James Fenton | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1949-04-25)25 April 1949 (age 75) Lincoln, England |
| Alma mater | Magdalen College, Oxford |
| Occupation(s) | Poet, journalist, literary critic |
| Partner | Darryl Pinckney |
| Parent | John Fenton |
James Martin FentonFRSL FRSA (born 25 April 1949) is an English poet, journalist and literary critic.[1] He is a formerOxford Professor of Poetry.
Born inLincoln, Fenton grew up inLincolnshire andStaffordshire, the son of CanonJohn Fenton, abiblical scholar.[2] He was educated at theDurham Choristers School,Repton andMagdalen College, Oxford. He graduated with aB.A. in 1970.[3]
While at school Fenton acquired an enthusiasm for the work ofW. H. Auden. At Oxford, his tutorJohn Fuller, who was writingA Reader's Guide to W. H. Auden at the time, further encouraged that enthusiasm. Auden became perhaps the most significant single influence on Fenton's work.
In his first year at university, Fenton won theNewdigate Prize for hissonnet sequenceOur Western Furniture.[3] Later published by Fuller's Sycamore Press, it largely concerns the cultural collision in the 19th century between theUnited States andJapan. It displays in embryo many of the characteristics that define Fenton's later work: technical mastery combined with a fascination with issues that arise from the Western interaction with other cultures.Our Western Furniture was followed byExempla, a poetry sequence later published inThe Memory of War. The poem is notable for its frequent use of unfamiliar words, as well as commonplace words employed in an unfamiliar manner.
While studying at Oxford, Fenton became a close friend ofChristopher Hitchens, whose memoirHitch-22 is dedicated to Fenton and has a chapter on their friendship. Hitchens praised Fenton's extraordinary talent, stating that he too believed him to be the greatest poet of his generation. He also expounded on Fenton's modesty, describing him as infinitely more mature than himself andMartin Amis. Fenton and Hitchens shared a house together in their third year, and continued to be close friends until Hitchens's death. Fenton read his poem 'For Andrew Wood' at theVanity Fair Hitchens memorial service.[4]
His first collection,Terminal Moraine (1972) won aGregory Award.[3] With the proceeds he traveled toEast Asia, where he wrote of the U.S. withdrawal fromVietnam and the end of theLon Nol regime inCambodia, which presaged the rise ofPol Pot. The poems featured in his collectionThe Memory of War (1982) ensured his reputation as one of the greatest war poets of his time.[3]
Fenton returned to London in 1976. He was political correspondent of theNew Statesman, where he worked alongside Christopher Hitchens,Julian Barnes and Martin Amis.[3] He became the Assistant Literary Editor in 1971, and Editorial Assistant in 1972.[5] Hitchens had formally recruited Fenton to theInternational Socialists[6] and earlier in his journalistic career, like Hitchens, Fenton had written forSocialist Worker, the weekly paper of theInternational Socialists.[7] Fenton was an occasionalwar reporter in Vietnam during the late phase of theVietnam War, which ended in 1975. His experiences in Vietnam and Cambodia from summer 1973 form a part ofAll the Wrong Places (1988).[8][9][10] The publication of the book revealed some of Fenton's second thoughts about revolutionary socialism.[11]
In 1983, Fenton accompanied his friendRedmond O'Hanlon to Borneo. A description of the voyage can be found in the bookInto the Heart of Borneo.
Fenton won theGeoffrey Faber Memorial Prize in 1984 forChildren in Exile: Poems 1968–1984. He was appointed Oxford Professor of Poetry in 1994, a post he held till 1999.[5] He was awarded theQueen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 2007. The American composerCharles Wuorinen set several of his poems to music, and Fenton served as librettist for Wuorinen's operaHaroun and the Sea of Stories (2001, premiered in 2004), based onSalman Rushdie's novel.
Fenton has said: "The writing of a poem is like a child throwing stones into a mineshaft. You compose first, then you listen for the reverberation." In response to criticisms of his comparatively slimSelected Poems (2006), he warned against the notion of poets churning out poetry in a regular, automated fashion.
Fenton has been a frequent contributor toThe Guardian,[12]The Independent andThe New York Review of Books.[13] He once wrote the head column in the editorials of each Friday'sEvening Standard.[14] In 2007, he appeared in a list of the "100 most influential gay and lesbian people in Britain" published byThe Independent on Sunday.[15]
Fenton's partner isDarryl Pinckney, the prize-winning novelist, playwright and essayist perhaps best known for the novelHigh Cotton (1992).[16]
Fenton has been influenced in his writing by musical theatre, as evidenced in "Here Come the Drum Majorettes" fromOut of Danger:
"Gleb meet Glubb.
Glubb meet Glob.
God that's glum, that glib Glob dig.
'Dig that bog!'
'Frag that frog.'
Stap that chap, he snuck that cig.'"[17]
He was the original English librettist for the musical ofLes Misérables butCameron Mackintosh later replaced him withHerbert Kretzmer. Kretzmer credited Fenton with creating the general structure of the adaptation,[18] and Fenton is credited for additional lyrics, for which he receives royalties, as stipulated in his contract.[19]
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