Dodo Collections brings you another classic from Arnold Bennett, ‘Tales of the Five Towns’.
This book of short stories is humorous, poignant, gripping, and occasionally tragic. Bennett writes with charm and good humor, but his observations about human behavior and foibles are astute (and trenchant). He also casts a benevolent and understanding eye on all his characters: even the antagonists (one could scarcely call them villains) are shown to be acting out of ignorance or misunderstanding, or from plausible (if misguided) motives. Just as his characters aren’t all good or all bad, his story endings don’t go where the conventional set-ups seem to point. Instead they ring true with a stamp of life and character that marks Bennett as a true master. The final story in the collection, ‘A Letter Home, ‘ is brief but packs quite a wallop!
Bennett (1867-1931) was a British novelist. He was born in a modest house in Hanley in the Potteries district of Staffordshire. At age 21 he went to London as a solicitor’s clerk. He won a literary competition in Tit Bits magazine in 1889 and was encouraged to take up journalism full time. From 1900 he devoted himself full time to writing, giving up the editorship and writing much serious criticism, and also theatre journalism, one of his special interests. In 1902 Anna of the Five Towns, the first of a succession of stories which detailed life in the Potteries appeared. In 1908 The Old Wives’ Tale was published, and was an immediate success throughout the English-speaking world. His most famous works are the Clayhanger (1910) trilogy and The Old Wives’ Tale. These books draw on his experience of life in the Potteries, as did most of his best work. Among his other books are: The Grand Babylon Hotel (1902), The Grim Smile of the Five Towns (1907), Hilda Lessways (1911), The Author’s Craft (1914), The Lion’s Share (1916), and The Roll-Call (1919).
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