Charles Langbridge Morgan (22 January 1894 – 6 February 1958) was a British

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspi ...

of English and Welsh parentage. The main themes of his work were, as he himself put it, "Art, Love, and Death", and the relation between them. Themes of individual novels range from the paradoxes of freedom (''The Voyage'', ''The River Line''), through passionate love seen from within (''Portrait in a Mirror'') and without (''A Breeze of Morning''), to the conflict of good and evil (''The Judge's Story'') and the enchanted boundary of death (''Sparkenbroke''). He was the husband of Welsh novelist Hilda Vaughan.

Life and writings

Early life

His maternal grandparents had emigrated to Australia from

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a county in the south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The county is home to Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. The Park ...

. His paternal grandparents were from Gloucestershire and Devon in England. His parents were married in Australia. His father, Sir Charles Langbridge Morgan, was a railway civil engineer, and at one time was President of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Morgan himself was born in

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, cha ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it fac ...

. He was educated at the Naval Colleges of Osborne and Dartmouth and served as a

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afr ...

in the China Fleet until 1913, when he returned to England to take the entrance examinations for Oxford. On the outbreak of war he rejoined the navy but was sent with Churchill's Naval Division to the defence of

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

. He was interned in the Netherlands which provided the setting for his best-selling novel ''The Fountain''. Some of his early poems were published in ''

The Westminster Gazette ''The Westminster Gazette'' was an influential Liberal newspaper based in London. It was known for publishing sketches and short stories, including early works by Raymond Chandler, Anthony Hope, D. H. Lawrence, Katherine Mansfield, and Saki, ...

''. "To America" (1917) was included in ''A Treasury of World Poetry'', edited by George Herbert Clarke. After World War I, he took his degree at

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the m ...

Family relationships; journalism and drama

After an unsuccessful relationship with Mary, a daughter of

Alfred Mond, 1st Baron Melchett Alfred Moritz Mond, 1st Baron Melchett, PC, FRS, DL (23 October 1868 – 27 December 1930), known as Sir Alfred Mond, Bt between 1910 and 1928, was a British industrialist, financier and politician. In his later life he became an active Zio ...

, he married the Welsh novelist Hilda Vaughan in 1923. They had two children: Dame Shirley Paget, Marchioness of Anglesey, and Roger Morgan, who became Librarian of the

House of Lords Library The House of Lords Library is the library and information resource of the House of Lords, the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It provides Members of the House and their staff with books, Parliamentary material and reference ...

. He was the drama critic of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its s ...

'' from the 1920s until 1938, and contributed weekly articles on the London theatre to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. He wrote a series of articles for ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication i ...

'' under the byline "Menander's Mirror" from 1942, and many articles for ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, wh ...

''. His first play, ''The Flashing Stream'' (1938), had successful runs in London and Paris but was not well received in New York. ''The River Line'' (1952) was originally written as a novel in 1949 and concerned the activities of escaped British prisoners of war in France during World War II.

Honours and reputation

He was awarded the French ''

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

'' in 1936, a promotion in 1945, and was elected a member of the

Institut de France The (; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institut ...

in 1949. From 1953 to 1956 he was the President of

PEN International PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internation ...

, the worldwide association of writers. While Morgan enjoyed an immense reputation during his lifetime, particularly in France, and was awarded the 1940

James Tait Black Memorial Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Uni ...

for fiction, he was sometimes criticised for excessive seriousness, and for some time he was rather neglected; he once claimed that the "sense of humour by which we are ruled avoids emotion and vision and grandeur of spirit as a weevil avoids the sun. It has banished tragedy from our theatre, eloquence from our debates, glory from our years of peace, splendour from our wars..." The character Gerard Challis in

Stella Gibbons Stella Dorothea Gibbons (5 January 1902 – 19 December 1989) was an English writer, journalist, and poet. She established her reputation with her first novel, ''Cold Comfort Farm'' (1932) which has been reprinted many times. Although she ...

's ''Westwood'' is thought to be a caricature of him. His posthumous reputation was initially higher in France than in Britain, but has begun a new rise in recent years with the republication of various novels (including Capuchin Classics' ''The Voyage'' with an Introduction by Oxford's Valentine Cunningham in 2009), his poetry (edited by Peter Holland for Scarthin Books in 2008) and an edition of his plays published by Oberon Books in 2013. He was a consummate and committed stylist, from newspaper reviews to major novels a passionate craftsman of English prose. He was also very popular in Italy, especially in the 1950s. He spent long periods in the North, and in Tuscany. He wrote and set Sparkenbroke in Lucca.

Literary connection

Morgan employed Esmé Valerie Fletcher as his private secretary when she moved to London from Leeds in her determination to enter London literary circles and find a way to meet

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biog ...

, her future husband. She acknowledged her gratitude to Morgan for providing her with her first opportunity, and later spoke of her respect for him as an author in private discussions with her family and friends.

Major works

Novels

*''The Gunroom'' (1919) *''My Name is Legion'' (1925) *''Portrait in a Mirror'' (1929) *''The Fountain'' (1932) *''Sparkenbroke'' (1936) *''The Voyage'' (1940) *''The Empty Room'' (1941) *''The Judge's Story'' (1947) *''The River Line'' (1949) *''A Breeze of Morning'' (1951) *''Challenge to Venus'' (1957)

Plays

*''The Flashing Stream'' (1938) *''The River Line'' (1952) *'' The Burning Glass'' (1953)

Essays

*''Epitaph on George Moore'' (1935) *''The House of Macmillan: (1843–1943)'' (1943) *''Reflections in a Mirror'' (in two volumes 1944, 1946) *''Liberties of the Mind'' (1951) *''The Writer and his World'' (1960) *''Dramatic Critic: selected reviews (1922–1939)'', selected and edited by Roger Morgan (Oberon Books 2013)Roger Morgan

Poetry

*''Ode to France'' (1942) *''The Collected Poems of Charles Morgan'' (2008)

References

Secondary titles

*De Pange, Victor, ''Morgan'', Classiques du XXe siècle (Paris: Editions universitaires, 1962) *Duffin, Henry Charles, ''The Novels and Plays of Charles Morgan.'' (London: Bowes and Bowes, 1959) *Lewis, Eiluned (ed.), ''Selected Letters of Charles Morgan'' (London/Melbourne: Macmillan, 1967) *Jackson, Nigel, ''The Seed That Falls: the Eleven Novels of Charles Morgan'' (Melbourne: Nigel Jackson, 2018)

External links

Charles Morgan website
*
Photograph
of a scene from original production of ''The River Line''. Paul Scofield is on the far right.
PEN International
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, Charles Langbridge 1894 births 1958 deaths 20th-century English dramatists and playwrights 20th-century English male writers 20th-century English novelists Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford British male dramatists and playwrights English male novelists English people of Welsh descent James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients People from Bromley Presidents of the Critics' Circle Royal Navy officers of World War I