John Middleton Murry Jr. (9 May 1926 – 31 March 2002) was an English writer who used the names Colin Murry and Richard Cowper.
Early life
Murry was the son of the writer
John Middleton Murry
John Middleton Murry (6 August 1889 – 12 March 1957) was an English writer. He was a prolific author, producing more than 60 books and thousands of essays and reviews on literature, social issues, politics, and religion during his lifetime. ...
and his second wife, Violet Le Maistre. His mother contracted
pulmonary tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in w ...
when Murry was 8 months old, and died just before his fifth birthday. Murry was nicknamed "Colin" by his grandmother, which later served as a semi-pseudonymous pen name for some of his books.
Murry attended
Rendcomb College
Rendcomb College is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18), located in the village of Rendcomb five miles north of Cirencester in Gloucestershire, England.
Rendcomb College was founded in 19 ...
, a
progressive school
Progressive education, or protractivism, is a pedagogical movement that began in the late 19th century and has persisted in various forms to the present. In Europe, progressive education took the form of the New Education Movement. The term ''pro ...
in Gloucestershire. He enlisted in the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
in 1944 and applied to join the
Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...
as a pilot, but was turned down on the grounds of poor eyesight and was never in combat.
After the war, he read
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
and English at
Brasenose College
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 ...
,
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
from where he graduated in 1949. He met Ruth Jezierski and married her in 1949. The couple had two daughters.
Murry died in 2002, four weeks after the death of his wife. His daughters said he died of a broken heart.
Career
His first novel, the autobiographical ''The Golden Valley'', was finished in 1954 but not published until 1958 under the name Colin Murry. Publication was delayed because of the harsh criticism he had received from his father after he showed it to him following its completion. Three more novels as Colin Murry followed, the last appearing in 1972.
In the 1960s he turned to science fiction and
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
under the pen name of Richard Cowper and attained considerable popularity. Responses to his work in the genre were mixed, with readers liking his subtle, lyrical and moving stories, but some SF critics were less impressed.
Martin Amis
Martin Louis Amis (born 25 August 1949) is a British novelist, essayist, memoirist, and screenwriter. He is best known for his novels ''Money'' (1984) and ''London Fields'' (1989). He received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his memoir '' ...
wrote a series of harsh reviews of the Cowper books, which Murry shrugged off, saying, "He grew up with a famous father too!"
His writing often aimed at direct, intense feeling, with little or none of the
irony
Irony (), in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what on the surface appears to be the case and what is actually the case or to be expected; it is an important rhetorical device and literary technique.
Irony can be categorized into ...
and cynicism characteristic of much twentieth-century literature. He retired from writing in 1986, stating that he had nothing more to say, and turned to painting and repairing Victorian chairs.
Selected bibliography
As Colin Murry
*''The Golden Valley'' (1953)
*''Recollections of a Ghost'' (1960)
*''A Path to the Sea'' (1961)
*''Private View'' (1972)
As Richard Cowper
*''Phoenix'' (1967)
*''Breakthrough'' (1967)
*''Domino'' (1971)
*''Kuldesak'' (1972)
*''Clone'' (1972)
*''Time Out of Mind'', with W. R. Cowper (1973)
*''
The Twilight of Briareus
''The Twilight of Briareus'' is a science-fiction novel by John Middleton Murry Jr., under his pseudonym Richard Cowper. It "combine disaster and invasion themes". One critic sees it as the book that Cowper's other novels resemble at heart.
Wr ...
'' (1974)
*''Worlds Apart'' (1974)
*''Profundis'' (1979)
*''The White Bird of Kinship''
** ''The Road to Corlay'' (1978)
** ''A Dream of Kinship'' (1981)
** ''A Tapestry of Time'' (1982)
(The short story "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" acts as a prologue to the three ''Kinship'' novels. It appears in the collection ''The Custodians'' as well as in some editions of ''The Road to Corlay''.)
*''Shades of Darkness'' (1986)
Autobiography
* ''One Hand Clapping: a memoir of childhood'' (1975)
* ''Shadows on the Grass'' (1977)
Short-story collections
*''The Custodians'' (1976)
*''The Web of the Magi'' (1980)
*''Out There Where the Big Ships Go'' (1980)
*''The Tithonian Factor'' (1984)
*''The Magic Spectacles: And Other Tales'' (1986)
References
External links
*
"Portrait of John Murry"by
Christopher Priest Bibliography from Fantastic fiction
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murry, John Middleton Jr.
1926 births
2002 deaths
Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford
English science fiction writers
People educated at Rendcomb College
English male novelists
20th-century English novelists
20th-century English male writers
English male non-fiction writers
Royal Navy personnel of World War II