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The Collected Stories
Widely known for her much-admired novels, including The Heat of the Day, The House in Paris, and The Death of the Heart, Elizabeth Bowen established herself in the front rank of the century's writers equally through her short fiction.
This collection brings together seventy-nine magnificent stories written over the course of four decades. Vividly featuring scenes of bomb-scarred London during the Blitz, frustrated lovers, acutely obcerved children, and even vengeful ghosts, these stories reinforce Bowen's reputation as an artist whose finely chiseled narratives—rich in imagination, psychological insight, and craft—transcend their time and place.
This collection brings together seventy-nine magnificent stories written over the course of four decades. Vividly featuring scenes of bomb-scarred London during the Blitz, frustrated lovers, acutely obcerved children, and even vengeful ghosts, these stories reinforce Bowen's reputation as an artist whose finely chiseled narratives—rich in imagination, psychological insight, and craft—transcend their time and place.
- GenresFiction
414 pages, Paperback
Published June 25, 1992
About the author
Angus Wilson
92 books49 followersSir Angus Frank Johnstone Wilson, KBE (11 August 1913 – 31 May 1991) was an English novelist and short story writer. He was awarded the 1958 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for The Middle Age of Mrs Eliot and later received a knighthood for his services to literature.
Wilson was born in Bexhill, Sussex, England, to an English father and South African mother. He was educated at Westminster School and Merton College, Oxford, and in 1937 became a librarian in the British Museum's Department of Printed Books, working on the new General Catalogue. During World War II, he worked in the Naval section Hut 8 at the code-breaking establishment, Bletchley Park, translating Italian Naval codes.
The work situation was stressful and led to a nervous breakdown, for which he was treated by Rolf-Werner Kosterlitz. He returned to the Museum after the end of the War, and it was there that he met Tony Garrett (born 1929), who was to be his companion for the rest of his life.
Wilson's first publication was a collection of short stories, The Wrong Set (1949), followed quickly by the daring novel Hemlock and After, which was a great success, prompting invitations to lecture in Europe.
He worked as a reviewer, and in 1955 he resigned from the British Museum to write full-time (although his financial situation did not justify doing so) and moved to Suffolk.
From 1957 he gave lectures further afield, in Japan, Switzerland, Australia, and the USA. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1968, and received many literary honours in succeeding years. He was knighted in 1980, and was President of the Royal Society of Literature from 1983 to 1988. His remaining years were affected by ill health, and he died of a stroke at a nursing home in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, on 31 May 1991, aged 77.
His writing, which has a strongly satirical vein, expresses his concern with preserving a liberal humanistic outlook in the face of fashionable doctrinaire temptations. Several of his works were adapted for television. He was Professor of English Literature at the University of East Anglia from 1966 to 1978, and jointly helped to establish their creative writing course at masters level in 1970, which was then a groundbreaking initiative in the United Kingdom.
Wilson was born in Bexhill, Sussex, England, to an English father and South African mother. He was educated at Westminster School and Merton College, Oxford, and in 1937 became a librarian in the British Museum's Department of Printed Books, working on the new General Catalogue. During World War II, he worked in the Naval section Hut 8 at the code-breaking establishment, Bletchley Park, translating Italian Naval codes.
The work situation was stressful and led to a nervous breakdown, for which he was treated by Rolf-Werner Kosterlitz. He returned to the Museum after the end of the War, and it was there that he met Tony Garrett (born 1929), who was to be his companion for the rest of his life.
Wilson's first publication was a collection of short stories, The Wrong Set (1949), followed quickly by the daring novel Hemlock and After, which was a great success, prompting invitations to lecture in Europe.
He worked as a reviewer, and in 1955 he resigned from the British Museum to write full-time (although his financial situation did not justify doing so) and moved to Suffolk.
From 1957 he gave lectures further afield, in Japan, Switzerland, Australia, and the USA. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1968, and received many literary honours in succeeding years. He was knighted in 1980, and was President of the Royal Society of Literature from 1983 to 1988. His remaining years were affected by ill health, and he died of a stroke at a nursing home in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, on 31 May 1991, aged 77.
