An Anthology Of Modern Fiction

An Anthology of Modern Fiction (1937) by Richard Wilson – Thomas Nelson and Sons

First Edition – 1937
ISBN: None
Condition: Good
Publisher: Thomas Nelson and Sons
Offered by: Crappy Old Books

There was a time when modern fiction was genuinely modern, literary experimentation was considered faintly dangerous, and respectable readers approached contemporary novels with a mixture of intellectual curiosity and suspicion that civilisation was going rapidly downhill.

Welcome to An Anthology of Modern Fiction, published by Thomas Nelson and Sons in 1937, when the twentieth century was still finding its feet, the British Empire was beginning to look distinctly uncomfortable, and Europe was preparing to demonstrate that humanity had learned remarkably little from its previous catastrophes.

This fascinating first edition brings together selections from 27 prominent novelists, presenting a remarkable cross-section of British literature during the early twentieth century.

And what a collection it is!

Contents:

1. Arnold Bennett – The Old Wives’ Tale

2. H. G. Wells – The History of Mr. Polly

3. John Galsworthy – The Freelands

4. W. Somerset Maugham – Of Human Bondage

5. Henry Handel Richardson – Australia Felix

6. Sheila Kaye-Smith – Tamarisk Town

7. Compton Mackenzie – Guy and Pauline

8. Hugh Walpole – The Cathedral

9. Frank Swinnerton – Nocturne

10. Francis Brett Young – The House Under the Water

11. D. H. Lawrence – Aaron’s Rod

12. E. M. Forster – A Passage to India

13. V. Sackville-West – The Edwardians

14. Storm Jameson – That Was Yesterday

15. Margaret Kennedy – The Constant Nymph

16. Charles Morgan – Portrait in a Mirror

17. R. H. Mottram – Our Mr. Dormer

18. J. B. Priestley – The Good Companions

19. A. P. Herbert – The Water Gipsies

20. Stella Benson – The Poor Man

21. Aldous Huxley – Antic Hay

22. Eric Linklater – Juan in America

23. L. A. G. Strong – The Garden

24. Winifred Holtby – Mandoa, Mandoa!

25. Norah Hoult – Time Gentlemen! Time!

26. E. Arnot Robertson – Four Frightened People

27. James Hilton – Lost Horizon

Here are literary giants alongside once-celebrated writers whose reputations have since become rather less fashionable. Maugham examines human weakness, Huxley dissects intellectual pretension, Lawrence investigates the complications of existence, and Hilton transports readers towards the mysterious world of Shangri-La.

Condition: Good. A respectable 1937 first-edition hardback, displaying the expected signs of age and previous ownership. Its traditional cloth binding retains the understated dignity of an era when books were expected to look respectable, however revolutionary their contents.

Naturally, there is no ISBN. Such conveniences were decades away, and booksellers somehow managed without barcodes, algorithms or automated recommendations.

Offered by Crappy Old Books, where yesterday’s modern literature remains today’s literary treasure, and obsolescence is frequently mistaken for character.

A splendid literary time capsule, demonstrating that modernity is temporary, but human absurdity is reassuringly permanent.

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