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Robert Hichens (writer)

October 17, 2023

Robert Hichens (Robert Smythe Hichens, 14 November 1864 – 20 July 1950) was an English journalist, novelist, music lyricist, short story writer, music critic and collaborated on successful plays. He is best remembered as a satirist of the "Naughty Nineties".[1][2]

Robert Hichens
Hichens in 1912
Born14 November 1864
Speldhurst, Kent, England
Died20 July 1950 (aged 85)
Zurich, Switzerland
OccupationWriter, journalist, music critic
Alma mater

Biography Edit

Hichens was born in Speldhurst in Kent, the eldest son of the Rev. Frederick Harrison Hichens, and his wife Abigail Elizabeth Smythe.[3][4] He was educated at Clifton College,[5] the Royal College of Music and early on had a desire to be a musician.[1] Later in life he would become music critic on The World, taking the place of George Bernard Shaw.[1] He studied at the London School of Journalism. Hichens was a great traveller. Egypt was one of his favourite destinations – he first went there in the early 1890s for his health.[1] For most of his later life he lived outside England, in Switzerland and the Riviera.[1] Hichens was a homosexual;[6] he never married.[1]

Hichens first novel, The Coastguard's Secret (1886), was written when he was only seventeen. He first became well known among the reading public with The Green Carnation (1894), a satire of Hichens's friends Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas; since the work made clear Wilde was homosexual it was withdrawn from publication in 1895,[1] but not before helping set the stage for Wilde's public disgrace and downfall.[1][6]

Hichens was also friends with several other writers, including E. F. Benson and Reggie Turner,[6] as well as the composer Maude Valérie White.[7]

 
Hichens in August-September 1895 edition of The Bookman

Hichens's first big success was An Imaginative Man (1895); set in the city of Cairo, Egypt, a place which fascinated Hichens, it is a study of insanity, in which the hero becomes dangerously obsessed with the Great Sphinx.[1] Other early fiction includes The Folly of Eustace (1896), a collection of stories including some supernatural;[1] Flames (1897), a story resembling Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde;[1] The Londoners (1898), a satire about decadent London;[1] The Slave (1899), a fantasy about an amazing emerald;[1] Tongues of Conscience (1900), a collection of five horror stories including "How Love Came to Professor Guildea" (this story is about a supernatural visitation and is thought by some to be Hichens's best fiction – it is frequently anthologised).[1][2] "How Love Came to Professor Guildea" was not initially well-received, with Frederic Taber Cooper calling the story "a hideous bit of morbidity"[8] and Edmund Wilson dismissing the story as "trash".[8] Later reviews of the story were more positive; J. A. Cuddon called it "outstanding" and compared it with "The Horla" by Guy de Maupassant and "The Beckoning Fair One" by Oliver Onions.[9] Brian Stableford described the story as an "authentic masterpiece of horror fiction",[2] and Jason Colavito called it "possibly one of the greatest stories of its age".[8]

Hichens's Felix (1902), is an early fictional treatment of hypodermic morphine addiction, while The Garden of Allah (1904) sold well internationally,[1] and was made into a film three times.

Hichens published his memoirs in 1947, Yesterday.

Selected bibliography Edit

Novels

 
First edition cover of The Call of the Blood (1906)

Collections

  • The Folly of Eustace: And Other Stories (1896)
  • Bye-Ways (1897)
  • Tongues of Conscience (1898, 1900)
  • The Black Spaniel: And Other Stories (1905)
  • Snake-Bite: And Other Stories (1919)
  • The Return of the Soul and Other Stories (2001; ed. S. T. Joshi)

Nonfiction

Anthologies containing stories by Hichens

  • Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery and Horror 1st Series (1928)
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1957)
  • The 2nd Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories (1966)
  • Medley Macabre (1966)
  • Black Water (1984)
  • I Shudder at Your Touch (1992)
  • 4 Classic Ghostly Tales (1993)

