Editing Walter Allen

{{Short description|English literary critic and novelist}}
{{distinguish|Jack Allen (footballer, born 1889)}}
{{more citations needed|date=June 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}
[[File:Walter Ernest Allen.jpg|thumb|right|Allen in January 1959.]]
'''Walter Ernest Allen''' (23 February 1911 – 28 February 1995) was an English literary critic and novelist and one of the [[Birmingham Group (authors)|Birmingham Group]] of authors.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-walter-allen-1609644.html|title=Obituary: Walter Allen|work=[[The Independent]]|author=Christopher Hawtree|date=22 October 2011}}</ref> He is best known for his classic study ''The English Novel: a Short Critical History'' (1951).

==Life and career==
Allen was born in [[Aston]], Birmingham; he drew on his working-class roots for ''All in a Lifetime'' (1959), generally considered his best novel. He was educated at [[King Edward VI Aston|King Edward's Grammar School]] and the [[University of Birmingham]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Head |first=Dominic |title=The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English |year=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-83179-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgeguideto0000unse_r1h5/page/20 20] |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgeguideto0000unse_r1h5/page/20 }}</ref> graduating in 1932—his friends at that period included [[Henry Reed (poet)|Henry Reed]] and [[Louis MacNeice]].{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

He taught and took numerous temporary academic positions. In 1935, he was a Visiting Lecturer in English at the University of Iowa, Iowa City; from 1955 to 1956 he was visiting professor of English at Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; from 1963 to 1964 he was visiting professor of English, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, and in 1967 he was at University of Kansas, Lawrence, and University of Washington, Seattle.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|last1=Vinson|first1=James|title=Contemporary Novelists|date=1972|publisher=St. James Press|location=London|isbn=0900997125|page=37}}</ref> He also worked in journalism, being at one time literary editor of the ''[[New Statesman]]'';<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/biography/Walter-Allen|title=Walter Allen – British writer}}</ref> and was a broadcaster.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}} In 1967 he took a position as Professor of English Studies at the [[New University of Ulster]].{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

Allen published many novels early in his career mostly dealing with the life of the working class in England. ''As I Walked Down New Grub Street'' which accounts his meetings with prominent literary figures was published in 1982.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}} After a significant break from fiction-writing for 27 years he published ''Get Out Early'' in 1986.<ref name=":0" />
He was known as an editor of [[George Gissing]]. He wrote some poetry, which appeared in [[John Lehmann]]'s publications in the 1940s. He left much writing in manuscript. He died in [[London]].{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

==Works==
{{Unreferenced section|date=June 2021}}

===Novels===
*''Innocence is Drowned'' (1938) 
*''Blind Man's Ditch'' (1939) 
*''Living Space'' (1940) 
*''The Black Country'' (1946) 
*''Rogue Elephant'' (1946) 
*''Dead Man Over All'' (1950)
*''All in a Lifetime'' (1959) [U.S. title: ''Three Score and Ten'']
*''Get Out Early'' (1986)
*''Accosting Profiles'' (1989)

===Short stories===
*''The Festive Baked-Potato Cart'' (1948)

===Criticism===
*''Writers on Writing'' (1948), editor
*''Reading a Novel'' (1949)
*''Arnold Bennett'' (1949) The English Novelists series
*''Joyce Cary'' (1953) 
*''The English Novel; a Short Critical History'' (1954)
*''The Novel Today'' (1955)
*''Six Great Novelists'' (1955)
*''George Eliot'' (1964) 
*''Tradition and Dream: The English and American Novel from the Twenties to Our Time'' (1964)
*''The Urgent West'' (1969)
*''The Short Story in English'' (1981)

===Autobiography===
*''As I Walked Down New Grub Street'' (1981)

== Archives ==
Papers of Walter Allen are held at the Cadbury Research Library (University of Birmingham).<ref>{{Cite web|title=UoB Calmview5: Search results|url=https://calmview.bham.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=XMS2|access-date=2021-01-26|website=calmview.bham.ac.uk}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{OL author|OL138047A}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Walter}}
[[Category:1911 births]]
[[Category:1995 deaths]]
[[Category:People educated at King Edward VI Aston School]]
[[Category:English literary critics]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Birmingham]]
[[Category:Academics of Ulster University]]
[[Category:People from Aston]]
[[Category:Writers from Birmingham, West Midlands]]
[[Category:20th-century English novelists]]