece of horror fiction",<ref name=stableford/> and [[Jason Colavito]] called it "possibly one of the greatest stories of its age".<ref name=colavito/>
Hichens's first big success was ''[[An Imaginative Man]]'' (1895); set in the city of [[Cairo]], Egypt, a place which fascinated Hichens, it is a study of insanity, in which the hero becomes dangerously obsessed with the [[Great Sphinx]].<ref name=sutherland/> Other early fiction includes ''The Folly of Eustace'' (1896), a collection of stories including some supernatural;<ref name=sutherland/> ''Flames'' (1897), a story resembling ''[[Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde]]'';<ref name=sutherland/> ''The Londoners'' (1898), a satire about decadent London;<ref name=sutherland/> ''[[The Slave (1899 novel)|The Slave]]'' (1899), a fantasy about an amazing emerald;<ref name=sutherland/> ''Tongues of Conscience'' (1900), a collection of five horror stories including "How Love Came to Professor Guildea" (this story is about a supernatural visitation and is thought by some to be Hichens's best fiction – it is frequently anthologised).<ref name=sutherland/><ref name=stableford/> "How Love Came to Professor Guildea" was not initially well-received, with [[Frederic Taber Cooper]] calling the story "a hideous bit of morbidity"<ref name=colavito>"Frederic T. Cooper", "Robert Hichens",in: Colavito, Jason, ed. ''A Hideous Bit of Morbidity: An Anthology of Horror Criticism from the Enlightenment to World War I''. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-3968-3}} (pp. 307–324). (Reprinted from Cooper's ''Some English Story Tellers'', 1912. pp. 342–375.)</ref> and [[Edmund Wilson]] dismissing the story as "trash".<ref name=colavito /> Later reviews of the story were more positive; [[J. A. Cuddon]] called it "outstanding" and compared it with "[[The Horla]]" by [[Guy de Maupassant]] and "The Beckoning Fair One" by [[Oliver Onions]].<ref>J. A. Cuddon, ''The Penguin Book of Horror Stories''. London, Bloomsbury. {{ISBN|978-1-870630-94-8}} (p. 44)</ref> [[Brian Stableford]] described the story as an "authentic masterpiece of horror fiction",<ref name=stableford/> and [[Jason Colavito]] called it "possibly one of the greatest stories of its age".<ref name=colavito/>