His writing, which has a strongly satirical vein, expresses his concern with preserving a liberal humanistic outlook in the face of fashionable doctrinaire temptations. Several of his works were adapted for television. He was Professor of English Literature at the University of East Anglia from 1966 to 1978, and jointly helped to establish their creative writing course at masters level in 1970, which was then a groundbreaking initiative in the United Kingdom.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 1, 2026
Anglo Saxon Attitudes by Angus Wilson is one of The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, but it is ranked only 1921st on The Greatest Books of All Time site – after I had read this the first time, I have included in in my Top 200, but after the second encounter, I am not sure about the personal Top 1,000…nonetheless, you find thousands of reviews of magnum opera from the aforementioned and other lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... and YouTube channel, where my macaws take center stage
8 out of 10
I have been ecstatic https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... when I have read Anglo Saxon Attitudes, so much so that I have read it again, only to be mildly disassociated, not that it is a bad book, but it was a question of having too high expectations, and having changed
One clear objection would be size, at about 350 pages, it is not long, notwithstanding that, I found that the story of that obscene idol and the hoax was given way too much importance, for my taste – this is just a take down of a book that I so much admired once, so it gives us an idea about how poignant, justified, merit worthy my judgment is
It must be what the spouse is doing, she talks of going to India for two weeks (!) and leaving me to care for the two macaws, which would be hell, as it is, she is gone the whole day, and then Tuesday, Friday she will be missing and it will be hard to cope, my reviews will be affected, what am I going to do? Use Games People Play
https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... the most common game seems to be If It Weren’t For You, we blame the other for things we have not done, but this is not a fair situation…Passons: I should have identified with Gerald Middleton, the main character in Anglo Saxon Attitudes
we have about the same age, and he is considered by some a failure – here, the Shrew says I am the epitome of ratat – against that we have the wealth, position, achievements of Professor Middleton, just as I do not see why the fact that I have not accumulated (any) fortune should be used to conclude that I am a fool
some personages are annoying, if sometimes funny Johnnie, his lover, Larrie, Inge, Donald... on the contrary ‘Angus Wilson is quite good, but not very funny’ was the analysis of Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... even if he did not go too far
there were passages when I was reading absorbed, for the second time – I tended to remember from years back, and then the atmosphere was suggesting that something will happen, when Inge discovers that her jewelry had been stolen by the man that received all her generosity, Larrie, the thief and negative character
‘One of the five greatest novels of the century’ — Anthony Burgess https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... I totally disagree with that, Anglo Saxon Attitudes has fallen out of my Top 500, even if does have lines like this 'It's the awful effect of Freud on the middle classes, you know; they think they've a moral duty to say whatever dirty thing comes into their minds
8 out of 10
I have been ecstatic https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... when I have read Anglo Saxon Attitudes, so much so that I have read it again, only to be mildly disassociated, not that it is a bad book, but it was a question of having too high expectations, and having changed
One clear objection would be size, at about 350 pages, it is not long, notwithstanding that, I found that the story of that obscene idol and the hoax was given way too much importance, for my taste – this is just a take down of a book that I so much admired once, so it gives us an idea about how poignant, justified, merit worthy my judgment is
It must be what the spouse is doing, she talks of going to India for two weeks (!) and leaving me to care for the two macaws, which would be hell, as it is, she is gone the whole day, and then Tuesday, Friday she will be missing and it will be hard to cope, my reviews will be affected, what am I going to do? Use Games People Play
https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... the most common game seems to be If It Weren’t For You, we blame the other for things we have not done, but this is not a fair situation…Passons: I should have identified with Gerald Middleton, the main character in Anglo Saxon Attitudes
we have about the same age, and he is considered by some a failure – here, the Shrew says I am the epitome of ratat – against that we have the wealth, position, achievements of Professor Middleton, just as I do not see why the fact that I have not accumulated (any) fortune should be used to conclude that I am a fool
some personages are annoying, if sometimes funny Johnnie, his lover, Larrie, Inge, Donald... on the contrary ‘Angus Wilson is quite good, but not very funny’ was the analysis of Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... even if he did not go too far
there were passages when I was reading absorbed, for the second time – I tended to remember from years back, and then the atmosphere was suggesting that something will happen, when Inge discovers that her jewelry had been stolen by the man that received all her generosity, Larrie, the thief and negative character
‘One of the five greatest novels of the century’ — Anthony Burgess https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... I totally disagree with that, Anglo Saxon Attitudes has fallen out of my Top 500, even if does have lines like this 'It's the awful effect of Freud on the middle classes, you know; they think they've a moral duty to say whatever dirty thing comes into their minds
March 23, 2018
The writing is probably better than the characters and subject matter. Very dark and dour book about the less favorable aspects of human nature. While it was worth reading, I did not find many s/heroes in this book. But, of course, there were some great zingers and caricatures.
October 11, 2016
The Wrong Set -- 10/3/2010
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews