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 An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

and reviews on literature, social issues, politics, and religion during his lifetime. A prominent critic, Murry is best remembered for his association with

Katherine Mansfield Kathleen Mansfield Murry (née Beauchamp; 14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923) was a New Zealand writer, essayist and journalist, widely considered one of the most influential and important authors of the modernist movement. Her works are celebra ...

, whom he married in 1918 as her second husband, for his friendship with

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 T. S. Eliot, and for his friendship (and brief affair) with

Frieda Lawrence Frieda Lawrence (August 11, 1879 – August 11, 1956) was a German author and wife of the British novelist D.H. Lawrence. Life Emma Maria Frieda Johanna Freiin (Baroness) von Richthofen (also known under her married names as Frieda Weekley, Fr ...

. Following Mansfield's death, Murry edited her work.

Early life

John Middleton Murry was born in Peckham, London, the son of John Murry (1860/1-1947), a clerk in the Inland Revenue, and Emily (1869/70-1951), née Wheeler. John Murry, a self-made man from an "impoverished and illiterate" background, prioritized his son's education; Murry was educated at

Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. The school was founded in 1552 and received its first royal charter in 1553. ...

and Brasenose College, Oxford. There he met the writer

Joyce Cary Arthur Joyce Lunel Cary (7 December 1888 – 29 March 1957) was an Anglo-Irish novelist and colonial official. Early life and education Arthur Joyce Lunel Cary was born in his grandparents' home, above the Belfast Bank in Derry, Ireland in 1 ...

, a lifelong friend. He met

at the end of 1911, through W. L. George. His intense relationship with her, her early death, and his subsequent allusions to it, shaped both his later life and the attitudes (often hostile) of others to him.

Leonard Woolf Leonard Sidney Woolf (; – ) was a British political theorist, author, publisher, and civil servant. He was married to author Virginia Woolf. As a member of the Labour Party and the Fabian Society, Woolf was an avid publisher of his own wo ...

in his memoirs called Murry " Pecksniffian". By 1933 his reputation "had touched bottom", and

Rayner Heppenstall John Rayner Heppenstall (27 July 1911 in Lockwood, Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England – 23 May 1981 in Deal, Kent, England) was a British novelist, poet, diarist, and a BBC radio producer.John Wakeman, ''World Authors 1950-1970 : a companion volu ...

's short book of 1934, ''John Middleton Murry: A Study in Excellent Normality'', could note that he was "the best-hated man of letters in the country".

Editor

Murry was editor of the literary magazine ''

Rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...

'' from 1911 to 1913, and then '' The Blue Review''. In 1913 an associate, the publisher

Charles Granville Charles Granville was an English book publisher, publishing in the 1900s and early 1910s as Stephen Swift or Stephen Swift Ltd. He published two literary magazines, the ''Oxford and Cambridge Review'' and the ''Eye Witness'', which carried works ...

of Stephen Swift Ltd, was found guilty of embezzlement and

bigamy In cultures where monogamy is mandated, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. A legal or de facto separation of the couple does not alter their marital status as married persons. I ...

, and imprisoned. Some debts had been put in Murry's name, and their finances were seriously affected for the next six years. In 1914 he met

, and became an important supporter. The next year they started a short-lived magazine together, ''The Signature''. In 1931, after a complex evolution of the relationship, Murry wrote in ''Son of Woman'' one of the first and most influential posthumous assessments of Lawrence as a man. Medically certified as unfit for military service, with

pleurisy Pleurisy, also known as pleuritis, is inflammation of the membranes that surround the lungs and line the chest cavity ( pleurae). This can result in a sharp chest pain while breathing. Occasionally the pain may be a constant dull ache. Other sy ...

and possible

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 ...

, during the war years he was part of the

Garsington Garsington is a village and civil parish about southeast of Oxford in Oxfordshire. "A History of the County of Oxfordshire" provides a detailed history of the parish from 1082. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,689. The v ...

circle of

Ottoline Morrell Lady Ottoline Violet Anne Morrell (16 June 1873 – 21 April 1938) was an English aristocrat and society hostess. Her patronage was influential in artistic and intellectual circles, where she befriended writers including Aldous Huxley, Siegfr ...

. In 1919, Murry became the editor of '' The Athenaeum'', recently purchased by Arthur Rowntree. Under his editorship it was a literary review featuring work by T. S. Eliot,

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 i ...

Lytton Strachey Giles Lytton Strachey (; 1 March 1880 – 21 January 1932) was an English writer and critic. A founding member of the Bloomsbury Group and author of '' Eminent Victorians'', he established a new form of biography in which psychological insight ...

