Angus Wilson Summary

"The novel must be thought about, intellectually thought about, hard," Angus Wilson said several years ago while lecturing in California on writing fiction. It must also be recharged with drama and wi... Read more

Angus Frank Johnstone Wilson was born on 11 August 1913 in Sussex, the sixth son of William Johnstone Wilson and Maude Caney Wilson, of Durban, South Africa. His father, a raffish sporting man who nev... Read more

In the following review, Benét praises The Wrong Set, noting that Wilson 's writing "is marked by sharp detail and a keen eye and ear. " These are very good short stories.... Read more

In this excerpt from his book-length study of Wilson, Faulkner analyzes the stories in Wilson's first two collections of short stories, noting the author's developing style. The title... Read more

In this essay, Stape analyzes a number of Wilson's lesser-known stories. The critic focuses on the incidents from the author's life that contributed to the tales and discusses the manner... Read more

In this mixed review of A Bit Off the Map, the critic approves of Wilson's "accurate " and "kindly " fictional observations but speculates that the stories might bec... Read more

In this essay, originally published in Cox's 1963 book The Free Spirit, the critic argues that Wilson's short stories represent a liberal humanist attitude but that the author's p... Read more

In this chapter from his book-length study of Wilson, Halio discusses the author's first two collections of short stories and outlines the characters, situations, and constructs employed in his... Read more

Oates is an American fiction writer and critic who is perhaps best known for her novel Them (1969), which won a National Book Award in 1970. Her fiction is noted for its exhaustive presentation of rea... Read more

Critical Essay by Jonathan Raban Who would choose to live in a novel by Angus Wilson? His characters are constantly exposed to the cruel publicity of society: everyone finds himself involuntarily, of... Read more

Critical Essay by Penelope Lively Setting the World on Fire is Angus Wilson's richest, most complex novel, if, in the last resort, one of the least satisfying. Yet, that being said, the dissat... Read more

Critical Essay by Robert Kiely [Although] the novel is old enough to have a "tradition," which some would like to mortify by calling "great," writers like Angus Wilson are... Read more

Critical Essay by Denis Donoghue It is well known that Wilson has been complicating his art in the later novels, beginning with No Laughing Matter…. His early novels, notably Hemlock and After... Read more