Biographies & Criticism Archives

Biographies & Criticism

Margaret Oliphant was my first biography. Effie Ruskin was her exact contemporary, and I very much enjoyed telling her story. I’m also very interested in the First World War poets, and publish literary reviews regularly.

Preface to Hardy (Longman)

Women in the English Novel, 1800-1900 (Macmillan)

Margaret Oliphant: A Critical Biograp9hy (Macmillan)

Six Women Novelists (Macmillan)

Wilfred Owen (Seren)

Effie: A Victorian Scandal (The Book Guild)

T.P. Cameron Wilson (Cecil Woolf, War Poets series).

Effie: A Victorian Scandal

EFFIE: A VICTORIAN SCANDAL

from Ruskin’s wife to Millais’ muse

Effie Gray was the wife of two distinguished Victorians, John Ruskin and John Everett Millais, in an age when divorce was almost impossible. The…

ONE-HIT WONDERS: SIX POETS OF THE GREAT WAR

The greater poets of the Great War – Owen, Sassoon, Rosenberg – left a substantial body of work based upon their…

One Hit Wonders

The greater poets of the Great War – Owen, Sassoon, Rosenberg – left a substantial body of work based upon their experiences. It took a long time, but their place in literary history is now secure.

…

by Merryn Williams

A Preface To Hardy

Preface to Hardy by Merryn Williams is a critical introduction to the work of Thomas Hardy. In this essay, Williams examines Hardy’s themes, style, and philosophical outlook, exploring his treatment of fate, suffering, social constraint, and rural life. The piece provides context for Hardy’s poetry and fiction, offering insight into his pessimism, his sense of tragedy, and his distinctive narrative voice.

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