Short stories

  • "How Love Came to Professor Guildea" (1900)
  • "Demetriadi's Dream"

Plays Edit

Filmography Edit

References Edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o John Sutherland. "HICHENS, Robert" in The Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction. 1989
  2. ^ a b c Brian Stableford, "Hichens, Robert (Smythe)" in David Pringle, ed. St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost and Gothic writers. Detroit, MI: St. James Press, 1998, ISBN 1-55862-206-3 (pp. 268-70).
  3. ^ Gillis, Stacy. "Hichens, Robert Smythe". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33851. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. ^ Foster, Joseph (1888–1892). "Hichens, Frederick Harrison" . Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: Parker and Co – via Wikisource.
  5. ^ "Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. p84: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April, 1948
  6. ^ a b c "Like Douglas and Turner, Hichens was sexually attracted to men". Dennis Denisoff, Aestheticism and Sexual Parody 1840-1940.Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2006 ISBN 0521024897, (p. 115).
  7. ^ "White also had friends with several gay men including... the novelist Robert Hichens, whom she met in the late 1890s". Sophie Fuller and Lloyd Whitesell, Queer Episodes in Music and Modern Identity. University of Illinois Press, 2002 ISBN 025202740X, (p. 90).
  8. ^ a b c "Frederic T. Cooper", "Robert Hichens",in: Colavito, Jason, ed. A Hideous Bit of Morbidity: An Anthology of Horror Criticism from the Enlightenment to World War I. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2008. ISBN 978-0-7864-3968-3 (pp. 307–324). (Reprinted from Cooper's Some English Story Tellers, 1912. pp. 342–375.)
  9. ^ J. A. Cuddon, The Penguin Book of Horror Stories. London, Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-870630-94-8 (p. 44)

Additional sources

  • "Robert S. Hichens". Dictionary of Literary Biography. Volume 153: Late-Victorian and Edwardian British Novelists. First Series. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
  • Author and Book Info.com

