A. C. Benson
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Arthur Christopher Benson (24 April 1862 – 17 June 1925), was a British essayist, poet and author, one of six children of Edward White Benson, a late nineteenth-century Archbishop of Canterbury. An uncle of the family was philosopher Henry Sidgwick. The Benson family were exceptionally literate and accomplished, but their history was somewhat tragic. A son and daughter died young, and another daughter, as well as Arthur himself, suffered badly from a mental condition that was probably manic-depressive psychosis, which they had inherited from their father. None of the children ever married.
Despite his illness, Arthur was a distinguished academic and a most prolific author. He was associated at Eton College, and was Master of Magdalene College of Cambridge University. His poems and volumes of essays, such as From a College Window, were famous in his day, and he left one of the longest diaries ever written, some four million words.
Today he is best remembered as the author of the words to one of Britain's best-loved patriotic songs, Land of Hope and Glory, and as a brother to novelist E. F. Benson.
[edit] Works
- The Hill of Trouble and Other Stories (1903)
- The Isles of Sunset (1904)
- The Child of the Dawn (1911)
- Paul the Minstrel and Other Stories (1911)
- Escape and Other Essays (1916)
- Basil Netherby (1926)
[edit] References
- Tuck, Donald H. (1974). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Chicago: Advent, 39. ISBN 0-911682-20-1.
- Wilson, Keith. "A. C. Benson," in Robert Beum, ed., Dictionary of Literary Biography: British Essayists, 1880-1960. Detroit: Gale, 1990, 192-204.
[edit] External links
