Ian Hamilton (critic)
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Robert Ian Hamilton (24 March 1938 – 27 December 2001) was a British literary critic, reviewer, biographer, poet, magazine editor and publisher.


Early life and education

He was born in
King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...
,
Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
. His parents were Scottish and had moved to Norfolk in 1936. The family moved to
Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...
in 1951. Hamilton's civil engineer father died a few months later. A keen soccer player, at the age of 15 Hamilton was diagnosed with a heart complaint. Unable to play games, he developed his interest in poetry. At the age of 17, in
sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...
at
Darlington Grammar School Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underw ...
, Hamilton produced two issues of his own magazine, which was called ''The Scorpion''. For the second issue he sent a questionnaire to various literary figures in London asking if there was any advice they could give young authors. Around 50 or so replies were received from figures such as
Louis Golding Louis Golding (19 November 1895 – 9 August 1958) was an English writer, very famous in his time especially for his novels, though he is now largely neglected; he wrote also short stories, essays, fantasies, travel books, and poetry. Life Bor ...
. After leaving school, Hamilton did his
National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...
in
Mönchengladbach Mönchengladbach (, li, Jlabbach ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Dutch border. Geography Municipal subdivisions Since 2009, the territory of Mönchengladbac ...
, Germany. He then attended
Keble College, Oxford Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to th ...
, and within a year started a magazine ''Tomorrow''. The first issues were patchy, but the magazine grew in confidence, publishing an early play by
Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanne ...
in its fourth and final issue.


Career

In 1962, Hamilton started ''The Review'' magazine, with
Michael Fried Michael Martin Fried (born April 12, 1939 in New York City) is a modernist art critic and art historian. He studied at Princeton University and Harvard University and was a Rhodes Scholar at Merton College, Oxford. He is the J.R. Herbert Boone Pr ...
, John Fuller, and
Colin Falck Colin Falck (14 July 1934 — 27 December 2020) was a British literary critic and poet. He was associate professor in modern literature at York College of Pennsylvania. In 1962 Falck co-founded the influential postwar British poetry magazine ''The ...
. ''The Review'' became the most influential postwar British poetry magazine, publishing a wide variety of writers and both short and long pieces. It ran until its 10th-anniversary issue in 1972. In 1964 ''The Review'' published a pamphlet of Hamilton's poems entitled ''Pretending Not to Sleep.'' It was one of three pamphlets that made up issue no. 13 of ''The Review''. In 1965, to make ends meet, Hamilton took a three-day-a-week job at ''
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 ...
'', which soon grew to be the position of poetry and fiction editor, a post he held until 1973. In 1970,
Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...
published '' The Visit'', a slender book of Hamilton's poems. This was a somewhat reworked and expanded version of the 1964 pamphlet. The 33 poems contained in ''The Visit'' all reflect Hamilton's concise writing style. Hamilton subsequently spoke about the relationship between the stressful circumstances of his personal life – in particular the mental illness of his wife – and the brevity of the poems. "You had to keep your control however bad things were; you had to be in charge. And I suppose the perfect poem became something that had to contain the maximum amount of control – and of suffering." In 1974, Hamilton started ''The New Review'', a large-format glossy magazine. Its first issue was 100 pages and featured many well-known writers. Again, it was influential in literary circles, and encouraged younger writers. But the magazine depended on Arts Council funding, and when that stopped, four and half years and 50 issues later, ''The New Review'' closed. Hamilton then wrote freelance, including regularly for the ''
New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...
''. In 1976, another pamphlet of poems by Hamilton appeared, entitled ''Returning'', which contained 12 new poems. After his friend poet
Robert Lowell Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (; March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet. He was born into a Boston Brahmin family that could trace its origins back to the ''Mayflower''. His family, past and present, were important subjects i ...
died in 1977, Hamilton wrote a biography of him, which was well received. Encouraged by that, Hamilton began writing a biography and critique of
J. D. Salinger Jerome David Salinger (; January 1, 1919 January 27, 2010) was an American author best known for his 1951 novel ''The Catcher in the Rye''. Salinger got his start in 1940, before serving in World War II, by publishing several short stories in '' ...
. Famously averse to publicity, Salinger took legal action in '' Salinger v. Random House'' to prevent the book being published and was successful in denying Hamilton the right to quote from his letters or paraphrase them. Hamilton, however, was able to incorporate these frustrations into the book, entitled ''In Search of J.D. Salinger''. From 1984 to 1987 Hamilton presented the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
''
Bookmark A bookmark is a thin marking tool, commonly made of card, leather, or fabric, used to keep track of a reader's progress in a book and allow the reader to easily return to where the previous reading session ended. Alternate materials for book ...
'' television programme, featuring many well-known writers. In 1988, Faber published a new collection of his verse: ''Fifty Poems.'' This included the poems previously published in ''The Visit'', together with 11 of the poems from ''Returning'' and six new poems. In the preface Hamilton wrote: "Fifty poems in twenty-five years: not much to show for half a lifetime, you might think. And in certain moods, I would agree." Ten years later, Faber published ''Sixty Poems'', again matching his age, and these also incorporated earlier poems. In 1989, he guest-edited the second number of the literary magazine ''Soho Square'', published by
Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...
. His experience with Salinger inspired ''Keepers of the Flame'', Hamilton's 1992 book about the history of literary estates and unofficial biographers. His love of
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
led him to write ''Gazza Agonistes'' and ''Gazza Italia'' in 1993 and 1994, about
Paul Gascoigne Paul John Gascoigne (, born 27 May 1967), nicknamed Gazza, is an English former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He is described by the National Football Museum as "widely recognised as the most naturally talente ...
's seemingly wasted talent. In 1999, Cargo Press published ''Another Round At The Pillars'', a collection of "essays, poems and reflections on Ian Hamilton" to celebrate his 60th birthday, with contributions from a range of prominent authors and poets, including
Julian Barnes Julian Patrick Barnes (born 19 January 1946) is an English writer. He won the Man Booker Prize in 2011 with ''The Sense of an Ending'', having been shortlisted three times previously with '' Flaubert's Parrot'', ''England, England'', and '' Art ...
,
Ian McEwan Ian Russell McEwan, (born 21 June 1948) is an English novelist and screenwriter. In 2008, ''The Times'' featured him on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" and ''The Daily Telegraph'' ranked him number 19 in its list of th ...
,
Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanne ...
and
Clive James Clive James (born Vivian Leopold James; 7 October 1939 – 24 November 2019) was an Australian critic, journalist, broadcaster, writer and lyricist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1962 until his death in 2019.Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709  – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...
as his inspiration, he chose 45 dead 20th-century poets and assessed their achievement with his customary economy and wit. The book was published posthumously. Hamilton died of cancer in 2001 in London. His first wife, Gisela Dietzel, and their son Matthew Hamilton survive him, as does his second wife Ahdaf Soueif and their two sons, and his long-term partner, Patricia Wheatley, by whom he had a son and daughter, Catherine and William Hamilton. In 2002, Between the Lines published ''Ian Hamilton in Conversation with Dan Jacobson'', in which the novelist and academic
Dan Jacobson Dan Jacobson (7 March 1929 – 12 June 2014) was a South African novelist, short story writer, critic and essayist of Lithuanian Jewish descent. Early life and career Dan Jacobson was born 7 March 1929, in Johannesburg, South Africa, where his p ...
interviewed Hamilton about his life and career. In 2009
Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...
published his ''Collected Poems'', with an introduction by Alan Jenkins. A selection of Hamilton's books by other poets were donated to
Keble College, Oxford Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to th ...
, where they are accessible to students as the Ian Hamilton Poetry Library.


