Skip to main content

Letter from John Wain to the owner of the house in which he was born

 Single Item
MS. Eng. c. 6043, fols. 31-32
Held at the Weston Library

  • Request
    this

Letter from John Wain to the owner of the house in which he was born.

Dates

  • Creation: 1990

Extent

2 Leaves

Language of Materials

  • English

Preferred Citation

Oxford, Bodleian Libraries [followed by shelfmark and folio or page reference, e.g. MS. Eng. c. 6043, fols. 1-2].

Please see our help page for further guidance on citing archives and manuscripts.

Shelfmark:

MS. Eng. c. 6043, fols. 31-32

Collection ID (for staff)

CMD ID 21177

Abstract

Letter from John Wain to the owner of the house in which he was born.

Biographical / Historical

John Barrington Wain (1925-1994), author and poet, grew up in Staffordshire before going on to read English at St John's College, Oxford, in 1943. He recieved teaching from C.S. Lewis and attended Inklings meetings, founded the literary magazine 'Mandrake', and had amongst his peers Philip Larkin and Kingsley Amis. After recieving a first, he was awarded a Fereday Research Fellowship at the college.

In 1947 he married Marianne Uffenheimer and began teaching at the University of Reading. Between 1951 and 1953, Wain published his first collection of poetry, Mixed Feelings, his first novel Hurry on Down, and a scholarly work Contemporary Reviews of Romantic Poetry. In 1955 Wain gave up lecturing to become a full-time author, and was associated with the 'Movement', a set of nine poets, as well as being labelled as one of the 'Angry Young Men' of the period.

Wain married twice more after divorcing his first wife in 1956, and continued to publish both novels and poetry. His attempt at writing for the theatre failed, but he did have some success with radio plays, and he continued to lecuture at various universities in France, Canada and the US. John Wain was awarded a CBE in 1984, and made an honourary fellow of St John's the following year.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Given by Mrs. J. Wright, 1997.

Physical Facet

Contained within a guardbook of literary letters and manuscripts, 17th-21st cent.

Title
Letter from John Wain to the owner of the house in which he was born
Status
Published
Author
EAD version 2021 by Hannah Jordan
Date
EAD version 2021
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Bodleian Libraries Repository

Contact:
Weston Library
Broad Street
Oxford OX1 3BG United Kingdom