Hichens's ''Felix'' (1902), is an early fictional treatment of hypodermic morphine addiction, while ''[[The Garden of Allah (novel)|The Garden of Allah]]'' (1904) sold well internationally,<ref name=sutherland/> and was made into a film three times.
Hichens's ''Felix'' (1902), is an early fictional treatment of hypodermic morphine addiction, while ''[[The Garden of Allah (novel)|The Garden of Allah]]'' (1904) sold well internationally,<ref name=sutherland/> and was made into a film three times.
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==Selected bibliography==
==Selected bibliography==
'''Novels'''
'''Novels'''
[[File:The Call of the Blood, a novel by Robert Hichens... LCCN2014650209.jpg|thumb|First edition cover of ''[[The Call of the Blood (novel)|The Call of the Blood]]'' (1906)]]
* ''The Coast Guard's Secret'' (1886)
* ''The Coast Guard's Secret'' (1886)
* ''[[The Green Carnation]]'' (published anonymously, 1894; republished, 2009) – [[s:The Green Carnation|available]] at [[Image:wikisource-logo.svg|16x16px]] [[Wikisource]]
* ''[[The Green Carnation]]'' (published anonymously, 1894; republished, 1949) – [[s:The Green Carnation|available]] at [[Image:wikisource-logo.svg|16x16px]] [[Wikisource]]
* ''An Imaginative Man'' (1895)
* ''[[An Imaginative Man]]'' (1895)
* [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007662233 ''Flames''] (1897)
* [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007662233 ''Flames''] (1897)
* [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100488668 ''The Londoners''] (1898)
* [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100488668 ''The Londoners''] (1898)
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* ''[[The Call of the Blood (novel)|The Call of the Blood]]'' (1906)
* ''[[The Call of the Blood (novel)|The Call of the Blood]]'' (1906)
* ''[[Barbary Sheep (novel)|Barbary Sheep]]'' (1907)
* ''[[Barbary Sheep (novel)|Barbary Sheep]]'' (1907)
* ''[[A Spirit in Prison]]'' (1908)
* ''[[Bella Donna (novel)|Bella Donna]]'' (1909), in which [[Alla Nazimova]] starred on Broadway in 1912, filmed [[Bella Donna (1915 film)|in 1915]], [[Bella Donna (1923 film)|in 1923]] with [[Pola Negri]] and [[Bella Donna (1934 film)|in 1934]] with [[Mary Ellis]] and [[Conrad Veidt]].
* ''[[Bella Donna (novel)|Bella Donna]]'' (1909), in which [[Alla Nazimova]] starred on Broadway in 1912, filmed [[Bella Donna (1915 film)|in 1915]], [[Bella Donna (1923 film)|in 1923]] with [[Pola Negri]] and [[Bella Donna (1934 film)|in 1934]] with [[Mary Ellis]] and [[Conrad Veidt]].
* ''The Spell of Egypt'' (1911)
* ''[[The Fruitful Vine (novel)|The Fruitful Vine]]'' (1911)
* ''The Dweller on the Threshold'' (1911)
* ''The Dweller on the Threshold'' (1911)
* ''The Way of Ambition'' (1913)
* ''[[The Way of Ambition]]'' (1913)
* ''In the Wilderness'' (1917)
* ''[[In the Wilderness (1917 novel)|In the Wilderness]]'' (1917)
* ''Snake&#45;Bite'' (1919)
* ''Snake-Bite'' (1919)
* ''Mrs. Marden'' (1919)
* ''Mrs. Marden'' (1919)
* ''Spirit of the Time'' (1921)
* ''Spirit of the Time'' (1921)
* ''December Love'' (1922)
* ''[[December Love]]'' (1922)
* ''The Last Time'' (1924)
* ''The Last Time'' (1924)
* ''[[After the Verdict (novel)|After the Verdict]]'' (1924)
* ''[[After the Verdict (novel)|After the Verdict]]'' (1924)
* ''The First Lady Brendon'' (1927)
* ''[[The Bracelet (novel)|The Bracelet]]'' (1930)
* ''[[The First Lady Brendon]]'' (1931)
* ''Mortimer Brice'' (1932)
* ''Mortimer Brice'' (1932)
* ''[[The Paradine Case (novel)|The Paradine Case]]'' (1933) – [[The Paradine Case|film version]] directed by [[Alfred Hitchcock]] in 1947
* ''[[The Paradine Case (novel)|The Paradine Case]]'' (1933) – [[The Paradine Case|film version]] directed by [[Alfred Hitchcock]] in 1947
* ''The Power To Kill'' (1934)
* ''[[The Power To Kill]]'' (1934)
* ''The Pyramid'' (1936)
* ''The Pyramid'' (1936)
* ''The Sixth of October'' (1936)
* ''The Sixth of October'' (1936)
* ''Daniel Airlie'' (1937)
* ''[[Daniel Airlie]]'' (1937)
* ''Secret Information'' (1938)
* ''Secret Information'' (1938)
* ''The Journey Up'' (1938)
* ''[[The Journey Up]]'' (1938)
* ''That Which Is Hidden'' (1939)
* ''That Which Is Hidden'' (1939)
* ''The Million'' (1940)
* ''The Million'' (1940)
* ''A New Way of Life'' (1941)
* ''[[A New Way of Life]]'' (1942)
* ''Veils'' (1943)
* ''Veils'' (1943)
* ''Harps in the Wind'' (1945)
* ''Harps in the Wind'' (1945)
* ''[[Beneath the Magic]]'' (1950)


'''Collections'''
'''Collections'''
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'''Nonfiction'''
'''Nonfiction'''
* ''[[The Spell of Egypt]]'' (1910)
*''Yesterday'' (1947)
*''Yesterday'' (1947)


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'''Short stories'''
'''Short stories'''
*"[[How Love Came to Professor Guildea]]" (1900)
*"How Love Came to Professor Guildea" (1900)
*"Demetriadi's Dream"
*"Demetriadi's Dream"

=== Plays ===

* ''The Law of the Sands'' (1916)
* ''Black Magic'' (1917)
* ''[[The Voice from the Minaret (play)|The Voice from the Minaret]]'' (1919)


