john cowper powys ( koo-pər poh-iss; 8 october 1872 – 17 june 1963) was an english philosopher, lecturer, novelist, critic and poet born in shirley, derbyshire, where his father was vicar of the parish church in 1871–1879.powys appeared with a volume of verse in 1896 and a first novel in 1915, but gained success only with his novel wolf solent in 1929.he has been seen as a successor to thomas hardy, and wolf solent, a glastonbury romance (1932), weymouth sands (1934), and maiden castle (1936) have been called his wessex novels.as with hardy, landscape is important to his works.so is elemental philosophy in his characters' lives.in 1934 he published an autobiography.his itinerant lectures were a success in england and in 1905–1930 in the united states, where he wrote many of his novels and had several first published.he moved to dorset, england, in 1934 with a us partner, phyllis playter.in 1935 they moved to corwen, merionethshire, wales, where he set two novels, and in 1955 to blaenau ffestiniog, where he died in 1963.he came from a family of eleven children, many of whom were also talented.the family lived in shirley between 1871–79, briefly in dorchester, dorset and then they moved to montacute, somerset, where charles powys was vicar for thirty-two years.john cowper powys's two younger brothers llewelyn powys (1884–1939) and theodore francis powys were well-known writers, while his sister philippa published a novel and some poetry.another sister marian powys was an authority on lace and lace-making and published a book on this subject.his brother a. r. powys was secretary of the society for the protection of ancient buildings, and published a number of books on architectural subjects.powys was educated at sherborne school and graduated from corpus christi college, cambridge, june 1894.on 6 april 1896 he married margaret lyon.they had a son, littleton alfred, in 1902.powys's first employment was teaching in girls’ schools in brighton, and then eastbourne.his first published works were two highly derivative collections of poetry published in the 1890s.he worked from 1898 as an extension lecturer throughout england, for both oxford and cambridge universities.he spent his summers in england.during this time he travelled the length and breadth of the us, as well as into canada.powys's marriage was unsatisfactory, and powys eventually lived a large part of each year in the usa, and had relationships with various women.an important woman in his life was the american poet frances gregg, whom he first met in philadelphia in 1912.he was also a friend of the famous dancer isadora duncan.another friend and an important supporter in america was the novelist theodore dreiser.in 1921 he met phyllis playter, the twenty-six-year-old daughter of industrialist and business man franklin playter.eventually they established a permanent relationship, though he was unable to divorce his wife margaret, who was a catholic.however, he diligently supported margaret and the education of their son.in the us he engaged in a public debate with the philosopher bertrand russell on marriage, and he also debated with the philosopher and historian will durant.powys was also a witness in the obscenity trial of james joyce's novel ulysses, and was mentioned with approval in the autobiography of us feminist and anarchist, emma goldman.powys would later share goldman's support for the spanish revolution.his first novel wood and stone, which powys dedicated to thomas hardy, was published in 1915.this was followed by two collections of literary essays visions and revisions (1915) and suspended judgment (1916).in confessions of two brothers (1916), a work that also contains a section by his brother llewelyn, powys writes about his personal philosophy, something he elaborated on in the complex vision (1920), his first full length work of popular philosophy.
john cowper powys | notablework | wolf solent <tsp> a glastonbury romance | author | john cowper powys
powys appeared with a volume of verse in 1896 and a first novel in 1915, but gained success only with his novel wolf solent in 1929.