Michael Holroyd

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Sir Michael De Courcy Fraser Holroyd , CBE (born August 27, 1935 ) is an English biographer .

Life

Holroyd attended Eton College and began his career as a biographer in the 1960s. In particular, his two-volume work on Lytton Strachey was hailed as groundbreaking and was the basis for the 1995 film Carrington . This was later followed by biographies of Augustus John , George Bernard Shaw , Ellen Terry and Henry Irving . He also published his own memoirs .

In addition, Holroyd held a leading position in various literary organizations and societies, e. B. 1985 to 1988 at the British P.EN Center . He is a Fellow , Companion of Literature and President Emeritus of the Royal Society of Literature . In 2005 he received the David Cohen Prize for Lifetime Achievement.

Holroyd is married to Margaret Drabble and lives in London and Somerset .

Works (selection)

  • Hugh Kingsmill . A Critical Biography . 2nd edition Heinemann, London 1971.
  • Augustus John. A biography . Hutchinson, London 1997, ISBN 0-09-933301-5 (2 volumes).
  • Bernard Shaw, Mage of Reason: a biography ("Bernard Shaw"). Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt / M. 1995, ISBN 3-518-40722-8 .
  • Carrington. A love from Lytton Strachey ("Lytton Strachey. The New Biography"). Rowohlt, Reinbek 1995, ISBN 3-499-13669-4 .
  • Basil Street Blues . Little, Brown, London 1999, ISBN 0-316-64815-9 .
  • Works on paper. The Craft of Biography and Autobiography . Little, Brown, London 2002, ISBN 0-316-85678-9 .
  • Mosaic. Portraits in fragments . Little, Brown, London 2004, ISBN 0-316-72505-6 .
  • A strange eventful history. The Dramatic Lives of Ellen Terry, Henry Irving and their Remarkable Families . Vintage Books, London 2009, ISBN 978-0-099-49718-9 .

Film adaptations

  • Christopher Hampton (Director): Carrington. Love to death. 1985 (based on the biography of the same name).
  • Chris Hunt (Director): George Bernard Shaw. Michael Holroyd tells his life. 1989 (based on the biography of the same name).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b page on Holroyd at contemporarywriters.com ( Memento from December 15, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Holroyd, Michael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Holroyd, Sir Michael; Holroyd, Michael De Courcy Fraser; Holroyd, Sir Michael De Courcy Fraser
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British biographer
DATE OF BIRTH August 27, 1935