A Man From The North by Arnold Bennett

Arnold Bennett

A Man From The North

With a critical introduction by John Shapcott, Chairman of The Arnold Bennett Society.

With the publication of his first novel, A Man from the North, in 1898, Arnold Bennett announced his arrival as a major figure on the literary scene. Drawing upon his own early experience of life in the Potteries and as a clerk in London, Bennett delights in taking the reader on a journey from the social limitations and religious restrictions of provincial life to the worldy pleasures and sexual temptations of the city.

Bennett paints a vivid and accurate picture of music halls, restaurants, seaside resorts, lodging houses adn the growth of the suburbs t the turn of the century. He introduced the great themes of love and duty, pleasure and pain, life and death so inportant in his subsequent novels.

From its depiction of a shopr that will become famous in The Old Wives' Tale to the crowded and colourful scenes of London life, the novel takens on a central importance in setting the stage for Bennett's future masterpieces. This is where it all begins.

Cover picture: The Man with the Glass of Wine by Modigliani.

Published by Churnet Valley Books.