Arnold Bennett

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"? We never shall have more time. We have, and we have always had, all the time there is. It is the realization of this profound and neglected truth (which, by the way, I have not discovered) that has led me to the minute practical examination of daily time-expenditure.

The Clayhanger Family, trilogy of semiautobiographical novels by Arnold Bennett. The first and best-known book of the three is Clayhanger (1910); it was followed by Hilda Lessways (1911) and These Twain (1915). They were published together in 1925. Set in the late 19th century in a drab potters' town in the industrial Midlands, Clayhanger begins the story of Edwin Clayhanger as he is attempting to wrest control of his life from his tyrannical and pragmatic father. Repressed and shy, he falls in love with Hilda Lessways, a forthright young woman who, despite her attraction to Edwin, marries another man. After many years he finds her living a broken, destitute life, her husband imprisoned for bigamy and her child thus considered illegitimate. In spite of all, Clayhanger still loves Hilda. Hilda Lessways, told from Hilda's point of view, chronicles her early life. In These Twain, Clayhanger and Hilda are married. He adopts her son, and the couple attempt to adapt their very different temperaments and routines to each other.

Set in a small industrial town at the start of the 20th century, this is the humorous story of Edward "Denry" Machin. Denry is an impulsive, opportunistic, and occasionally lucky entrepreneur with few scruples where money-making is concerned. Not especially likeable yet not entirely loathsome, Denry makes for a very entertaining character to both the fictional townsfolk and readers of this tale alike. A story full of hilarity and sure to entertain any reader, this book is an ideal addition to any bookshelf and a veritable must-read for fans of Bennett's work. Enoch Arnold Bennett was an English writer, most renowned as a novelist but also working in other fields such as journalism, film, and propaganda. Originally written in 1911, we are proud to republish this classic book now with a new introductory biography of the author.

When Carl Foster, a young doctor, sees beautiful Rosetta Rosa at a London opera he is instantly captivated -- and almost as rapidly finds himself plagued by mysterious occurances. When another of Rosa's paramours un-expectedly dies, Carl begins to wonder if her glamour carries a deadly curse.

This book explores the boundaries between the English middle and upper classes and the corrosive effects of too much money. Arthur Prohack is a Treasury official admired and feared by people at all levels of government. At home, he is affection itself to his quiet, ever-anxious wife, Marian, and to their two grown children, Charles and Sissie. Then Mammon enters the picture in the form of a bequest from a debtor whose loan Mr. Prohack had long ago written off. In a matter of days, the frugal Marian has become "Eve, " a neurotic who purchases chauffeured autos and rents mansions without so much as a word to her husband. Army veteran Charles begins squandering his patrimony on used motorcycles and questionable stock options. Sissie flees to the suburbs to open a dance studio and spoon with a lisping, monocle-wearing Bright Young Person. Unable to continue in his comfortable middle-class rut, Mr. Prohack gives in and devotes himself to idleness, the one sin he has never been able to abide. The love of money has spoiled the perfect English family. . . but not irretrievably, as all four Prohacks discover when their true natures begin to crack the "U" veneer.

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?

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"?

An ingenious satire, "Buried Alive" (1908) is Bennett at his most charming and wittiest. It is the story a renowned but exceedingly shy painter, Priam Farll, who assumes the identity of his dead valet, Henry Leek, as a means of avoiding press attention. The novel was enormously successful as a play, retitled The Great Adventure, and later as the film "Holy Matrimony."

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.

Books and Persons was previously published as articles under Bennett's pseudonym, Jacob Tonson in the magazine The New Age. He wrote these essays in Paris, London, Switzerland and the Forest of Fontainebleau, covering such topics as "Ugliness in Fiction," "The Novel of the Season," "German Expansion," and "Joseph Conrad."

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.

The first novel of a family saga, Clayhanger (1910) is a coming-of-age story set in the Midlands of Victorian England. It follows Edwin Clayhanger as he leaves school, takes over the family business and falls in love. The triumph of the book is the minute detailing of the effect of bourgeois respectability on Edwin's life and finally his submission to it.

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?

What would you do if your money-grubbing father decided to marry you off to someone you loathed, against your express wishes? That's precisely the dilemma facing virtuous Anna Tellwright in Arnold Bennett's juicy potboiler Anna of the Five Towns. Will Anna muster up the courage to defy her father's wishes and make her own way in the world?

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 the book, Bennett addressed the large and growing number of white-collar workers that had accumulated since the advent of the Industrial Revolution. In his view, these workers put in eight hours a day, 40 hours a week, at jobs they did not enjoy, and at worst hated. They worked to make a living, but their daily existence consisted of waking up, getting ready for work, working as little as possible during the work day, going home, unwinding, going to sleep, and repeating the process the next day. In short, he didn't believe they were really living. Bennett addressed this problem by urging these "salarymen" to seize their extra time, and make the most of it to improve themselves. Extra time could be found at the beginning of the day, by waking up early, and on the ride to work, on the way home from work, in the evening hours, and especially during the weekends. During this time, he prescribed improvement measures such as reading great literature, taking an interest in the arts, reflecting on life, and learning self-discipline. Bennett wrote that time is the most precious of commodities. He said that many books have been written on how to live on a certain amount of money each day. And he added that the old adage "time is money" understates the matter, as time can often produce money, but money cannot produce more time. Time is extremely limited, and Bennett urged others to make the best of the time remaining in their lives.