Eden Phillpotts | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1862-11-04)4 November 1862 Mount Abu, Rajasthan, India |
| Died | 29 December 1960(1960-12-29) (aged 98) Broad Clyst, Devon |
| Children | Adelaide Phillpotts |
| Relatives | Henry Phillpotts (great-uncle) James Surtees Phillpotts (second cousin) |
Eden Phillpotts (4 November 1862 – 29 December 1960) was an English author, poet and dramatist. He was born inMount Abu, India, was educated in Plymouth, Devon, and worked as an insurance officer for ten years before studying for the stage and eventually becoming a writer.[1]
Eden Phillpotts was a great-nephew ofHenry Phillpotts, Bishop of Exeter. His father Henry Phillpotts was a son of the bishop's younger brother Thomas Phillpotts.James Surtees Phillpotts the reforming headmaster ofBedford School was his second cousin.[2]
Eden Phillpotts was born on 4 November 1862 atMount Abu inRajasthan. His father Henry was an officer in theIndian Army, while his mother Adelaide was the daughter of anIndian Civil Service officer posted in Madras, George Jenkins Waters.[3]
Henry Phillpotts died in 1865, leaving Adelaide a widow at the age of 21. With her three small sons, of whom Eden was the eldest, she returned to England and settled inPlymouth.[4]
Phillpotts was educated at Mannamead School in Plymouth. At school he showed no signs of a literary bent. In 1879, aged 17, he left home and went to London to earn his living. He found a job as a clerk with theSun Fire Office.[3][4]
Phillpotts' ambition was to be an actor and he attended evening classes at a drama school for two years. He came to the conclusion that he would never make a name as an actor but might have success as a writer. In his spare time out of office hours he proceeded to create a stream of small works which he was able to sell. In due course he left the insurance company to concentrate on his writing, while also working part-time as assistant editor for the weeklyBlack and White magazine.[3][4]
Eden Phillpotts maintained a steady output of three or four books a year for the next half century. He produced poetry, short stories, novels, plays and mystery tales. Many of his novels were about ruralDevon life and some of his plays were distinguished by their effective use of regional dialect.
Eden Phillpotts died at his home inBroadclyst nearExeter, Devon, on 29 December 1960.
Phillpotts was for many years the President of theDartmoor Preservation Association and cared passionately about the conservation of Dartmoor. He was an agnostic and a supporter of theRationalist Press Association.[5]
Phillpotts was a friend ofAgatha Christie, who was an admirer of his work and a regular visitor to his home. She dedicated her 1932 novelPeril at End House to Phillpotts, and in her autobiography, she expressed gratitude for his early advice on fiction writing and quoted some of it.Jorge Luis Borges was another Phillpotts admirer.[6] Borges mentioned him numerous times, wrote at least two reviews of his novels, and included him in his "Personal Library", a collection of works selected to reflect his personal literary preferences.[7]
Philpotts allegedly sexually abused his daughter Adelaide. In a 1976 interview for a book about her father, Adelaide described an incestuous "relationship" with him that she says lasted from the age of five or six until her early thirties, when he remarried. When she herself finally married at the age of 55 her father never forgave her, and never communicated with her again.[8]
 | This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(August 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Phillpotts wrote a great many books with a Dartmoor setting. One of his novels,Widecombe Fair (1913), inspired by an annualfair at the village ofWidecombe-in-the-Moor, provided the scenario for his comic playThe Farmer's Wife (1916). It went on to become a 1928 silentfilm of the same name, directed byAlfred Hitchcock. It was followed by a1941 remake, directed byNorman Lee andLeslie Arliss. It became a BBC TV drama in 1955, directed by Owen Reed.Jan Stewer played Churdles Ash.[9] The BBC had broadcast the play in 1934.
He co-wrote several plays with his daughterAdelaide Phillpotts,[10]The Farmer's Wife andYellow Sands (1926);[11] she later claimed their relationship was incestuous.[12][8] Eden is best known as the author of many novels, plays and poems aboutDartmoor. His Dartmoor cycle of 18 novels and two volumes of short stories still has many avid readers despite the fact that many titles are out of print.
Philpotts also wrote a series of novels, each set against the background of a different trade or industry. Titles include:Brunel's Tower (a pottery) andStorm in a Teacup (hand-papermaking). Among his other works isThe Grey Room, the plot of which is centred on a haunted room in an English manor house. He also wrote a number of other mystery novels, both under his own name and the pseudonymHarrington Hext. These include:The Thing at Their Heels,The Red Redmaynes,The Monster,The Clue from the Stars, andThe Captain's Curio.The Human Boy[13] was a collection of schoolboy stories in the same genre asRudyard Kipling'sStalky & Co., though different in mood and style. Late in his long writing career he wrote a few books of interest to science fiction andfantasy readers, the most noteworthy beingSaurus, which involves an alien reptilian observing human life.
Eric Partridge praised the immediacy and impact of his dialect writing.[14]
Novels
Short Fiction Books
Poetry
Plays
Nonfiction
