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The Condemned Playground: Essays, 1927-1944
Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Hesperides Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
- GenresEssaysNonfiction
287 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1945
82 people want to read
About the author
Cyril Connolly
128 books66 followersCyril Connolly was born in Coventry, Warwickshire in 1903. Educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford he was a regular contributor to the New Statesman in the 1930s.
Connolly also co-edited Horizon (1939-41) with Stephen Spender and later was literary editor of the The Observer. Books by Connolly include the novel, The Rock Pool (1938), the autobiographical, Enemies of Promise (1938) and The Unquiet Grave (1944), a collection of aphorisms, reflections and essays.
After the Second World War Connolly was the principal book reviewer of the Sunday Times. He also published several other books including The Condemned Playground (1945), Previous Convictions (1963) and the Modern Movement (1965). Cyril Connolly died in 1974.
Connolly also co-edited Horizon (1939-41) with Stephen Spender and later was literary editor of the The Observer. Books by Connolly include the novel, The Rock Pool (1938), the autobiographical, Enemies of Promise (1938) and The Unquiet Grave (1944), a collection of aphorisms, reflections and essays.
After the Second World War Connolly was the principal book reviewer of the Sunday Times. He also published several other books including The Condemned Playground (1945), Previous Convictions (1963) and the Modern Movement (1965). Cyril Connolly died in 1974.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 2, 2019
I didn't read the whole of this, just set myself the challenge of translating one of the shorter articles: "Defects of English Novels" into Portuguese. Well, that's done now, but trying to translate the word salad of his sentences make me realise how disorganised his pontification can be.
I was left with a pretty poor impression of Cyril Connolly after reading "The Rock Pool" because it seemed such a classic example of a writer setting out his own repressed neuroses and fears in a barely concealed manner. I know he wrote a book shortly after ("Enemies of Promise") that explained why he had never produced a great masterpiece of literature. Now, reading his later critisism, in whish he basically throws rocks at all other british writers and at the profession of criticism, I can only speculate about the deep wells of frustration he's drawing on and it's not really something I want to read more of.
Normally I'd ask a Portuguese teacher to review my work and correct it but in this case, I think the original is so windy and unparsable that I think it would just give us both a headache, and it's going on by blog in the original uncorrected format.
I was left with a pretty poor impression of Cyril Connolly after reading "The Rock Pool" because it seemed such a classic example of a writer setting out his own repressed neuroses and fears in a barely concealed manner. I know he wrote a book shortly after ("Enemies of Promise") that explained why he had never produced a great masterpiece of literature. Now, reading his later critisism, in whish he basically throws rocks at all other british writers and at the profession of criticism, I can only speculate about the deep wells of frustration he's drawing on and it's not really something I want to read more of.
Normally I'd ask a Portuguese teacher to review my work and correct it but in this case, I think the original is so windy and unparsable that I think it would just give us both a headache, and it's going on by blog in the original uncorrected format.
Displaying 1 of 1 review