Arnold Bennett

The story takes place in 1919-1920 and deals with the final year in the life of its main character, Henry Earlforward, a miser, who keeps a second-hand bookshop in the Clerkenwell area of London. Henry marries Violet Arb, a widow who keeps a neighbouring shop, and who sees in Henry a financially secure future. Henry's parsimony drives them into an increasingly wretched existence. Their lives are contrasted to that of their maid servant Elsie Sprickett and it is she, despite her extreme poverty, who brings life and a future to the bittersweet tale.

There grows in the North Country a certain kind of youth of whom it may be said that he is born to be a Londoner. The metropolis, and everything that appertains to it, that comes down from it, that goes up into it, has for him an imperious fascination. Long before schooldays are over he learns to take a doleful pleasure in watching the exit of the London train from the railway station. He stands by the hot engine and envies the very stoker. Gazing curiously into the carriages, he wonders that men and women who in a few hours will be treading streets called Piccadilly and the Strand can contemplate the immediate future with so much apparent calmness; some of them even have the audacity to look bored. He finds it difficult to keep from throwing himself in the guard's van as it glides past him; and not until the last coach is a speck upon the distance does he turn away and, nodding absently to the ticket-clerk, who knows him well, go home to nurse a vague ambition and dream of Town. London is the place where newspapers are issued, books written, and plays performed. And this youth, who now sits in an office, reads all the newspapers. He knows exactly when a new work by a famous author should appear, and awaits the reviews with impatience.

The plain man on a plain day wakes up, slowly or quickly according to his temperament, and greets the day in a mental posture which might be thus expressed in words: "Oh, Lord Another day What a grind " If you ask me whom I mean by the plain man, my reply is that I mean almost every man. I mean you. I certainly mean me. I mean the rich and the poor, the successful and the unsuccessful, the idle and the diligent, the luxurious and the austere. For, what with the limits of digestion, the practical impossibility of wearing two neckties at once, the insecurity of investments, the responsibilities of wealth and of success, the exhaustingness of the search for pleasure, and the cheapness of travel-the real differences between one sort of plain man and another are slight in these times. (And indeed they always were slight.)

In the evening dimness of old Mrs. Maldon's sitting-room stood the youthful virgin, Rachel Louisa Fleckring. The prominent fact about her appearance was that she wore an apron. Not one of those white, waist-tied aprons, with or without bibs, worn proudly, uncompromisingly, by a previous generation of unaspiring housewives and housegirls But an immense blue pinafore-apron, covering the whole front of the figure except the head, hands, and toes. Its virtues were that it fully protected the most fragile frock against all the perils of the kitchen; and that it could be slipped on or off in one second, without any manipulation of tapes, pins, or buttons and buttonholes-for it had no fastenings of any sort and merely yawned behind. In one second the drudge could be transformed into the elegant infanta of boudoirs, and vice versa. To suit the coquetry of the age the pinafore was enriched with certain flouncings, which, however, only intensified its unshapen ugliness.

The piece was a West End success so brilliant that even if you belonged to the intellectual despisers of the British theatre you could not hold up your head in the world unless you had seen it; even for such as you it was undeniably a success of curiosity at least. The stage scene flamed extravagantly with crude orange and viridian light, a rectangle of bedazzling illumination; on the boards, in the midst of great width, with great depth behind them and arching height above, tiny squeaking figures ogled the primeval passion in gesture and innuendo. From the arc of the upper circle convergent beams of light pierced through gloom and broke violently on this group of the half-clad lovely and the swathed grotesque. The group did not quail. In fullest publicity it was licensed to say that which in private could not be said where men and women meet, and that which could not be printed. It gave a voice to the silent appeal of pictures and posters and illustrated weeklies all over the town; it disturbed the silence of the most secret groves in the vast, undiscovered hearts of men and women young and old. The half-clad lovely were protected from the satyrs in the audience by an impalpable screen made of light and of ascending music in which strings, brass, and concussion exemplified the na ve sensuality of lyrical niggers. The guffaw which, occasionally leaping sharply out of the dim, mysterious auditorium, surged round the silhouetted conductor and drove like a cyclone between the barriers of plush and gilt and fat cupids on to the stage-this huge guffaw seemed to indicate what might have happened if the magic protection of the impalpable screen had not been there.

The author of The Grand Babylon Hotel, How to Live on 24 Hours a Day, The Old Wives' Tale and much more, English writer Arnold Bennett's fictional and non-fictional works have stood the test of time. Bennett also wrote for stage and screen. The Author's Craft, contains some of Bennett's essays on the art of writing, with his thoughts on applying the craft to both novel and play writing.

This stirring coming-of-age story recounts the childhood and youth of the eponymous protagonist, Hilda Lessways, who would eventually grow up to marry Edwin Clayhanger, the scion of a wealthy and powerful family in the Potteries district of the Midlands region in England. This is the second in a series of novels that depict the lives of the members of the Clayhanger family.

If the hustle and bustle and toxic consumerism of the holiday season has tarnished your enthusiasm, British author Arnold Bennett's essay collection The Feast of St. Friend is just the restorative balm you need. In a series of thoughtful meditations, Bennett reflects on the true meaning of Christmas and its deep spiritual significance.

Arnold Bennett's The Grand Babylon Hotel, from 1902, tells the story of a German prince mysteriously disappearing. American millionaire Theodore Racksole and his daughter Nella stay at the exclusive Grand Babylon Hotel. When Nella is denied her dinner order of steak and Bass beer, Racksole's solution is to purchase the entire hotel for exactly four hundred thousand pounds and one guinea, the one guinea added after the former owner decides to haggle.

How to Live on 24 Hours a Day By Arnold Bennett

Need a good laugh? Immerse yourself in this delightfully dark tale from Arnold Bennett. Buried Alive recounts the trials and triumphs of one Priam Farll, a world-famous artist who is deeply uncomfortable with his own fame and whose crippling shyness makes it difficult to navigate. Fed up with his unsatisfying existence, Priam comes up with a highly unusual solution. Will he be able to pull off this far-fetched scheme?

This fascinating novel from author Arnold Bennett gives readers a glimpse into gender roles and social classes at the dawn of the twentieth century. Switching between the perspectives of two distinctly different narrators, The Pretty Lady is a closely observed portrait of a turbulent time.

You have to live on twenty-four hours of daily time. Out of it you have to spin health, pleasure, money, content, respect, and the evolution of your immortal soul. Its right use, its most effective use, is a matter of the highest urgency and of the most thrilling actuality. All depends on that. Your happiness - the elusive prize that you are all clutching for, my friends - depends on that. Which of us lives on twenty-four hours a day? And when I say "lives," I do not mean exists, nor "muddles through." Which of us is not saying to himself - which of us has not been saying to himself all his life: "I shall alter that when I have a little more time"?

Author and journalist Arnold Bennett was born in the Potteries district of Staffordshire in England's West Midlands area. So named because of its long-time association with pottery and ceramics production, the Potteries communities exerted a strong influence on Bennett's literary career. Many of his novels, including the action-packed The Card, are set in and around the area.

The novel opens with Carl Foster, a recently qualified doctor, coming to London to try and make his fortune. He meets a famous tenor, Signor Alresca, who suffers a dreadful injury backstage and Foster tends to him. He thus meets the lead soprano, Rosetta Rosa, and falls hopelessly in love with her. Alresca takes Foster under his wing and they travel to Alresca's home in Bruges. It is clear to Foster that Alresca has some strange obsession. Foster also notices a stranger who seems to be dogging his footsteps. Things take an even more sinister turn when Alresca inexplicably dies...

British author Arnold Bennett was well acquainted with the ups and downs of literary acclaim. In the witty romp A Great Man, he brings his personal experiences to bear in telling the tale of Henry Knight, a shy, eccentric author who begins to make a name for himself on the literary scene and has a difficult time adjusting to his new reality.

In this gripping novel from British author Arnold Bennett, a pretty young typist yearns for adventure and excitement. When her odious employer attempts to seduce her with flattery and promises of a luxurious life together, Lilian takes the plunge. Will she be able to extract herself from his control and regain the content, normal life she once disdained?

The aim of literary study is not to amuse the hours of leisure; it is to awake oneself, it is to be alive, to intensify one's capacity for pleasure, for sympathy, and for comprehension. It is not to affect one hour, but twenty-four hours. It is to change utterly one's relations with the world. An understanding appreciation of literature means an understanding appreciation of the world, and it means nothing else. Not isolated and unconnected parts of life, but all of life, brought together and correlated in a synthetic map The spirit of literature is unifying; it joins the candle and the star, and by the magic of an image shows that the beauty of the greater is in the less.

This engaging tale of a passionate love affair marked a sharp departure in the literary career of author Arnold Bennett, one which piqued the interest of fans and elicited the ire of some critics. Sacred and Profane Love follows the evolution of a lifelong bond between Carlotta and Diaz, beginning with their first encounter and ending with a final reunion years later. It's a fascinating glimpse into the sparks that can fly when two creative souls collide.