George Slythe Street (18 July 1867 – 31 October 1936) was a British critic, journalist and novelist. He was born in
Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon () is a district and town of Southwest London, England, southwest of the centre of London at Charing Cross; it is the main commercial centre of the London Borough of Merton. Wimbledon had a population of 68,187 in 2011 which includes ...
on 18 July 1867. He was associated with
William Ernest Henley and the 'counter-Decadents' on the staff of the
National Observer.
[Beckson, Karl E. ''Oscar Wilde: the Critical Heritage''. Page 252. Routledge, 1970.] His works were characterized by "whimsy, detachment, sympathy, tenderness, satire, humor, and occasionally cynicism". Street's satirical works assailed "snobbery, hypocrisy, vulgarity, and pretentiousness at all levels of society, especially among the aesthetes and the upper class". He is perhaps best known for his 1894 novel, ''the Autobiography of a Boy'', which satirized contemporary aesthetes
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
and
Lord Alfred Douglas
Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas (22 October 1870 – 20 March 1945), also known as Bosie Douglas, was an English poet and journalist, and a lover of Oscar Wilde. At Oxford he edited an undergraduate journal, ''The Spirit Lamp'', that carried a homoer ...
, although Street would later write favorably of Wilde's ''
De Profundis''.
In 1914 Street was appointed to the office of the
Lord Chamberlain
The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom while also acting as the main cha ...
as joint
Examiner of Plays
The Licensing Act of 1737 is a defunct Act of Parliament in the Kingdom of Great Britain, and a pivotal moment in theatrical history. Its purpose was to control and censor what was being said about the British government through theatre. The act ...
with E.A. Bendall. He became sole examiner in 1920.
He died on 31 October 1936.
Bibliography
*''The Autobiography of a Boy'' (1894
*''Episodes'' (1895
*''Miniatures and Moods'' (1893
*''Quales Ego: a Few Remarks in Particular and at Large'' (1896)
*''The Wise and the Wayward'' (1896
*''Some Notes of a Struggling Genius'' (1898)
*''The Trial of the Bantocks'' (1900
*''A Book of Stories'' (1902
*''A Book of Essays'' (1902
*''The Views of an Angry Man'' (1902
*''Books and Things: a Collection of Stray Remarks'' (1905
*''The Ghosts of Piccadilly'' (1907
ref>
*''People and Questions'' (1910
*''On Money and Other Essays'' (1914)
*''The London Assurance, 1720-1920'' (1920)
See also
*
Orthodoxy (book)
Notes
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Street, G. S.
British critics
British male journalists
19th-century British novelists
20th-century British novelists
1867 births
1936 deaths
British male novelists
19th-century British male writers
20th-century British male writers