Clive Bell Arthur Clive Heward Bell (16 September 1881 – 17 September 1964) was an English art critic, associated with formalism and the Bloomsbury Group. He developed the art theory known as significant form. Biography Origins Bell was born in East S ...

, and other members of the Bloomsbury Group. It lasted until 1921. It had enthusiastic support from

E. M. Forster Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English author, best known for his novels, particularly ''A Room with a View'' (1908), ''Howards End'' (1910), and ''A Passage to India'' (1924). He also wrote numerous short stori ...

, who later wrote that "Here at last was a paper that was a pleasure to read and an honour to write for, and which linked up literature and life". Its fate was to be merged into ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

'', which became ''The Nation and Athenaeum'', in the period 1923 to 1930 edited by H. D. Henderson. In 1923 he became the founding editor of ''

The Adelphi ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (''The New Adelphi'', 1927–30), in association with

Jack Common Jack Common (15 August 1903 – 20 January 1968) was a British socialist, essayist and novelist. Writing Common's writing was warm, ironic and quirky. He soon won admirers throughout the 1930s as a writer with a genuine proletarian viewpoint, ...

and

Max Plowman Mark Plowman, generally known as Max Plowman, (1 September 1883 – 3 June 1941) was a British writer and pacifist. Life to 1918 He was born in Northumberland Park, Tottenham, Middlesex. He left school at 16, and worked for a decade in his fath ...

. The magazine continued in various forms until 1948. It reflected his successive interests in Lawrence, an unorthodox Marxism, pacifism, and a return to the land. According to David Goldie, Murry and the ''Adelphi'', and Eliot and ''

The Criterion ''The Criterion'' was a British literary magazine published from October 1922 to January 1939. ''The Criterion'' (or the ''Criterion'') was, for most of its run, a quarterly journal, although for a period in 1927–28 it was published monthly. It ...

'', were in an important rivalry by the mid-1920s, with competing definitions of literature, based respectively on

romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

allied to liberalism and a subjective approach, and a form of

classicism Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthet ...

allied to traditionalism and a religious attitude. In this contest, Goldie says, Eliot emerged a clear victor in the sense that, in London during the 1930s, Eliot had taken the centre of the critical stage.

Critic

Murry reviewed for ''

The Westminster Gazette ''The Westminster Gazette'' was an influential Liberal newspaper based in London. It was known for publishing sketches and short stories, including early works by Raymond Chandler, Anthony Hope, D. H. Lawrence, Katherine Mansfield, and Saki, ...

'' and then ''

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 ...

'', from 1912. Initially he was much influenced by the philosophy of

Henri Bergson Henri-Louis Bergson (; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopherHenri Bergson. 2014. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 13 August 2014, from https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/61856/Henri-Bergson

, which he disavowed in 1913. He was one of an identified group of post-

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

critics that included

Richard Aldington Richard Aldington (8 July 1892 – 27 July 1962), born Edward Godfree Aldington, was an English writer and poet, and an early associate of the Imagist movement. He was married to the poet Hilda Doolittle (H. D.) from 1911 to 1938. His 50-year w ...

, Robert Graves,

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the prominent Huxle ...

Herbert Read Sir Herbert Edward Read, (; 4 December 1893 – 12 June 1968) was an English art historian, poet, literary critic and philosopher, best known for numerous books on art, which included influential volumes on the role of art in education. Read ...

, and

Edgell Rickword John Edgell Rickword, MC (22 October 1898 – 15 March 1982) was an English poet, critic, journalist and literary editor. He became one of the leading communist intellectuals active in the 1930s. Early life He was born in Colchester, Essex, ...

. Murry gave Huxley an editorial job at ''The Athenaeum''. Murry also helped encourage British interest in the work of

Fyodor Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...

: his 1916 work ''Fyodor Dostoevsky: A Critical Study'' argued Dostoyevsky was an important novelist and philosophical thinker. Murry led the charge against

Georgian poetry Georgian Poetry refers to a series of anthologies showcasing the work of a school of English poetry that established itself during the early years of the reign of King George V of the United Kingdom. The Georgian poets were, by the strictest d ...

. A leader in the 16 May 1919 edition of ''The Athenaeum'' was an early example of a reasoned attack against the Georgian style of verse; and Murry coupled this with an adversarial attitude to '' The London Mercury'' edited by

J. C. Squire Sir John Collings Squire (2 April 1884 – 20 December 1958) was a British writer, most notable as editor of the ''London Mercury'', a major literary magazine in the interwar period. He antagonised several eminent authors, but attracted a coterie ...

