Martin Armstrong (writer)

Martin Donisthorpe Armstrong (born October 2, 1882 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne , † February 24, 1974 ) was a British writer, poet, editor and journalist. The author, particularly popular in England in the 1930s, who knew how to use the medium of broadcasting , wrote in a variety of forms in order to later specialize in fiction . With his poems, which are still popular in British teaching today, he was also one of the representatives of Georgian poetry . Some of his short stories , which can be counted as part of the horror or fantasy genre , are appreciated internationally in the scene and some of them have been made into a film.

Life

Born on October 2, 1882 near Newcastle-upon-Tyne as the eldest son of Charles Armstrong into an upper middle-class family, Armstrong had a happy childhood, as he described in his autobiography Victorian Peep Show (1938).

Armstrong, described as typically English , was distantly related to William Wordsworth . His maternal grandmother was Wordsworth's cousin.

He went to Charterhouse School and studied at Pembroke College , Cambridge . There he graduated with a BA in natural sciences, but was nevertheless interested in the humanities, modern literature, music and art. During the First World War , he joined the Artists' Rifles volunteer regiment as a soldier . In 1915 he was posted to the Middlesex Regiment in France and promoted to lieutenant in 1916.

As a result of his inclusion in the collection of Georgian Poetry 1920–22 (1922) edited by Edward Marsh , he is counted among the Georgian Poets . Although Armstrong would have been expected in the first volumes based on his date of birth, he was only represented in the last volume. This was probably due to the fact that his talent for poetry only developed relatively late, when Georgian poetry was drawing to a close. After his military service he became a journalist and editor. This brought him to writing poetry and prose. Despite being a distant descendant of Woodsworth, he had little use for Romanticism and preferred the Renaissance poets and metaphysicians. There are fourteen letters in the Berg Collection that were exchanged between Armstrong and Marsh between 1922 and 1937. They prove the well-being and the congeniality that existed between the two. Although they had never met before, Armstrong accepted the editor's invitation on January 12, 1922 with his three poems ( The Buzzards , Honey Harvest , Miss Thompson Goes Shopping , all from The Buzzards and Other Poems of 1921) in Volume 5 the Georgian Poetry to appear. In April of that year he was invited to a very indifferent retirement dinner at Marsh. Before the end of the year, they both called each other by their first names.

In 1929 he married the Canadian writer Jessie McDonald after her divorce from Conrad Aiken . This made Martin Armstrong, who was originally friends with Conrad Aiken, the stepfather of the young Joan Aiken , who continued to grow up in a completely literary environment. Conrad Aiken, in turn, took on traits Armstrong, who had acted as his literary agent in England, as a character in his work Ushant . In any case, Conrad Aiken and Martin Armstrong seem to have repeatedly delivered points to each other in literary terms. In 1923, for example, Armstrong was astonished at the limitations of Aiken's praise for Emily Dickinson .

In a way, Martin Armstrong seems to have provided the impetus for Joan Aiken's literary path. In the late 1930s, Armstrong scripted the BBC 's Children's Hour , called Said the Cat to the Dog . Joan Aiken used this suggestion at the age of 16 for a sketch called Yes, But Today is Tuesday , in which the Armitage family woke up one Tuesday morning to find a unicorn in their garden. She successfully offered this story to the BBC.

When the British Broadcasting Corporation ventured into spoken editions of the Canterbury Tales after the Second World War , Armstrong made the good argument in a review that while it was not a problem for today's modern reader to follow Geoffrey Chaucer's lines , he did so while listening understanding it would be a much greater challenge. He found Nevill Coghill's production confusing, but nevertheless successful, as Chaucer was made for radio thanks to the precision of his visual details, his hidden humor and the perfection of his portrait drawings.

reception

Some thought Armstrong was underrated and placed him in a comparative study on a par with DH Lawrence , Walter de la Mare , Leonard Alfred George Strong and Osbert Sitwell . On the other hand, one complained in his poems of a certain carelessness in the use of adjectives, while one praised his middle-class humor in describing everyday things, e.g. B. especially with the poem Miss Thompson Goes Shopping . Miss Thompson Goes Shopping was later used for poetry analysis in Cambridge because of its pictorial language. Mégroz also praised Armstrong's empathy when describing the fascination of music, for example in his short story Symphony in G Minor from The Bazaar or in his novella Adrain Glynde , where he used the opportunity to describe the music as well as the thoughts of a musician.