Bibliography

* ''Pretending Not to Sleep'' (1964), poetry pamphlet * ''The Visit'' (1970), poetry book * ''A Poetry Chronicle'' (1973), essays and reviews * ''Returning'' (1976), poetry pamphlet * ''The Little Magazines: A Study of Six Editors'' (1976) * ''Robert Lowell: A Biography'' (1982) * ''In Search of J.D. Salinger'' (1988), biography and critique * ''Fifty Poems'' (1988), poetry collection * ''Writers in Hollywood 1915–1951'' (1990) * ''Keepers of the Flame'' (1992), on literary estates * ''Gazza Agonistes'' (1993), on
Paul Gascoigne Paul John Gascoigne (, born 27 May 1967), nicknamed Gazza, is an English former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He is described by the National Football Museum as "widely recognised as the most naturally talente ...
* ''Gazza Italia'' (1994), on Paul Gascoigne * ''Walking Possession'' (1994), essays and reviews * ''Oxford Companion to 20th-Century Poetry'' (1994), as editor * ''Steps'' (1997), poetry * ''A Gift Imprisoned: The Poetic Life of Matthew Arnold'' (1998) * ''Sixty Poems'' (1998), poetry collection * ''The Trouble with Money'' (1998), essays * ''Against Oblivion: Some Lives of the Twentieth-Century Poets'' (2002)


References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Ian 1938 births 2001 deaths 20th-century English male writers 20th-century English poets Alumni of Keble College, Oxford Anglo-Scots Deaths from cancer in England English male poets English people of Scottish descent People from Darlington People from King's Lynn