. He reviewed quite harshly Siegfried Sassoon's ''Counter-Attack'' in 1918, despite having helped him in 1917 to draft an anti-war piece for H. W. Massingham's ''The Nation''. In-house, however, he was not master enough to award an essay competition prize to the then-unknown

, over the wishes of George Saintsbury and

Robert Bridges Robert Seymour Bridges (23 October 1844 – 21 April 1930) was an English poet who was Poet Laureate from 1913 to 1930. A doctor by training, he achieved literary fame only late in life. His poems reflect a deep Christian faith, and he is ...

, who preferred the poet William Orton.

F. R. Leavis Frank Raymond "F. R." Leavis (14 July 1895 – 14 April 1978) was an English literary critic of the early-to-mid-twentieth century. He taught for much of his career at Downing College, Cambridge, and later at the University of York. Leavis ra ...

admired and was influenced by Murry's early criticism; later he criticised Murry in the pages of ''Scrutiny'', but continued to acknowledge a debt to him late in life.

On Romanticism

Murry gave his philosophy its fullest expression in his writings on

Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculos ...

and

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

and in an ambitiously titled volume, ''God: An Introduction to the Science of Metabiology''. There, picking up certain concepts from his acquaintance

George Santayana Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás, known in English as George Santayana (; December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952), was a Spanish and US-American philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. Born in Spain, Santayana was raised ...

, Murry describes the project of

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

as one of inner exploration: :"To discover that within myself which I *must obey, to gain some awareness of the law which operates in the organic world of the internal world, to feel this internal world as an organic whole working out its own destiny according to some secret vital principle, to know which acts and utterances are a liberation from obstacles and an accession of strength, to acknowledge secret loyalties which one cannot deny without impoverishment and starvation – this is to possess one's soul indeed, and it is not easy either to do or to explain." The upshot of this discovery results in the highest degree of ethical awareness, "an immediate knowledge of what I am and may not do." The awareness of one being "really alone" in the universe, as he put it, marks the final point of discovery which is followed by the upward ascent to spiritual life. Murry vividly narrates this exploration as a spiritual conversion (in his 1929 book ''GOD'') —what he describes as a "desolation" followed by "illumination"—after the death of Katherine Mansfield (who had moved to G. I. Gurdjieff's ''

Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man The Fourth Way is an approach to self-development developed by George Gurdjieff over years of travel in the East (c. 1890 – 1912). It combines and harmonizes what he saw as three established traditional "ways" or "schools": those of the body, ...

'', where she died).

''The Adelphi''

In 1930

joined Murry and Sir Richard Rees in developing ''

'' as a socialist, and later pacifist, monthly; Murry had founded it in 1923 as a literary journal (''The New Adelphi'', 1927–30). Rees edited it from 1930; Plowman took on the role in 1938. ''The Adelphi'' was closely aligned with the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

;

worked for it as circulation promoter and assistant editor in the 1930s. Throughout this period, Murry's then close friend and protege, Guernsey-born G. B. Edwards, was a regular contributor to the magazine. Thanks to Murry's support, Jonathan Cape commissioned Edwards to write a book on D.H. Lawrence but following Lawrence's death it was never completed. He moved to

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 ...

; to

South Acre South Acre is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village has almost disappeared, but the remnants are located about south-west of Castle Acre, north of the town of Swaffham, east of the town of King's Lynn and ...

; and then, with his third marriage in 1931, to the Old Rectory, Larling. Murry told Antony Alpers the biographer of Katherine Mansfield that K.M.'s manuscripts had all been "dispersed to collectors" in the 1930s. He had the manuscripts of nine or ten completed stories, and when an admirer wrote to ask if he would sell a manuscript, he would reply that some land adjoining his farm in Norfolk was on the market or that he needed a tractor, so would sell one for the amount he required. Plowman co-founded (in 1934) and ran the Adelphi Centre. It was an early

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

, based on a farm in

Langham, Essex Langham is a small village in the north east of Essex, England. History There is little evidence of pre-Roman occupation of what is now Langham, but the Romans built a villa at the north end of the village close to the River Stour and the Roma ...

bought by Murry. Short-lived in its original conception, it ran a Summer School in August 1936 that was stellar: George Orwell spoke on "An Outsider Sees the Distressed Areas" on 4 August, with

in the chair. Other speakers were Steve Shaw,

Grace Rogers Grace may refer to: Places United States * Grace, Idaho, a city * Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois * Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office * Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an unin ...

