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Ronald Firbank

The Knitting Circle: Literature

Biography,work,bibliography.

British novelist.

Full name Arthur Annesley Ronald Firbank.

His mother was the society beauty Harriet Jane Garrett. His father was the MP Sir Thomas Firbank (1850-1910) who was also a wealthy company director. His grandfather was Joseph Firbank (1819-86), the wealthy railway contractor.

The sunstroke that he had as a child left him delicate. He also spent much of his time alone.

He went to Uppingham School, and then on to Trinity Hall, Cambridge University. While there he met Vyvyan Holland, a son ofOscar Wilde, and he also met R. H. Benson who received him into the Roman Catholic church in 1907. The Cambridge academicEdward Dentintroduced him to Rupert Brooke. Ronald Firbank left Cambridge in 1909 without completing a degree.

With the personal wealth that he inherited he travelled around Spain, Italy, the Middle East, and North Africa.

He developed a number eccentricities, such as keeping a palm plant in his flat and employing a gardener to come in twice a day to water it.

He wrote his novels on piles of deep blue cards. Many critics dismissed them as slight, but they later became more highly regarded as innovative comic novels. He created fantastic, elegant myths with society ladies, ecclesiastics, lesbians, kings, and nuns.

Both his lifestyle and his work came to be known as 'Firbankian'. He dressed in lounge suits with a bowler hat, carrying a cane and gloves. He stained his finger-nails crimson, and on his long fingers he had many jewelled rings. He sleeked his fine dark hair close to his head with pomander. He was a regular, at the Café Royal, the literary haunt of many famous writers at 68 Regent Street, London. There was a legend that he was so afraid of eating that he only took champagne and some flower petals supplemented by an occasional single grape. He was also one of the group of artists and literary figures who visited the Eiffel Tower restaurant in Percy Street, off Tottenham Court Road, London, although he would often be sitting alone in a corner. Other regulars included Augustus John, Nancy Cunard, Aldous Huxley,Alfred Douglas, Dylan Thomas, Wyndham Lewis, the Sitwells, Peter Warlock, Tony Gandarillas, Lord Berners, and Evan Morgan.

He paid for the publication of his works untilSorrow in Sunlight, (1924). In the USA it appeared under the titlePrancing Nigger.

His novelConcerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli, (1926), concerns the demise of a priest while chasing an appealing choirboy around the altar.

Ronald Firbank died of lung disease when in Rome.

A pencil drawing of Ronald Firbank dated c1915 by Augustus John is in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

In Harold Nicolson'sSome People, (1927), the character Lambert Orme represents Ronald Firbank.

• Odette d'Antreverness: A Fairy Tale for Weary People, 1905, two short stories. (Revised in 1916.)

• A Study of Temperament, 1905.

• Vainglory, 1915, a novel.

• Inclinations, 1916, a novel.

• Caprice, 1917, a novel.
  Caprice (The New Directions Bibelots), 1993, published by New Directions Publishing Corporation, 92 pages, ISBN 0811212432 (paperback).

• Valmouth: A Romantic Novel, 1919, a novel.
  Valmouth and Other Stories, 1996, published by Wordsworth Editions Ltd, 192 pages, ISBN 1853262951 (paperback).

  Synopsis:"e;Set in an English seaside health resort where the air promotes longevity,Valmouthis dominated by masseuse, Mrs Yajnavalkya. It is a work of elegant fantasy with religious and sexual innuendo. Also included areSorrow in SunlightandConcerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli.

• The Princess of Zoubaroff: A Comedy, 1920, a play.

• Santal, 1921, a short story.
  Santal, 1994, published by Sun and Moon Press, ISBN 1557131740 (paperback).

• The Flower Beneath the Foot, 1923, a novel.

• Sorrow in Sunlight, 1924, a novel. (Also calledPrancing Nigger, USA.)

• Concerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli, 1926, a novel, published posthumously.
  An extract is published inThe Faber Book of Gay Short Fiction.

• The Artificial Princess, 1934, published posthumously.
  Synopsis:"e;Tells the stories of an elderly woman's obsession with acquiring a cathedral stained-glass window, a woman whose best friend marries an Italian count, and a minister's daughter who runs away to London to start a career on the stage."e;

• The New Rythum and Other Pieces, 1962, published posthumously.

• 3 More Novels, 1986, published by W. W. Norton, 446 pages, ISBN 081120975X (paperback).

• The Complete Ronald Firbank, 1988, published by Picador Classics.

• Firbankiana, 1991, published by Hanuman Books, ISBN 0937815292 (paperback).

• Complete Plays, edited by Steven Moore, 1994, published by Dalkey Archive Press Illinois State University, 130 pages, ISBN 1564780473 (hardcover).

• Complete Short Stories, 1994, published by Dalkey Archive Press, ISBN 0916583619 (paperback).

• Three Novels: The Flower Beneath the Foot / Sorrow in the Sunlight / Concerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli, with an introduction byAlan Hollinghurst, 2000, published by Penguin Books, 272 pages, ISBN 0141182199 (paperback).

• Miriam J. Benkovitz, (1970), "e;Ronald Firbank"e;.

• Miriam J. Benkovitz, (editor), (1980), "e;Bibliography of Ronald Firbank"e;, Enitharmon Publishers, ISBN 0905289706 (hardcover).

• Brigid Brophy, (1973), "e;Prancing Novelist"e;.

• EllimanandRoll, (1986), pages 74-75.

• I. K. Fletcher, (1930), "e;Ronald Firbank: A Memoir"e;.

• Steven Moore, (1996), "e;Ronald Firbank: An Annotated Bibliography of Secondary Materials, 1905-1995 (The Dalkey Archive Bibliography Series, 3)"e;, Dalkey Archive Press Illinois State University, 160 pages, ISBN 156478133X (paperback).

Biography,work,bibliography.

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First uploaded 28th. August, 2000.

Last altered 13th. July, 2003