|
Born in Sydney, Australia, in 1939, Clive
James moved to London in 1961 where he wrote for The
Listener, The New Statesman and The Review, all of them keen to
tap into the erudite verve.
The article that made his name was a valedictory
article about Edmond Wilson written anonymously as was The Times
Literary Supplement rule.
Following his unmasking, James rapidly established
himself as one of the most influential metropolitan critics of
his generation. The Sunday newspaper The Observer hired him as
a television reviewer in 1972, and for ten years his weekly column
was one of the most famous regular features in Fleet Street journalism,
setting a style which was later widely copied.
Over the next two decades he wrote and presented
countless TV series and specials, as well as pioneering the “Postcard”
format of travel programmes, which are still in syndication all
over the world.
Among his writings are Peregrine Prykke’s
Pilgrimage, three autobiographies, Unreliable Memoirs, Falling
Towards England and May Week was in June. In addition there have
been four novels several books of poetry – a complete edition,
called The Book of My Enemy. His fourth novel, The Silver Castle,
the first book about Bollywood, was published in the United States
in 1996. His later collections of essays include Reliable Essays
and Even as We Speak.
The very latest, The Meaning of Recognition, was
published by Picador in late 2005. He is currently completing
a long study of cultural discontinuity in the twentieth century,
under the provisional title of Alone in the Café, and has
begun work on the fourth volume of his memoirs. He is married
to the scholar Prue Shaw, and they have two daughters. He lives
in London, Cambridge and various airports.
|
