Member Since:
May 02, 2024
Henry Williamson
Biography
The writer Henry Williamson was born in London in 1895.
Naturalist, soldier, journalist, farmer, motor enthusiast and author of over fifty books, his descriptions of nature and the First World War have been highly praised for their accuracy.
He is best known as the author of Tarka the Otter, which won the Hawthornden Prize for Literature in 1928 and was filmed in 1977. By one of those extraordinary coincidences, Henry Williamson died while the crew were actually filming the death scene of Tarka.
His writing falls into clear groups:
1) Nature writings, of which Tarka the Otter and Salar the Salmon are the most well known, but which also include, amongst many others, The Peregrine's Saga, The Old Stag and The Phasian Bird.
2) Henry Williamson served throughout the First World War.The Wet Flanders Plain, A Patriot's Progress, and no less than five books of the 15-volume Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight (How Dear is Life, A Fox Under My Cloak, The Golden Virgin, Love and the Loveless and A Test to Destruction) cover the reality of the years 1914–1918, both in England and on the Western Front.
3) A further grouping concerns the social history aspect of his work in the 'Village' books (The Village Book and The Labouring Life), the four-volume Flax of Dream and the volumes of the Chronicle. But all of these groups can be found in any of his books.
Some readers are only interested in a particular aspect of his writing, but to truly understand Henry Williamson's achievement it is necessary to take account of all of his books, for their extent reflects his complex character. The whole of life, the human, animal and plant worlds, can be found within his writings. He was a man of difficult temperament but he had a depth of talent that he used to the full.
The Henry Williamson Society was founded in 1980, and has published a number of collections of Williamson's journalism, which are now being published as e-books.
Naturalist, soldier, journalist, farmer, motor enthusiast and author of over fifty books, his descriptions of nature and the First World War have been highly praised for their accuracy.
He is best known as the author of Tarka the Otter, which won the Hawthornden Prize for Literature in 1928 and was filmed in 1977. By one of those extraordinary coincidences, Henry Williamson died while the crew were actually filming the death scene of Tarka.
His writing falls into clear groups:
1) Nature writings, of which Tarka the Otter and Salar the Salmon are the most well known, but which also include, amongst many others, The Peregrine's Saga, The Old Stag and The Phasian Bird.
2) Henry Williamson served throughout the First World War.The Wet Flanders Plain, A Patriot's Progress, and no less than five books of the 15-volume Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight (How Dear is Life, A Fox Under My Cloak, The Golden Virgin, Love and the Loveless and A Test to Destruction) cover the reality of the years 1914–1918, both in England and on the Western Front.
3) A further grouping concerns the social history aspect of his work in the 'Village' books (The Village Book and The Labouring Life), the four-volume Flax of Dream and the volumes of the Chronicle. But all of these groups can be found in any of his books.
Some readers are only interested in a particular aspect of his writing, but to truly understand Henry Williamson's achievement it is necessary to take account of all of his books, for their extent reflects his complex character. The whole of life, the human, animal and plant worlds, can be found within his writings. He was a man of difficult temperament but he had a depth of talent that he used to the full.
The Henry Williamson Society was founded in 1980, and has published a number of collections of Williamson's journalism, which are now being published as e-books.
Where to find Henry Williamson online
Website: http://www.henrywilliamson.co.uk
Books
Stumberleap, and other Devon writings: Contributions to the Daily Express and Sunday Express, 1915-1935
by Henry Williamson
Series: Henry Williamson Collections, Book 1.
Price:
$5.50 USD.
Words: 53,800.
Language:
English.
Originally Published: April 29, 2013
by
Henry Williamson.
Categories:
Essay » Literature
A collection of nature essays and sketches of village life in Georgeham, N Devon, in the 1920s, together with powerful pieces on World War 1. Included also are some of Williamson's classic short stories, including ‘Stumberleap’, the mysterious 'Whatever Has Happened' and 'The Heller'. Illustrated with contemporary photographs.
Chronicles of a Norfolk Farmer: Contributions to the Daily Express, 1937-1939
by Henry Williamson
Series: Henry Williamson Collections, Book 2.
Price:
$5.50 USD.
Words: 56,390.
Language:
English.
Originally Published: January 7, 2013
by
Henry Williamson.
Categories:
Nonfiction » Biography, Essay » Author profile
Covering Williamson's last months at Shallowford in Devon, the family's move to a derelict farm in North Norfolk in 1937, the difficulties encountered by a total beginner to farming – including the disastrous crash in the price of barley in 1938 – and the opening months of the Second World War, these 45 articles form a fascinating contemporary record of those times.