Guy Cuthbertson – författare

Edward Thomas is an important figure in the English literary canon, a major twentieth-century poet, he was also one of England's most experienced and respected Edwardian and Georgian critics, and an observer of the countryside second to none. Although he died at the age of only 39, his prose output was massive and encompassed a range of genres: biography, autobiography, essays, reviews, fiction, nature books, travel writings, and anthologies. While Thomas's stature as a poet is widely appreciated, his prose works have yet to be given their critical due - in large part because scholarly editions have hitherto been lacking. Edward Thomas: Prose Writings: A Selected Edition shows that Thomas's prose deserves to be much better known, by literary scholars but also the general reading public. This six-volume edition establishes him as one of the most important prose writers in English, who contributed remarkable ideas and representations of the self and community, the landscape and ecology, literature and history, the spiritual and artistic life. It is the definitive edition of Thomas's prose and a significant scholarly resource for the twenty-first century. The second volume contains Thomas's writings on England and Wales, and is mostly concerned with his response to the countryside. It covers the entirety of his writing career, showing the development of his identity and style. Works appear in chronological order within the volume, which begins with a comprehensive introduction, providing biographical details, an account of the circumstances of composition, historical contextualisation of the volume's themes and concerns, and an interpretation based on original research. Thomas's complex and brilliant prose, intricately woven using many quotations and allusions, is elucidated by a detailed headnote at the start of each work, and by extensive annotation.

Autobiographies is the first volume in Edward Thomas: Prose Writings: A Selected Edition. It contains the autobiographical prose of one of the most respected British writers of the twentieth century, including the autobiographical story The Happy-Go-Lucky Morgans, the posthumously published 'autobiography' The Childhood of Edward Thomas, the essay 'How I Began', the previously unpublished 'Addenda to Autobiography', and a long section from 'Fiction' (also previously unpublished). In these works, all written between 1912 and 1914, Thomas provides a remarkable portrait of his childhood and teenage years in London, Wiltshire, and Wales. Writing this prose was a journey away from a troubled present back into earlier and happier experiences, but these unique autobiographies also have much in common with his other prose works.The complexity and brilliance of Thomas's autobiographical prose is discussed and revealed in a long introduction, by a detailed headnote at the start of each work, and by extensive annotation. Thomas's prose has never previously been given the scholarly attention that it receives here. Although Thomas's autobiographies are very accessible, and written with a longing for the simplicity of childhood, they are also intricately woven, using many quotations and allusions. The longest of the works, The Happy-Go-Lucky Morgans, is both his simplest prose work and his most complex. Indeed, Autobiographies contains some of Thomas's finest prose, written in the two years, and in some cases merely a few months, before his decision to start writing the poetry for which he is most, and greatly, esteemed. Edward Thomas: Prose Writings: A Selected Edition will appeal to those who know and admire his prose, as well as those who have never encountered it before, and show that Thomas's prose, not least his autobiographical prose, deserves to be much better known.

One of Britain’s best-known and most loved poets, Wilfred Owen (1893–1918) was killed at age 25 on one of the last days of the First World War, having acted heroically as soldier and officer despite his famous misgivings about the war's rationale and conduct. He left behind a body of poetry that sensitively captured the pity, rage, valor, and futility of the conflict.In this new biography Guy Cuthbertson provides a fresh account of Owen's life and formative influences: the lower-middle-class childhood that he tried to escape; the places he lived in, from Birkenhead to Bordeaux; his class anxieties and his religious doubts; his sexuality and friendships; his close relationship with his mother and his childlike personality.  Cuthbertson chronicles a great poet's growth to poetic maturity, illuminates the social strata of the extraordinary Edwardian era, and adds rich context to how Owen's enduring verse can be understood.

A vibrant account of the remarkable novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover, tracing its life over the last centuryD. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover is one of the best-known and most resonant works of the twentieth century. Originally considered obscene and unpublishable in numerous countries, its scandalous story of class divide and the English countryside is infamous. But, since the 1920s, we have repeatedly re-created Lady Chatterley, from film and TV to music and tourism.Guy Cuthbertson tells the colourful story of the novel’s journey through the last hundred years. He examines how the book has been read, adapted, and reimagined across the globe, from the United States to Japan, and explores the 1960 “Chatterley trial”—a key moment in the struggle for freedom of expression. It might have been burnt and derided, laughed at and defaced, but Lawrence’s novel has crept into all walks of life. Whether the book, or its influence, be good or bad, we live in a world that Lady Chatterley’s Lover helped to create.

When Edward Thomas died in the First World War, very few of his poems had been published, but he was recognised as one of the finest and most influential poets. This work captures the range of Thomas' achievement, not least by combining poetry with prose. It also includes an introduction, and four critical essays.