Hugh Sykes Davies (17 August 1909 – 6 June 1984)'The Eagle', vol. LXX, no. 293 (Easter 1985), pp. 61-4
''joh.cam.ac.uk''. Retrieved 11 October 2021. was an English poet, novelist and communist, who was one of a small group of 1930s British

surrealists Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

Biography

Davies was born in Prescot,

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

(then in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

), to a Methodist minister and his wife. He went to Kingswood School,

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, and read the Classics and English Triposes at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

, where he co-edited a student magazine called ''Experiment'' with William Empson. Following graduation he was awarded both the Jebb Studentship and the Le Bas Essay Prize. In 1933 he was elected the first-ever fellow of English at St John's College, and three years later he was appointed a University Lecturer in the subject. While at Cambridge he was a member of the

Apostles An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...

.'Obituary: Mr Hugh Sykes Davies', ''Times'', 8 June 1984, p. 18. Davies spent some time in Paris during the 1930s, and in 1936 he was one of the organisers of the London International Surrealist Exhibition, where he met the artist

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarr ...

. His poems were mostly published in ''avant garde'' magazines and were not collected during his lifetime; his best known was arguably ''Petron'' (1935). His novels include ''Full Fathom Five'' (1956) and ''The Papers of Andrew Melmoth'' (1960), while his works of literary scholarship include ''Realism in the Drama'' (his prize-winning entry for the Le Bas competition; 1933), ''Surrealism'' (1936), ''Macaulay's Marginalia to Lucretius'' (1937) and ''Grammar Without Tears'' (1951). Politically Davies was of the left, and he intended to stand as a Labour Party candidate for Isle of Ely in the anticipated 1940 general election, but his prospective candidature was terminated when the party found out that he was also a member of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

. During World War II he was employed at the Ministry of Food, which gave him an insight into administrative problems; perhaps consequently, he lost much of his youthful utopianism, and in the 1950s renounced his communist affiliation and reverted to a more orthodox social democracy in its stead.

Personal life

Davies had a talent for friendship, and in addition to Empson and Dalí he numbered

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 Biogr ...

I. A. Richards Ivor Armstrong Richards CH (26 February 1893 – 7 September 1979), known as I. A. Richards, was an English educator, literary critic, poet, and rhetorician. His work contributed to the foundations of the New Criticism, a formalist movement ...

Anthony Blunt Anthony Frederick Blunt (26 September 1907 – 26 March 1983), styled Sir Anthony Blunt KCVO from 1956 to November 1979, was a leading British art historian and Soviet spy. Blunt was professor of art history at the University of London, dire ...

and

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is considere ...

amongst his circle. At one stage he had

Malcolm Lowry Clarence Malcolm Lowry (; 28 July 1909 – 26 June 1957) was an English poet and novelist who is best known for his 1947 novel ''Under the Volcano'', which was voted No. 11 in the Modern Library 100 Best Novels list.

declared his ward in an attempt to stop Lowry's drinking. He appears in the National Film Board of Canada's feature-length documentary '' Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry'' (1976), where he talks about Lowry and their friendship. Davies died at St John's College in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

on 6 June 1984, after recovering several months earlier from a serious operation. He was married five times to four different women, the first of whom was the poet Kathleen Raine. George Watson
'Remembering Prufrock: Hugh Sykes Davies, 1909–1984'
''Sewanee Review'', vol. 109, no. 4 (Fall 2001). Republished in ''Jacket'' magazine, no. 20 (December 2002). ''jacketmagazine.com''. Retrieved 11 October 2021.

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Hugh Sykes 1909 births 1984 deaths English communists Surrealist poets Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English poets