The selection of his three poems in Georgian Poetry was universally welcomed as they were found to be good overall - full of light, color and taste of the real world. The aforementioned Miss Thomspon Goes Shopping was also praised for its humor in this case. It seems that this poem was part of the curriculum in English schools until the 1950s because of its clarity in excerpts.

Even today, the poem is offered separately with significant words: The poem is a piece of pure fun and one can't help picturing Armstrong smiling to himself as he wrote it. It tells of a shopping trip in the days before supermarkets, detailing the characterful shops and shop-keepers and an irresistible impulse buy. And BBC Radio 4 took it in 2010 in Roger McGough's program Poetry Please among the poems to be featured, in which an archive contribution by Henry Sandon was recorded.

His twelve or so novels, with which he was still striving for the most substantial completion of his artistic work, did not hold up well in the educational canon. Written in the Edwardian tradition of Arnold Bennett or John Galsworthy , they portray the upper middle class society from which Armstrong himself came. Their characters mostly reflect those values ​​for which he himself stood up: respect for justice and tradition, love for the landscape and concern for the harmonious relationship between the sexes. At the same time, his novellas denounced those upper class values ​​that he regretted: snobbery , materialism and indifference . These conflicted elements shaped a type of novel in which Armstrong's characters often looked in vain for affection and justice in a flawed world.

In addition to his poems, his short stories have been remembered in anthologies to this day. The story The pipe smoker from the short story collection General Buntop's Miracle and Other Stories from 1934 has been widely remembered to this day, as it has been reprinted in various horror anthologies to this day. One of the better-known examples is the merchandising - anthology series Alfred Hitchcock Presents ... , in the second edition of 1963 this story alongside works of u. a. Ambrose Bierce , DuBose Heyward , August Derleth , Alexander Woollcott and Alfred Noyes found their place. The work was subsequently also translated into Norwegian and included in local anthologies: for example in 1975 in Kaldt nedover ryggen: Spøkelseshistorier by André Bjerke. In this case, the compilation also combined works by Agatha Christie , Edgar Allan Poe , HG Wells , DH Lawrence, Hugh Walpole , Arthur Conan Doyle and Guy de Maupassant, among others . Armstrong also seemed to have a particular affinity for Ambrose Bierce, as he penned the preface to The Eyes of the Panther .

After Armstrong's short stories were published in some English-language short-story anthologies in the German-speaking countries of the 1930s , a smaller collection of his supernatural stories, especially The Pipe Smoker, was finally published in German translation for the youth book sector three years after his death . Before that, it appeared in German in 1956 only through its introduction to the translated works of Mary Webb . In Spanish , El fumador de pipa has also survived over the decades.

In general, Armstrong seems to enjoy a certain popularity in the horror and fantasy community due to three collections of short stories that he published between 1924 and 1934 thanks to his ghost stories and imaginative fairy tales: The Bazaar and Other Stories (including: "Mrs Barber's Christmas "," Helm Hall "and" A Dog's Life "), The Fiery Dive and Other Stories (therein:" The Fiery Dive "," In the Wilds "," Portrait of the Misses Harlowe "," Saint Hercules "," Sombrero "," Widow of Ephesus ") and General Buntop's Miracle and Other Stories (therein:" Presence of Mind ", and" The Pipe Smoker ").

Another short story that remained in the repertoire of the English educational horizon for a long time, although it did not belong to the genre mentioned above, was The poets and the housewife , which appeared in British short stories of today by Penguin in 1987 .

The timelessness of his smaller works can also be seen in the fact that poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy is planning a collection of twelve festive Christmas poems for the end of 2011, in which, in addition to John Short , Martin Armstrong will also be represented with a poem. 7.5 percent of the sales proceeds will go to Amnesty International .

The fact that his autobiographical sketch Victorian Peep Show , which describes his life up to the age of twelve, is an important source for research into everyday and childhood history at the end of the 19th century is one of the unexpected twists in literary history .

