Julian Fane

Julian Charles Fane (born May 25, 1927 in Badminton, Gloucestershire , † December 13, 2009 in Daymer Lane, Trebetherick , Cornwall ) was a British writer .

biography

Fane was the younger son of the 14th Earl of Westmorland and of Lady Diana, the daughter of the 4th Baron Ribblesdale . At the coronation of King George VI. In 1936 he was the page of George Horatio Charles Cholmondeley, 5th Marquess of Cholmondeley . After attending Harrow School, he began an undergraduate study at Cambridge University . In 1943 he joined the British Army , but was soon retired as an invalid.

He began his writing career in 1947, initially as a screenwriter , albeit without success. He later devoted himself to the writing of novels by well-known publishers such as John Murray , who published his collected novels in five volumes between 1997 and 2001. In addition, there were also publications at St George's Press, where he was a partner.

In 1956 his debut novel "Morning" appeared, a fictional representation of a childhood. The story takes place in Lygrove, a house near Badminton, Gloucestershire , where Fane himself had lived as a child and where he kept returning until his mother's death in 1983 and where his mother planted a famous Gertrude Jekyll - style garden . "Morning" was well received by critics: Harold Nicolson saw it as "the work of a literary artist, beautifully written, colorful, composed"; Elizabeth Bowen recognized "true refinement" and John Betjeman predicted it as a book "that would last for generations." In 1987, "Morning" was reprinted by Hamish Hamilton after The New York Times praised the book as " prosaic fiction of a rare, unforgettable, and always incomparable beauty." However, despite a loyal readership, he did not manage to build on the success of this work, on the other hand he did not seek competition with other authors of the time such as John Braine , Kingsley Amis or Colin Wilson .

In 1960 his second novel "The Letter" was published, which, according to Betjeman, described "a crisis in the life of a writer". The book was written in the form of a letter to a person the writer loved and was inspired by Joan Countess of Drogheda.

In 1987 a biography of his mother Diana appeared under the title "Memories of my Mother", which, according to James Lees-Milne, was "sensitive and well planned, but not glossy". In his novel "Best Friends" (1990) he paid tribute to Lord and Lady David Cecil, Lady Cynthia Asquith , LP Hartley and others who shaped his life.

It was Joan Countess of Drogheda, in turn, who inspired his 1993 novel "Eleanor", which is perhaps his richest and most extraordinary work. In this novel, characters such as Harold Craxton , Barbara Hutton , Sydney and Violet Schiff and also Lord Drogheda, represented as the "gilded mosquito", were conjured up in varying degrees of fictional form. In October 2008 another novel was published with "Children in the Dark". His last work "The Night Sky" was published on January 28, 2010 posthumously.

In 1976 Fane married Gillian Swire, who was director of the Glyndebourne Opera House for several years .

plant

Julian Fane wrote a total of fifty works during his life. He described the outward appearance of his letter several times: he worked five hours a day, seven days a week; he used a fountain pen and lined paper. He ran his work with the utmost dedication. The seriousness of the literary existence did not allow him to waste his energy on "trivial events": "Social life is goodbye to art."

Awards

For his services to English literature , Fane was elected a member ( Fellow ) of the Royal Society of Literature in 1974.

Works

• Morning , London: Murray, 1956.
• A Letter , London: John Murray, 1960.
• Cautionary tales for women. A novel, London: Hamilton and St. George's Press, 1988.
• Byron's diary , Lewes: Book Guild, 2003.
• Damnation , Lewes: Book Guild, 2004.
• According to Robin , Lewes: Book Guild, 2006.

Web links

• Obituary in " The Times " on January 4, 2010.
• Obituary in The Daily Telegraph, December 23, 2009.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ London Gazette No. 34453 of November 10, 1937 p. 7048, accessed on March 26, 2013  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.