== Filmography ==
== Filmography ==
*''[[Bella Donna (1915 film)|Bella Donna]]'', directed by [[Edwin S. Porter]] and [[Hugh Ford (director)|Hugh Ford]] (1915, based on the novel ''Bella Donna'')
*''[[Bella Donna (1915 film)|Bella Donna]]'', directed by [[Edwin S. Porter]] and [[Hugh Ford (director)|Hugh Ford]] (1915, based on the novel ''[[Bella Donna (novel)|Bella Donna]]'')
*''[[The Garden of Allah (1916 film)|The Garden of Allah]]'', directed by [[Colin Campbell (director)|Colin Campbell]] (1916, based on the novel ''The Garden of Allah'')
*''[[The Garden of Allah (1916 film)|The Garden of Allah]]'', directed by [[Colin Campbell (director)|Colin Campbell]] (1916, based on the novel ''[[The Garden of Allah (novel)|The Garden of Allah]]'')
*''[[Barbary Sheep (film)|Barbary Sheep]]'', directed by [[Maurice Tourneur]] (1917, based on the novel ''Barbary Sheep'')
*''[[Barbary Sheep (film)|Barbary Sheep]]'', directed by [[Maurice Tourneur]] (1917, based on the novel ''[[Barbary Sheep (novel)|Barbary Sheep]]'')
*''[[Flames (1917 film)|Flames]]'', directed by [[Maurice Elvey]] (UK, 1917, based on the novel ''Flames'')
*''[[Flames (1917 film)|Flames]]'', directed by [[Maurice Elvey]] (UK, 1917, based on the novel ''Flames'')
*''[[The Slave (1918 film)|The Slave]]'', directed by [[Arrigo Bocchi]] (UK, 1918, based on the novel ''The Slave'')
*''[[The Slave (1918 film)|The Slave]]'', directed by [[Arrigo Bocchi]] (UK, 1918, based on the novel ''[[The Slave (1899 novel)|The Slave]]'')
*''[[Hidden Lives]]'', directed by [[Maurits Binger]] and [[B. E. Doxat-Pratt]] (Netherlands, 1920, based on a play by Robert Hichens and [[John Knittel]])
*''[[Hidden Lives]]'', directed by [[Maurits Binger]] and [[B. E. Doxat-Pratt]] (Netherlands, 1920, based on a play by Robert Hichens and [[John Knittel]])
*''[[The Call of the Blood]]'', directed by [[Louis Mercanton]] (France, 1920, based on the novel ''Call of the Blood'')
*''[[The Call of the Blood (1920 film)|The Call of the Blood]]'', directed by [[Louis Mercanton]] (France, 1920, based on the novel ''[[The Call of the Blood (novel)|The Call of the Blood]]'')
*''The Woman with the Fan'', directed by [[René Plaissetty]] (UK, 1921, based on the novel ''The Woman with the Fan'')
*''[[The Woman with the Fan (film)|The Woman with the Fan]]'', directed by [[René Plaissetty]] (UK, 1921, based on the novel ''[[The Woman with the Fan (novel)|The Woman with the Fan]]'')
*''[[The Fruitful Vine]]'', directed by [[Maurice Elvey]] (UK, 1921, based on the novel ''The Fruitful Vine'')
*''[[The Fruitful Vine]]'', directed by [[Maurice Elvey]] (UK, 1921, based on the novel ''[[The Fruitful Vine (novel)|The Fruitful Vine]]'')
*''[[The Voice from the Minaret]]'', directed by [[Frank Lloyd]] (1923, based on the play ''The Voice from the Minaret'')
*''[[The Voice from the Minaret]]'', directed by [[Frank Lloyd]] (1923, based on the play ''[[The Voice from the Minaret (play)|The Voice from the Minaret]]'')
*''[[Bella Donna (1923 film)|Bella Donna]]'', directed by [[George Fitzmaurice]] (1923, based on the novel ''Bella Donna'')
*''[[Bella Donna (1923 film)|Bella Donna]]'', directed by [[George Fitzmaurice]] (1923, based on the novel ''Bella Donna'')
*''[[The Lady Who Lied]]'', directed by [[Edwin Carewe]] (1925, based on the story ''The Lady Who Lied'')
*''[[The Lady Who Lied]]'', directed by [[Edwin Carewe]] (1925, based on the story ''The Lady Who Lied'')
*''[[The Garden of Allah (1927 film)|The Garden of Allah]]'', directed by [[Rex Ingram (director)|Rex Ingram]] (1927, based on the novel ''The Garden of Allah'')
*''[[The Garden of Allah (1927 film)|The Garden of Allah]]'', directed by [[Rex Ingram (director)|Rex Ingram]] (1927, based on the novel ''The Garden of Allah'')
*''[[After the Verdict]]'', directed by [[Henrik Galeen]] (UK, 1929, based on the novel ''After the Verdict'')
*''[[After the Verdict (film)|After the Verdict]]'', directed by [[Henrik Galeen]] (UK, 1929, based on the novel ''[[After the Verdict (novel)|After the Verdict]]'')
*''[[Bella Donna (1934 film)|Bella Donna]]'', directed by [[Robert Milton (director)|Robert Milton]] (UK, 1934, based on the novel ''Bella Donna'')
*''[[Bella Donna (1934 film)|Bella Donna]]'', directed by [[Robert Milton (director)|Robert Milton]] (UK, 1934, based on the novel ''Bella Donna'')
*''[[The Garden of Allah (1936 film)|The Garden of Allah]]'', directed by [[Richard Boleslawski]] (1936, based on the novel ''The Garden of Allah'')
*''[[The Garden of Allah (1936 film)|The Garden of Allah]]'', directed by [[Richard Boleslawski]] (1936, based on the novel ''The Garden of Allah'')
*''[[Temptation (1946 film)|Temptation]]'', directed by [[Irving Pichel]] (1946, based on the novel ''Bella Donna'')
*''[[Temptation (1946 film)|Temptation]]'', directed by [[Irving Pichel]] (1946, based on the novel ''Bella Donna'')
*''[[The Paradine Case]]'', directed by [[Alfred Hitchcock]] (1947, based on the novel ''The Paradine Case'')
*''[[The Paradine Case]]'', directed by [[Alfred Hitchcock]] (1947, based on the novel ''[[The Paradine Case (novel)|The Paradine Case]]'')
*''[[Call of the Blood]]'', directed by [[John Clements (actor)|John Clements]] and [[Ladislao Vajda]] (UK, 1948, based on the novel ''Call of the Blood'')
*''[[Call of the Blood (1948 film)|Call of the Blood]]'', directed by [[John Clements (actor)|John Clements]] and [[Ladislao Vajda]] (UK, 1948, based on the novel ''Call of the Blood'')


