Compton Mackenzie Summary

Compton Mackenzie was one of the most prolific British authors of the twentieth century. His first book was published when he was in his mid-twenties and his last when he was nearly ninety. In fact, b... Read more

In the following review, Cooper praises the wealth of cultural and sociological information found in Sinister Street. Arnold Bennett recently wrote, “the older I grow, the less attention I p... Read more

In the following essay, Johnson considers Mackenzie as a romantic and a realist. Modern criticism has decided that, for all his outspoken revelations of the underworld, Mr Compton Mackenzie is esse... Read more

In the following essay, Adcock offers a brief overview of Mackenzie's life and career. From a literary and dramatic point of view, Compton Mackenzie may almost be said to have been born in t... Read more

In the following essay, Doane traces Mackenzie's stylistic maturation as evinced in his fiction. In this short study of the earlier work of Mr. Compton Mackenzie let us judge according to hi... Read more

In the following excerpt, Alexander considers Mackenzie and Sheila Kaye-Smith as Catholic novelists. There is a suggestion of the absurd in choosing, as those who best represent the novel on its pr... Read more

In the following essay, Robertson explores the main features of Mackenzie's religious trilogy—The Altar Steps, The Parson's Progress, and The Heavenly Ladder. In 1922 Compton M... Read more

In the following favorable review, originally published in June 1956, Waugh asserts that Mackenzie “gently and wisely expounds the deterioration of a human character” in Thin Ice. For... Read more

In the following interview, Mackenzie discusses his childhood, his education, and the impact of World War I on his writing. [Freeman:] Sir Compton Mackenzie, in the course of a long life you have b... Read more

In the following essay, Young offers a biographical and critical overview of Mackenzie's life and work. I It may seem superfluous, if not a presumption, to write about the life of Sir Compto... Read more

In the following essay, Dooley examines the subject matter of Mackenzie's satirical, topical novels. A traditional function of the writer of fiction has been to throw new light on questions ... Read more

In the following excerpt, Hart considers the melodramatic story line of Mackenzie's The Four Winds of Love. When Compton Mackenzie began publishing The Four Winds of Love in 1937, he had alr... Read more

In the following review, Woolf maintains that the characters in The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett are better-suited for films than for fiction. When we say that the adventures of Syl... Read more

In the following essay, Masters recounts Mackenzie's espionage activities in Greece, his trial for revealing sensitive intelligence information, and publication of his “revenge” n... Read more

In the following review, Hackett contends that The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett is full of cheap puns and slapstick and exhibits a lack of didacticism. For a long time the best nove... Read more

In the following essay, West offers a favorable review of Sylvia and Michael. This sequel to Sylvia Scarlett [Sylvia and Michael]—or rather this concluding half of Sylvia Scarlett which the ... Read more

In the following excerpt, Goldring places Mackenzie within the context of two other popular British novelists, Hugh Walpole and Gilbert Cannan. If the ordinary circulating library subscriber were a... Read more

Critical Essay by Cuthbert Wright "Sinister Street" is the second and final volume of that study in adolescence of which "Youth's Encounter" was the prologue…... Read more

Critical Essay by George Dangerfield I cannot help thinking that "Again to the North" is a somewhat unnecessary book. It is an example of what Coleridge called the cacoethes notandi. It... Read more

Critical Essay by J.i.m. Stewart Water on the Brain is a squib that in places is very funny indeed. It is also entirely unambitious, since loaded with nonsense reducing it well below the level of sat... Read more