Angus Wilson Short Story Writer Honored With Knighthood

Sir Angus Frank Johnstone Wilson was born in Bexhill, Sussex, England on 11 August 1913 and died on 31 May 1991. He was born to an English father and South African mother. He was a British short story writer by profession . In the year1958, he received James Tait Black Memorial Prize for The Middle Age of Mrs. Eliot and was later honored with knighthood for his contributions to literature.

Angus Wilson studied at Merton College, Oxford and in the year 1937, became a librarian in the British Museum's Department of Printed Books, working on the new General Catalogue. During World War II, he was the part of the Naval section Hut 8 at the code-breaking establishment, Bletchley Park, modifying Italian Naval codes. He was one of the well known homosexuals at Bletchley.

The job condition stressed him so much that he faced a nervous breakdown but soon Angus Wilson got medical aid by Rolf-Werner Kosterlitz. As he came back from the Museum after the war finished he came in touch with Tony Garrett, and they became friends for life time. His first book was a compilation of short stories namely the Wrong Set in the year 1949 accompanied by the heroic novel Hemlock and After.

While working as a critic Angus Wilson resigned from the British Museum in the year 1955 to write full-time and as the financial pressure did not allowed himto conitnue doing so, he went to Suffolk. The year 1957 marked his journey to Japan, Switzerland, Australia, and there he gave lectures. In the year1968 he received a CBE award and numerous literary honors in the following years. The rest of his life went in struggling with his ailing health.

His writing which was more focused on the mocking tone and revealed his apprehension with safe guarding an open-minded humanistic viewpoint in front of modern rigid temptations. Angus Wilson mutually aided in starting the popular creative writing course at the University of East Anglia. Some of his recognized works includes novels like Anglo-Saxon Attitudes in the year 1956, The Middle Age of Mrs. Eliot 1958, Short story collections like The (1949), plays The Mulberry Bush (1955). He also contributed many other literary works like The Wild Garden or Speaking of Writing (1963), The World of Charles Dickens in 1970. Angus Wilson