==References==
==References==
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* {{isfdb name|30943|Robert Hichens}}
* {{isfdb name|30943|Robert Hichens}}
* {{LCAuth|n50035072|Robert Hichens|112|ue}}
* {{LCAuth|n50035072|Robert Hichens|112|ue}}
*[https://www.greatwartheatre.org.uk/db/person/1035/ Two plays by Robert Hichens on Great War Theatre]
*[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1950/07/22/93190545.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0 Obituary in ''The New York Times'']


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:English horror writers]]
[[Category:English horror writers]]
[[Category:English male novelists]]
[[Category:English male novelists]]
[[Category:Gay writers]]
[[Category:British gay writers]]
[[Category:LGBT writers from England]]
[[Category:English LGBT writers]]
[[Category:People educated at Clifton College]]
[[Category:People educated at Clifton College]]
[[Category:19th-century British male writers]]
[[Category:19th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century British male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:English male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:English male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:People from the Borough of Tunbridge Wells]]

Latest revision as of 02:45, 9 April 2024

Robert Hichens
Hichens in 1912
Hichens in 1912
Born14 November 1864
Speldhurst, Kent, England
Died20 July 1950 (aged 85)
Zurich, Switzerland
OccupationWriter, journalist, music critic
Alma mater

Robert Smythe Hichens (14 November 1864 – 20 July 1950) was an English journalist, novelist, music lyricist, short story writer, music critic and collaborated on successful plays. He is best remembered as a satirist of the "Naughty Nineties".[1][2]

Biography[edit]

Hichens was born in Speldhurst in Kent, the eldest son of the Rev. Frederick Harrison Hichens, and his wife Abigail Elizabeth Smythe.[3][4] He was educated at Clifton College,[5] the Royal College of Music and early on had a desire to be a musician.[1] Later in life he would become music critic on The World, taking the place of George Bernard Shaw.[1] He studied at the London School of Journalism. Hichens was a great traveller. Egypt was one of his favourite destinations – he first went there in the early 1890s for his health.[1] For most of his later life he lived outside England, in Switzerland and the Riviera.[1] Hichens was a homosexual;[6] he never married.[1]