, J. Hampden Jackson, N. A. Holdaway (a Marxist theorist and schoolmaster, and a director of the centre), Geoffrey Sainsbury,

Reinhold Niebuhr Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr (June 21, 1892 – June 1, 1971) was an American Reformed theologian, ethicist, commentator on politics and public affairs, and professor at Union Theological Seminary for more than 30 years. Niebuhr was one of Ameri ...

Karl Polanyi Karl Paul Polanyi (; hu, Polányi Károly ; 25 October 1886 – 23 April 1964),''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. 2003) vol 9. p. 554 was an Austro-Hungarian economic anthropologist and politician, best known ...

, John Strachey, Plowman and Common. By 1937 the commune had collapsed, and the house, 'The Oaks', was turned over to some 60

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

refugee children under the auspices of the

Peace Pledge Union The Peace Pledge Union (PPU) is a non-governmental organisation that promotes pacifism, based in the United Kingdom. Its members are signatories to the following pledge: "War is a crime against humanity. I renounce war, and am therefore determin ...

; they remained until 1939.

Lodge Farm, Thelnetham

In October 1942 Murry set up a new commune at Lodge Farm in the Suffolk village of Thelnetham. Murry purchased the farm and recruited fellow conscientious objectors to run the enterprise. The commune had mixed fortunes and it gradually reverted to a more conventional arrangement with Murry running the farm as a commercial enterprise. He wrote an account of his time at Lodge Farm in the book "Community Farm" which was published in 1953 and was illustrated by his brother, the artist Richard Murry.

Political views

Marxist

Murry had a

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

phase in the early 1930s. With his third marriage in 1931, he moved within

, from

to the Old Rectory, Larling, and wrote in two weeks his ''The Necessity of Communism''. It was this identification as "mystical Marxist" that led Bert Trick (1889–1968) to introduce Dylan Thomas to Murry, in 1933. The occasion went well enough for Richard Rees to publish Thomas in the ''Adelphi''. He supported the small Independent Socialist Party, a regional breakaway from the

Pacifist

Murry was an outspoken radical Christian and

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

, writing ''The Necessity of Pacifism'' (1937). He was a Sponsor of the

, and editor of its weekly newspaper, ''

Peace News ''Peace News'' (''PN'') is a pacifist magazine first published on 6 June 1936 to serve the peace movement in the United Kingdom. From later in 1936 to April 1961 it was the official paper of the Peace Pledge Union (PPU), and from 1990 to 2004 w ...

'', from 1940 to 1946. Murry's opinions during this period often provoked controversy. He angered many left-wingers (including George Orwell and

Vera Brittain Vera Mary Brittain (29 December 1893 – 29 March 1970) was an English Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) nurse, writer, feminist, socialist and pacifist. Her best-selling 1933 memoir '' Testament of Youth'' recounted her experiences during the Fir ...

) by arguing that

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

should be allowed to retain control of mainland Europe. Murry believed even though Nazi rule was tyrannical, it was preferable to the horrors of

total war Total war is a type of warfare that includes any and all civilian-associated resources and infrastructure as legitimate military targets, mobilizes all of the resources of society to fight the war, and gives priority to warfare over non-combata ...

.Richard A. Rempel, "The Dilemmas of British Pacifists During World War II", ''

The Journal of Modern History ''The Journal of Modern History'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering European intellectual, political, and cultural history, published by the University of Chicago Press. Established in 1929, the journal covers events from appr ...

'', Vol. 50, No. 4, On Demand Supplement (Dec., 1978), pp. D1213-D1229. Murry later "renounced his pacifism in 1948 and...urged a preventative war against the Soviet Union, ending his life as a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

voter". Finally Murry's opposition to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

was attacked by pro-Soviet elements in the peace movement. Murry's anti-feminism also drew criticism from feminist pacifists such as Brittain and

Sybil Morrison Sybil Morrison (2 January 1893 – 26 April 1984) was a British pacifist and a suffragist who was active with several other radical causes. As a young and enthusiastic suffragist, Morrison was persuaded by Emmeline Pankhurst that she was too ...

Christianity

During this period Murry was widely known as a Christian intellectual. He had in fact considered

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorization, authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominational ...

as an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

priest, but gave up on it after a diagnosis in 1938 of

Buerger's disease Thromboangiitis obliterans, also known as Buerger disease (English ; ) or Winiwarter-Buerger disease, is a recurring progressive inflammation and thrombosis (clotting) of small and medium arteries and veins of the hands and feet. It is strongly a ...