External links Edit

 
Wikisource has original works by or about:
Robert Smythe Hichens

October 17, 2023
robert, hichens, writer, robert, hichens, robert, smythe, hichens, november, 1864, july, 1950, english, journalist, novelist, music, lyricist, short, story, writer, music, critic, collaborated, successful, plays, best, remembered, satirist, naughty, nineties, . Robert Hichens Robert Smythe Hichens 14 November 1864 20 July 1950 was an English journalist novelist music lyricist short story writer music critic and collaborated on successful plays He is best remembered as a satirist of the Naughty Nineties 1 2 Robert HichensHichens in 1912Born14 November 1864Speldhurst Kent EnglandDied20 July 1950 aged 85 Zurich SwitzerlandOccupationWriter journalist music criticAlma materClifton CollegeRoyal College of Music Contents 1 Biography 2 Selected bibliography 2 1 Plays 3 Filmography 4 References 5 External linksBiography EditHichens was born in Speldhurst in Kent the eldest son of the Rev Frederick Harrison Hichens and his wife Abigail Elizabeth Smythe 3 4 He was educated at Clifton College 5 the Royal College of Music and early on had a desire to be a musician 1 Later in life he would become music critic on The World taking the place of George Bernard Shaw 1 He studied at the London School of Journalism Hichens was a great traveller Egypt was one of his favourite destinations he first went there in the early 1890s for his health 1 For most of his later life he lived outside England in Switzerland and the Riviera 1 Hichens was a homosexual 6 he never married 1 Hichens first novel The Coastguard s Secret 1886 was written when he was only seventeen He first became well known among the reading public with The Green Carnation 1894 a satire of Hichens s friends Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas since the work made clear Wilde was homosexual it was withdrawn from publication in 1895 1 but not before helping set the stage for Wilde s public disgrace and downfall 1 6 Hichens was also friends with several other writers including E F Benson and Reggie Turner 6 as well as the composer Maude Valerie White 7 nbsp Hichens in August September 1895 edition of The BookmanHichens s first big success was An Imaginative Man 1895 set in the city of Cairo Egypt a place which fascinated Hichens it is a study of insanity in which the hero becomes dangerously obsessed with the Great Sphinx 1 Other early fiction includes The Folly of Eustace 1896 a collection of stories including some supernatural 1 Flames 1897 a story resembling Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde 1 The Londoners 1898 a satire about decadent London 1 The Slave 1899 a fantasy about an amazing emerald 1 Tongues of Conscience 1900 a collection of five horror stories including How Love Came to Professor Guildea this story is about a supernatural visitation and is thought by some to be Hichens s best fiction it is frequently anthologised 1 2 How Love Came to Professor Guildea was not initially well received with Frederic Taber Cooper calling the story a hideous bit of morbidity 8 and Edmund Wilson dismissing the story as trash 8 Later reviews of the story were more positive J A Cuddon called it outstanding and compared it with The Horla by Guy de Maupassant and The Beckoning Fair One by Oliver Onions 9 Brian Stableford described the story as an authentic masterpiece of horror fiction 2 and Jason Colavito called it possibly one of the greatest stories of its age 8 Hichens s Felix 1902 is an early fictional treatment of hypodermic morphine addiction while The Garden of Allah 1904 sold well internationally 1 and was made into a film three times Hichens published his memoirs in 1947 Yesterday Selected bibliography EditNovels nbsp First edition cover of The Call of the Blood 1906 The Coast Guard s Secret 1886 The Green Carnation published anonymously 1894 republished 1949 available at nbsp Wikisource An Imaginative Man 1895 Flames 1897 The Londoners 1898 The Slave 1899 The Prophet of Berkeley Square 1901 Felix 1902 Black Spaniel and Other Stories 1905 The Garden of Allah 1904 elaborately presented as a play in New York City and filmed thrice in 1916 1927 with Alice Terry and 1936 one of the earliest three strip Technicolor features with Marlene Dietrich and Charles Boyer The Woman with the Fan 1904 The Call of the Blood 1906 Barbary Sheep 1907 A Spirit in Prison 1908 Bella Donna 1909 in which Alla Nazimova starred on Broadway in 1912 filmed in 1915 in 1923 with Pola Negri and in 1934 with Mary Ellis and Conrad Veidt The Fruitful Vine 1911 The Dweller on the Threshold 1911 The Way of Ambition 1913 In the Wilderness 1917 Snake Bite 1919 Mrs Marden 1919 Spirit of the Time 1921 December Love 1922 The Last Time 1924 After the Verdict 1924 The Bracelet 1930 The First Lady Brendon 1931 Mortimer Brice 1932 The Paradine Case 1933 film version directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1947 The Power To Kill 1934 The Pyramid 1936 The Sixth of October 1936 Daniel Airlie 1937 Secret Information 1938 The Journey Up 1938 That Which Is Hidden 1939 The Million 1940 A New Way of Life 