Adaptations

His novels have not been adapted for television or film. But his short stories offered better potential. So, The Bachelor was used for the episode show Ford Theater: All Star Theater . The highly acclaimed short story of just seven pages, The Rivals , which in its basic design to the younger, but because of the Hitchcock film Strangers on a train -known Roman Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a train recalls (1950), discovered in the BBC series Appointment with Drama 1955 an adaptation in which the opponents were played by Rupert Davies and Leonard Sachs and even directed by Tony Richardson . At least the film title, the mystery genre and the relatively short length of 16 minutes give an indication that El fumador de pipa was also made into a film in 1995 . With this, Armstrong, along with James Elroy Flecker, had the greatest echo of the Georgian poetrists on the film medium.

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Poems

• Exodus (1912)
• Thirty New Poems . Chapman and Hall, London 1918
• The Buzzards and Other Poems (1921)
• The Bird-catcher and other poems (1929)
• Collected Poems (1931)
• Chichester Concert (1944) ( Ode )

Biographies

• Lady Hester Stanhope (1920) ( biography )
• Spanish Circus: Charles IV of Spain (1937)
• Victorian Peepshow (1938) ( autobiography )

Short stories

• The Puppet Show (1922)
• The Bazaar and Other Stories (1924)
• Sir Pompey and Madame Juno (1927)
• Saint Hercules and Other Stories (1927) (Illustrations: Paul Nash )
• Portrait of the Misses Harlowe (1928) story
• The Fiery Dive and Other Stories (1929)
• General Buntop's Miracle and Other Stories (1934)
• A Case of Conscience and Other Tales (1937)
  • The pipe smoker and other incredible stories . ed. by Elke Kahlert, Domino-Verl. Brinek, Munich 1977.

Short stories & novels

• The Goat and Compasses (1925)
• Desert, a legend . Wood engravings : Eric Ravilious , Jonathan Cape 1926.
• The Stepson (1927)
• St. Christopher's Day (1928)
• The Sleeping Fury (1929)
• Adrian Glynde, A Novel (1930)
• Blind Man's Mark (1931)
• The Paintbox, "How and Why" Series (1931)
• The Romantic Adventures of Mr. Darby and of Sarah his Wife (1931)
• Lover's Leap (1932)
• Venus Over Lannery (1936)

Anthologies

• The Sleeping Fury . Collection of British and American authors; Vol. 4929, Bernhard Tauchnitz, Leipzig 1930
• The Fothergill Omnibus (1931)
• Fifty-four Conceits: A Collection of Epigrams and Epitaphs Serious and Comic (1933)
• Lover's Leap: A story in 3 voices . The Albatross modern continental library; Vol. 62, The Albatross, Hamburg a. a. 1934
• The Albatross Book of short stories: first English series . The Albatross modern continental library; Vol. 100. The Albatross, Hamburg a. a. 1934
• The Major Pleasures of Life, An Anthology (1943)

Essays

• Laughing (1928)

Editing

• Jeremy Taylor, A selection from his works (1923)
• The Foster-Mother (NA)
• The Essential Mary Webb . Cape 1949.
  • Mary Gladys Meredith Webb: Over the hills and into the distance: a fragment of a novel u. 10 stories . With a foreword by Martin Armstrong. German by NO Scarpi. Fretz & Wasmuth, Zurich / Stuttgart 1956

Translations

• Don Pedro Antonio de Alarcon: The Three-Cornered Hat . Gerald Howe Ltd, London 1928.

Web links

• Literature by and about Martin Armstrong in the catalog of the German National Library
• Martin Armstrong in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Martin Armstrong in the Gutenberg project

