John Carey, (born 5 April 1934) is a British literary critic, and post-retirement (2002) emeritus Merton Professor of English Literature at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

. He is known for his anti-elitist views on

high culture High culture is a subculture that emphasizes and encompasses the cultural objects of aesthetic value, which a society collectively esteem as exemplary art, and the intellectual works of philosophy, history, art, and literature that a society co ...

, as expounded in several books. He has twice chaired the

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...

committee, in 1982 and 2004, and chaired the judging panel for the first

Man Booker International Prize The International Booker Prize (formerly known as the Man Booker International Prize) is an international literary award hosted in the United Kingdom. The introduction of the International Prize to complement the Man Booker Prize was announc ...

in 2005.

Education and career

He was born in Barnes, London, and educated at Richmond and East Sheen Boys' Grammar School, winning an Open Scholarship to

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pr ...

. He has held posts in a number of Oxford colleges, and is an emeritus fellow of Merton, where he became a Professor in 1975, retiring in 2002.

Literary criticism

He has twice chaired the

committee, in 1982 and 2004, and chaired the judging panel for the first

in 2005. He is chief book reviewer for the London ''

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 ...

'' and appears in radio and TV programmes including '' Saturday Review'' and '' Newsnight Review''. Carey's scholarly work is generally agreed to be of the highest order and greatly influential. Among these productions is his co-edition, with Alastair Fowler, of the ''Poems of John Milton'' (Longman, 1968; revised 1980; 2nd ed. 2006); ''John Donne: Life, Mind, and Art'' (Faber and Faber, 1981; revised 1990), a revolutionary study of Donne's work in the light of his life and family history; and ''The Violent Effigy: A Study of Dickens's Imagination'' (1973; 2nd ed. 1991).

Views

He is known for his anti-elitist views on

, as expressed for example in his book ''What Good Are the Arts?'' (2005). Carey's 1992 book ''The Intellectuals and the Masses: Pride and Prejudice among the Literary Intelligentsia, 1880–1939'' was a critique of

Modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

writers (particularly

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 ...

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born ...

, W. B. Yeats,

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

and H. G. Wells) for what Carey argues were their elitist and misanthropic views of mass society; in their place he called for a reappraisal of

Arnold Bennett Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist. He wrote prolifically: between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaboratio ...

, 'the hero of this book', whose 'writings represent a systematic dismemberment of the intellectuals' case against the masses'. In his review of the book

Geoff Dyer Geoff Dyer (born 5 June 1958) is an English author. He has written a number of novels and non-fiction books, some of which have won literary awards. Personal background Dyer was born and raised in Cheltenham, England, as the only child of a ...

wrote that Carey picked out negative quotations from his subjects, while

Stefan Collini Stefan Collini (born 6 September 1947)COLLINI, Prof. Stefan Anthony
''Who ...

responded that disdain for mass culture among some Modernist writers was already well-known among literary historians.

Personal

Carey was born in April 1934 in Barnes, then on the Surrey/London border, the youngest of their four recorded children, to Charles W. Carey and Winifred E. Carey, née Cook.

Works

*''The Poems of

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and polit ...

'' (1968) editor with Alastair Fowler *''

Andrew Marvell Andrew Marvell (; 31 March 1621 – 16 August 1678) was an English metaphysical poet, satirist and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1659 and 1678. During the Commonwealth period he was a colleague and friend ...

: A Critical Anthology'' (1969) editor *''The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg'' (1969) editor *''John Milton'' (1969) *''Complete Shorter Poems of John Milton'' (1971), revised 2nd edition (1997) editor *''The Violent Effigy. A Study of Dickens' Imagination (1973) ''published in America as'' Here Comes Dickens. The Imagination of a Novelist. ''Republished in Faber Finds'' (2008) *''John Milton, Christian Doctrine (1971) ''translator'' *'' Thackeray: Prodigal Genius'' (1977) republished in

Faber Finds 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 ...

(2008) *''English Renaissance Studies: Presented To Dame Helen Gardner In Honour Of Her Seventieth Birthday'' (1979) *''

John Donne John Donne ( ; 22 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's Cathedr ...

: Life, Mind and Art'' (1981) new revised edition (1990) republished in

(2008) *''

William Golding Sir William Gerald Golding (19 September 1911 – 19 June 1993) was a British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel ''Lord of the Flies'' (1954), he published another twelve volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 1980 ...

: The Man and His Books'' (1986) editor *''Faber Book of Reportage'' (1987) editor. Published in America a
''Eyewitness to History''

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the reti ...

, (1987) *''Original Copy : Selected Reviews and Journalism 1969–1986'' (1987) *''John Donne. The Major Works'' (1990) editor, Oxford Authors, reprinted with revisions (2000) World's Classics *''The Intellectuals and the Masses: Pride and Prejudice among the Literary Intelligentsia, 1880–1939'' (1992) *''Short Stories and the Unbearable Bassington by Saki'' (1994) editor *''Faber Book of Science'' (1995) editor. Published in America a
''Eyewitness to Science: Scientists and Writers Illuminate Natural Phenomena from Fossils to Fractals''
Harvard University Press, (1997) *''Selected Poetry of John Donne'' (1998) editor *''Faber Book of Utopias'' (2000) editor *''Pure Pleasure: a Guide to the Twentieth Century's Most Enjoyable Books'' (2000) *''

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalita ...

, Essays'' (2002) editor *'' Vanity Fair by William Thackeray'' (2002) editor *''What Good are the Arts?'' (2005) *''William Golding: The Man Who Wrote 'Lord of the Flies (2009) *''The Unexpected Professor: An Oxford Life in Books'' (2014) *''The Essential 'Paradise Lost'' (2017) *
A Little History of Poetry
', Yale University Press (2020) *
100 Poets: A Little Anthology
', Yale University Press (2021) *''Sunday Best: 80 Great Books from a Lifetime of Reviews'', Yale University Press (2022)

References

External links

*

Dwight Garner, ''

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 ...

'', 6 July 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Carey, John 1934 births Living people British literary critics People from Barnes, London Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Fellows of St John's College, Oxford Fellows of Merton College, Oxford James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients Merton Professors of English Literature Fellows of the British Academy