1942 Veils 1943 Harps in the Wind 1945 Beneath the Magic 1950 Collections The Folly of Eustace And Other Stories 1896 Bye Ways 1897 Tongues of Conscience 1898 1900 The Black Spaniel And Other Stories 1905 Snake Bite And Other Stories 1919 The Return of the Soul and Other Stories 2001 ed S T Joshi Nonfiction The Spell of Egypt 1910 Yesterday 1947 Anthologies containing stories by Hichens Great Short Stories of Detection Mystery and Horror 1st Series 1928 Alfred Hitchcock Presents 1957 The 2nd Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories 1966 Medley Macabre 1966 Black Water 1984 I Shudder at Your Touch 1992 4 Classic Ghostly Tales 1993 Short stories How Love Came to Professor Guildea 1900 Demetriadi s Dream Plays Edit The Law of the Sands 1916 Black Magic 1917 The Voice from the Minaret 1919 Filmography EditBella Donna directed by Edwin S Porter and Hugh Ford 1915 based on the novel Bella Donna The Garden of Allah directed by Colin Campbell 1916 based on the novel The Garden of Allah Barbary Sheep directed by Maurice Tourneur 1917 based on the novel Barbary Sheep Flames directed by Maurice Elvey UK 1917 based on the novel Flames The Slave directed by Arrigo Bocchi UK 1918 based on the novel The Slave Hidden Lives directed by Maurits Binger and B E Doxat Pratt Netherlands 1920 based on a play by Robert Hichens and John Knittel The Call of the Blood directed by Louis Mercanton France 1920 based on the novel The Call of the Blood The Woman with the Fan directed by Rene Plaissetty UK 1921 based on the novel The Woman with the Fan The Fruitful Vine directed by Maurice Elvey UK 1921 based on the novel The Fruitful Vine The Voice from the Minaret directed by Frank Lloyd 1923 based on the play The Voice from the Minaret Bella Donna directed by George Fitzmaurice 1923 based on the novel Bella Donna The Lady Who Lied directed by Edwin Carewe 1925 based on the story The Lady Who Lied The Garden of Allah directed by Rex Ingram 1927 based on the novel The Garden of Allah After the Verdict directed by Henrik Galeen UK 1929 based on the novel After the Verdict Bella Donna directed by Robert Milton UK 1934 based on the novel Bella Donna The Garden of Allah directed by Richard Boleslawski 1936 based on the novel The Garden of Allah Temptation directed by Irving Pichel 1946 based on the novel Bella Donna The Paradine Case directed by Alfred Hitchcock 1947 based on the novel The Paradine Case Call of the Blood directed by John Clements and Ladislao Vajda UK 1948 based on the novel Call of the Blood References Edit a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o John Sutherland HICHENS Robert in The Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction 1989 a b c Brian Stableford Hichens Robert Smythe in David Pringle ed St James Guide to Horror Ghost and Gothic writers Detroit MI St James Press 1998 ISBN 1 55862 206 3 pp 268 70 Gillis Stacy Hichens Robert Smythe Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online ed Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 ref odnb 33851 Subscription or UK public library membership required Foster Joseph 1888 1892 Hichens Frederick Harrison Alumni Oxonienses the Members of the University of Oxford 1715 1886 Oxford Parker and Co via Wikisource Clifton College Register Muirhead J A O p84 Bristol J W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society April 1948 a b c Like Douglas and Turner Hichens was sexually attracted to men Dennis Denisoff Aestheticism and Sexual Parody 1840 1940 Cambridge University Press Cambridge 2006 ISBN 0521024897 p 115 White also had friends with several gay men including the novelist Robert Hichens whom she met in the late 1890s Sophie Fuller and Lloyd Whitesell Queer Episodes in Music and Modern Identity University of Illinois Press 2002 ISBN 025202740X p 90 a b c Frederic T Cooper Robert Hichens in Colavito Jason ed A Hideous Bit of Morbidity An Anthology of Horror Criticism from the Enlightenment to World War I Jefferson NC McFarland 2008 ISBN 978 0 7864 3968 3 pp 307 324 Reprinted from Cooper s Some English Story Tellers 1912 pp 342 375 J A Cuddon The Penguin Book of Horror Stories London Bloomsbury ISBN 978 1 870630 94 8 p 44 Additional sources Robert S Hichens Dictionary of Literary Biography Volume 153 Late Victorian and Edwardian British Novelists First Series Detroit Gale Research 1995 Author and Book Info comExternal links Edit nbsp Wikisource has original works by or about Robert Smythe Hichens Works by Robert Hichens at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Robert Hichens at Internet Archive Works by Robert Hichens at LibriVox public domain audiobooks nbsp Robert S Hichens brief bibliography at Fantastic Fiction Robert Hichens at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database Robert Hichens at Library of Congress with 112 library catalogue records Two plays by Robert Hichens on Great War Theatre Obituary in The New York Times Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Robert Hichens writer amp oldid 1168822088, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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