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Rodolphe Louis Mégroz: Five novelist poets of to-day . (1st ed., Ayer Publishing, London 1933) Books for Libraries Press, Freeport 1969, pp. 111–149, here p. 111.
2. ^ John D. Gordan: Letters to an Editor, 1912-1922. An Exhibition from the Berg Collection , Ayer Publishing, New York 1967, p. 21.
3. ^ John D. Gordan: Letters to an Editor, 1912-1922. An Exhibition from the Berg Collection , Ayer Publishing, New York 1967, p. 22.
4. ↑ Ted Ray Spivey: Time's stop in Savannah: Conrad Aiken's inner journey . Mercer University Press, Macon 1996. p. 54.
5. ^ Anita Silvey: The essential guide to children's books and their creators . Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston / New York 2002, p. 8.
6. ^ Edward Butscher: Conrad Aiken: Poet of White Horse Vale . University of Georgia Press, 2010, p. 200.
7. ↑ Martha D. Bianchi; Emily Dickinson: The life and letters of Emily Dickinson . Biblo Tannen, (1st edition 1924) NA New York 1971, p. 13.
8. ^ Marietta Messmer: Dickinson's Critical Reception . In: Gudrun Grabher, Roland Hagenbüchle, Cristanne Miller (eds.): The Emily Dickinson handbook . University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst 1998, p. 299ff., Here: p. 304.
9. ↑ See Martin Armstrong: The Poetry of Emily Dickinson. in Blake and Wells: Recognition of Emily Dickinson , p. 108.
10. ^ Iain Emsley: Today is Tuesday . In: januarymagazine.com, December 2008
11. ↑ Julia Eccleshare: Joan Aiken: Outstanding storyteller with an unusual ability to write for all ages . In: The Guardian , Jan. 7, 2004.
12. ^ Roger Simpson: Radio Camelot: Arthurian legends on the BBC, 1922-2005 . DS Brewer, Cambridge et al. a. 2008, p. 33.
13. ^ Martin Armstrong: The Spoken Word . In: Listener 36, October 31, 1946, p. 608.
14. ↑ Rodolphe Louis Mégroz: Five novelist poets of to-day . (1st ed., Ayer Publishing, London 1933) Books for Libraries Press, Freeport 1969, pp. 114-117.
15. ↑ http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/8gp0510h.htm#misthom
16. ^ Poems for pleasure . Cosen and edited by AF Scott, Vol. III. Comentary on selected poems, Cambridge University Press 1955, p. 14.
17. ↑ Timothy Rogers: Georgian poetry 1911-22: the critical heritage . Routledge, London 1997, p. 271.
18. ↑ http://allpoetry.com/poem/8591683-Miss_Thompson_Goes_Shopping-by-Martin_Armstrong
19. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated December 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
20. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00swlfq
21. ↑ See George M. Johnson: Late-Victorian and Edwardian British novelists . Gale Research, Detroit 1999, p. 4.
22. ^ Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Bar the Doors, Dell Books 1962
23. ↑ kaldt nedover ryggen: Spøkelseshistorier , Den norske Bokklubben, Oslo 1975th
24. ^ Ambrose Bierce: The Eyes of the Panther , introduced by Martin Armstrong, J. Cape (London), 1928.
25. ↑ http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/ambrose-bierce
26. ↑ The Pipe Smoker and Other Unbelievable Stories . ed. by Elke Kahlert, Domino-Verl. Brinek, Munich 1977.
27. ↑ Mary Gladys Meredith Webb: Over the Hills and Into the Distance: A Novel Fragment and 10 Tales . With a foreword by Martin Armstrong. German by NO Scarpi. Fretz & Wasmuth, Zurich / Stuttgart 1956.
28. ↑ http://www.lashistorias.com.mx/index.php/archivo/el-fumador-de-pipa/
29. ↑ http://www.javiermarias.es/REDONDIANA/cuentosunicos.html
30. ↑ A Guide to Supernatural Fiction ( Memento of the original from April 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
31. ^ Esmor Jones .: British short stories of today . Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England, Penguin 1987, ISBN 978-0140079968
32. ↑ http://www.foyles.co.uk/news/carol-ann-duffy-contributes-to-christmas-poetry-collection
33. ↑ On the influence of adult clothing on children: Laura Ugolini: Men and menswear: sartorial consumption in Britain 1880-1939 . Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot et al. a. 2007, p. 33.
34. ↑ Jeffrey E. Long: Remembered childhoods: a guide to autobiography and memoirs of childhood and youth . Libraries Unlimited, Westport 2007, p. 185.
35. ↑ Erhard Chvojka: History of the grandparent roles: from the 16th to the 20th century . Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 2003, p. 369.
36. ↑ http://www.tv.com/martin-donisthorpe-armstrong/person/285209/appearances.html
37. ↑ Analyzing essay on The Rivals ( Memento of the original from April 27, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English; MS Word ; 27 kB) 
38. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587940/
39. ↑ http://www.imdb.de/title/tt0425045/
40. ↑ http://www.acfc.co.uk/2007_Patch_Rogers/oi157.shtml