Henry Robin Romilly Fedden,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, (1908–1977) was an English writer, diplomat and mountaineer. He was the son of artist Romilly Fedden and novelist Katherine Waldo Douglas. Raised mostly in Chantemesle, France, Fedden went to

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

to read English. He served as a diplomat in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

and taught English literature at

Cairo University Cairo University ( ar, جامعة القاهرة, Jāmi‘a al-Qāhira), also known as the Egyptian University from 1908 to 1940, and King Fuad I University and Fu'ād al-Awwal University from 1940 to 1952, is Egypt's premier public university ...

. He was one of the Cairo poets, and co-edited the literary journal ''Personal Landscape'' with

Lawrence Durrell Lawrence George Durrell (; 27 February 1912 – 7 November 1990) was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer. He was the eldest brother of naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell. Born in India to British colonial p ...

and

Bernard Spencer Charles Bernard Spencer (1909 – 1963) was an English poet, translator, and editor. He was born in Madras, India and educated at Marlborough College and Corpus Christi College, Oxford. At Marlborough he knew John Betjeman and Louis MacNeic ...

. After World War II, he worked for the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

, rising to the post of Deputy Director-General. He retired in 1973. He had a wide variety of interests, which were reflected in the books he wrote. The best known of these are ''The Enchanted Mountains'' and ''Chantemesle''. He also wrote several guidebooks for the National Trust. He was a dedicated mountaineer, a pursuit he took up in his late thirties. He was married to Renee Fedden; they had two daughters. He died in 1977.

Henry Miller Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical ref ...

disliked Fedden. He recalled their meetings in Athens when he later wrote bitterly of expatriate Englishmen in

The Colossus of Maroussi ''The Colossus of Maroussi'' is an impressionist Travel literature, travelogue by American writer Henry Miller that was first published in 1941 by Colt Press of San Francisco. Set in pre-war Greece of 1939, it is ostensibly an exploration of the ...

. Miller "hated edden'sstammer and his effete way of talking and ... framed a sharply satirical portrait of him in the Colossus," wrote Durrell in a letter in 1977. But Durrell recognised that 'behind the slight stoop and stutter that were part of Fedden's disarming charm, there was a sharply critical mind interrogating the cultures of Europe and the East, and he looked up to him as he did to none of his other contemporaries' during the war years.Alexandria: City of Memory, by Michael Haag, Yale University Press, 2004, page 295

Selected works

* The Enchanted Mountains: A Quest in the Pyrenees * Alpine Ski Tour 1956 * Chantemesle (1964; reissued by

Eland Books Eland Books is an independent London-based publishing house founded in 1982 with the aim of republishing and reviving classic travel books that have fallen out of print over time. Its list currently runs to around 160 titles and is highly reg ...

in 2002) * The National Trust Guide * Treasures of the National Trust * The Continuing Purpose: History of the National Trust, Its Aims and Work * The National Trust: Past and Present * Churchill And Chartwell * Egypt: Land of the Valley * Crusader Castles * The Country House Guide * Suicide: A Social and Historical Study * Syria and Lebanon * Syria: An historical appreciation * English Travellers in the Near East * Anglesey Abbey * Petworth House

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fedden, Robin British travel writers Commanders of the Order of the British Empire 1908 births 1977 deaths