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V. S. Pritchett
A Working Life
by Jeremy Treglown
Treglown's book is the first major biography of the English writer.
Random House, 352 pages
01/04/2005
$25.95
ISBN: 0375508538
Nonfiction
Biographies & Memoirs
All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...
Atlantic Monthly Benjamin Schwarz
His refreshingly brisk book, which manages to compress Pritchett's story into fewer than 260 pages of text, is among the most intelligent and perceptive depictions of a writer's habits and routine, and of the economics of a literary profession, that I've read.
The Guardian Anthony Thwaite
Jeremy Treglown has served this "working life" splendidly.
The Independent Mark Bostridge
Treglown's sophistication as a literary critic, and the lucid and intelligent way in which he observes the interaction between Pritchett's writing and personal life, make this an outstanding study of a man who, above all else, was dedicated to his art.
Boston Globe Richard Eder
Richly sourced with correspondence and family interviews, the book is written by Treglown as an astonishing, Pritchett-like story.
The Independent Paul Bailey
Judicious.
Publishers Weekly
It may attract new readers to the work of a man who represented his century with unwavering energy and acuity.
Daily Telegraph John Gross
As for his achievement as a whole, almost every page has a quotation, however brief, which is strong enough to remind you of his quality - a piercing phrase, an arresting metaphor, a reflection which captures a whole swath of elusive experience. But Treglown is also judicious and helpful in his own comments.
Daily Telegraph Hilary Spurling
Brevity makes Treglown occasionally oblique... But that is a price well worth paying for a book that illuminates its subject, as Pritchett said of his own incomparable short stories, "in a fierce fizzing gorse blaze".
London Review Of Books Stefan Collini
And it seems right, after all, that a biography of Pritchett, acknowledged master of both the short story and the brief literary essay, should not be too long: Treglown gets through the almost 97 years in just 250 pages without any sense of unseemly compression. His subject would surely have approved.
Los Angeles Times Karl Miller
Shrewd and efficient biography. [26 Dec 2004, p.R3]
Library Journal Robert Kelly
Especially revealing and insightful. [1 Jan 2005, p.112]
Houston Chronicle John Freeman
But where this biography sets itself apart from most is in the gumshoe work Treglown does to figure out how, exactly, Pritchett made a hearty living at a job most writers choose without any such expectation.
The New Republic Frank Kermode
[Treglown] recounts Pritchett's quiet-seeming but still extraordinary life with sympathetic care, and he deals sensitively with the writings, especially when discussing the stories, which used to be thought of, and surely will be again, as among the best in the language.
The New York Times Book Review Michael Gorra
Treglown stays too often within the vacuum of Pritchett's family life rather than locating him firmly within his now fading cultural milieu. But maybe anything more would have made such a sharply tailored volume pop a seam. Slender but full, this life does its work, and does it well.
The New York Times William Grimes
That leaves Mr. Treglown with the mostly curatorial duty of arranging the novels, stories and essays in chronological order and annotating them with a few biographical details and snippets from contemporary reviews. This approach quickly becomes tedious, especially when Mr. Treglown takes on a professorial tone in explicating the fictional work.
Washington Post Michael Dirda
Yet in these generally fine pages I sometimes felt unhappily voyeuristic, all too eager for frissons about Pritchett's intimate life -- his letters to Dorothy can be surprisingly graphic -- while my better (?) self kept wishing for more information about his intellectual habits and professional career.
Kirkus Reviews
Limns the public man rather than delving too deeply inward.
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