Hichens first novel, The Coastguard's Secret (1886), was written when he was only seventeen. He first became well known among the reading public with The Green Carnation (1894), a satire of Hichens's friends Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas; since the work made clear Wilde was homosexual it was withdrawn from publication in 1895,[1] but not before helping set the stage for Wilde's public disgrace and downfall.[1][6]

Hichens was also friends with several other writers, including E. F. Benson and Reggie Turner,[6] as well as the composer Maude Valérie White.[7]

Hichens in August-September 1895 edition of The Bookman

Hichens's first big success was An Imaginative Man (1895); set in the city of Cairo, Egypt, a place which fascinated Hichens, it is a study of insanity, in which the hero becomes dangerously obsessed with the Great Sphinx.[1] Other early fiction includes The Folly of Eustace (1896), a collection of stories including some supernatural;[1] Flames (1897), a story resembling Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde;[1] The Londoners (1898), a satire about decadent London;[1] The Slave (1899), a fantasy about an amazing emerald;[1] Tongues of Conscience (1900), a collection of five horror stories including "How Love Came to Professor Guildea" (this story is about a supernatural visitation and is thought by some to be Hichens's best fiction – it is frequently anthologised).[1][2] "How Love Came to Professor Guildea" was not initially well-received, with Frederic Taber Cooper calling the story "a hideous bit of morbidity"[8] and Edmund Wilson dismissing the story as "trash".[8] Later reviews of the story were more positive; J. A. Cuddon called it "outstanding" and compared it with "The Horla" by Guy de Maupassant and "The Beckoning Fair One" by Oliver Onions.[9] Brian Stableford described the story as an "authentic masterpiece of horror fiction",[2] and Jason Colavito called it "possibly one of the greatest stories of its age".[8]

Hichens's Felix (1902), is an early fictional treatment of hypodermic morphine addiction, while The Garden of Allah (1904) sold well internationally,[1] and was made into a film three times.

Hichens published his memoirs in 1947, Yesterday.

Selected bibliography[edit]

Novels

First edition cover of The Call of the Blood (1906)

Collections

Nonfiction

Anthologies containing stories by Hichens

  • Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery and Horror 1st Series (1928)
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1957)
  • The 2nd Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories (1966)
  • Medley Macabre (1966)
  • Black Water (1984)
  • I Shudder at Your Touch (1992)
  • 4 Classic Ghostly Tales (1993)

Short stories

  • "How Love Came to Professor Guildea" (1900)
  • "Demetriadi's Dream"

Plays[edit]

Filmography[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o John Sutherland. "HICHENS, Robert" in The Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction. 1989
  2. ^ a b c Brian Stableford, "Hichens, Robert (Smythe)" in David Pringle, ed. St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost and Gothic writers. Detroit, MI: St. James Press, 1998, ISBN 1-55862-206-3 (pp. 268-70).
  3. ^ Gillis, Stacy. "Hichens, Robert Smythe". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33851. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. ^ Foster, Joseph (1888–1892). "Hichens, Frederick Harrison" . Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: Parker and Co – via Wikisource.
  5. ^ "Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. p84: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April, 1948
  6. ^ a b c "Like Douglas and Turner, Hichens was sexually attracted to men". Dennis Denisoff, Aestheticism and Sexual Parody 1840-1940.Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2006 ISBN 0521024897, (p. 115).
  7. ^ "White also had friends with several gay men including... the novelist Robert Hichens, whom she met in the late 1890s". Sophie Fuller and Lloyd Whitesell, Queer Episodes in Music and Modern Identity. University of Illinois Press, 2002 ISBN 025202740X, (p. 90).
  8. ^ a b c "Frederic T. Cooper", "Robert Hichens",in: Colavito, Jason, ed. A Hideous Bit of Morbidity: An Anthology of Horror Criticism from the Enlightenment to World War I. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2008. ISBN 978-0-7864-3968-3 (pp. 307–324). (Reprinted from Cooper's Some English Story Tellers, 1912. pp. 342–375.)
  9. ^ J. A. Cuddon, The Penguin Book of Horror Stories. London, Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-870630-94-8 (p. 44)

Additional sources

  • "Robert S. Hichens". Dictionary of Literary Biography. Volume 153: Late-Victorian and Edwardian British Novelists. First Series. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
  • Author and Book Info.com

External links[edit]

Wikisource has original works by or about:
Robert Smythe Hichens
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