, coupled with doubts about his marriages (his third was then breaking up messily).

Elitism

His views converged with those of Eliot: he supported a type of elitism foreshadowed by

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake ...

's clerisy, and argued for by

Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the celebrated headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, lit ...

. In ''Christianity and Culture'', Eliot partially supported Murry's reasoning from ''The Price of Leadership'' (1939), though stopping short of the endorsement of Arnold. When Murry died, Eliot wrote to Mary that 'a very warm affection existed between us'.

Family

Murry was married four times: first to

in 1918; after her death in 1923 he arranged the publishing or republishing of her works. In 1924 he married Violet Le Maistre, in 1932 Ada Elizabeth Cockbaine, and in 1954 Mary Gamble. With his second wife, Violet Le Maistre, he had two children: a daughter, Katherine Violet Middleton Murry who became a writer and published ''Beloved Quixote: The Unknown Life of John Middleton Murry'' in 1986, and a son, John Middleton Murry Jr., who became a writer under the names of Colin Murry and Richard Cowper. There were also two children from the third marriage.

Depictions

In fiction

Aldous Huxley portrayed him as "Denis Burlap" in ''

Point Counter Point ''Point Counter Point'' is a novel by Aldous Huxley, first published in 1928. It is Huxley's longest novel, and was notably more complex and serious than his earlier fiction. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked ''Point Counter Point'' 44th on ...

'' (1928). He was the model for Philip Surrogate in

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

's 1934 novel ''It's a Battlefield''; Greene did not know him personally.

David Holbrook David Kenneth Holbrook (9 January 1923 – 11 August 2011) was a British writer, poet and academic. From 1989 he was an Emeritus Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge. Life David Holbrook was born in Norwich in 1923. He was educated at City of N ...

wrote that Gudrun and Gerald in Lawrence's ''Women in Love'' were based on Mansfield and Murry. D. H. Lawrence satirised him in a number of short stories. In Lawrence's novel

Aaron's Rod Aaron's rod refers to any of the walking sticks carried by Moses's brother, Aaron, in the Torah. The Bible tells how, along with Moses's rod, Aaron's rod was endowed with miraculous power during the Plagues of Egypt that preceded the Exodus. T ...

'' (1922), the title character is based on Murry. The relationship between Lilly and Aaron in the novel mirrors that of Lawrence and Murry.

Dramatic portrayals

Murry appears as a character in Amy Rosenthal's

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 ...

biodrama ''On The Rocks''. In the 2008

Hampstead Theatre Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in South Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. Roxana Silbert has been the artistic director since ...

production Murry was played by

Nick Caldecott Nick Caldecott (born 5 June 1968) is a British stage actor. Caldecott was born in Northern Ireland. His early career began at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester where he appeared in productions of Lady Windermere's Fan, the 1997 premiere of ...

with

Ed Stoppard Edmund Stoppard (born 16 September 1974) is an English actor. He is the son of playwright Tom Stoppard and doctor Miriam, Lady Hogg. Life Stoppard was born on 16 September 1974 in London, England, the son of playwright Tom Stoppard and Miriam ...

as Lawrence and

Charlotte Emmerson Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

as Mansfield. In ''

Leave All Fair Leave All Fair is a 1985 New Zealand made film starring John Gielgud as John Middleton Murry the husband of Katherine Mansfield. He is presented as a sanctimonious exploiter of her memory, who ill-treated her during their association. Jane Bir ...

'' (1985) he is portrayed by

John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Briti ...

as a sanctimonious exploiter of Mansfield's memory who ill-treated her during their association. In ''Priest of Love'' (1981) he is portrayed by Mike Gwilym.

Heron Press

The Heron Press, Hampstead published ''Je ne parle pas français'' by

in 1919; 100 copies in 1919 (July to December) and 100 in January 1920. They were printed on an Albion press in the basement of the Murry's house known as ''The Elephant'' in East Heath Road and opposite Hampstead Heath by Murry's younger brother Richard Arthur (and the second book published by Heron) or Richard. Copies are now rare.

Works

Non-Fiction *''Fyodor Dostoevsky: A Critical Study'' (1916). *''The Evolution of an Intellectual'' (1920). *''Aspects of Literature'' (1920), revised edition 1945 *''Countries of the Mind'' (1922). *''Pencillings'' (1922). *''The Problem of Style'' (1922). *''Wrap Me Up in My Aubusson Carpet'' (1924). *''Discoveries'' (1924). *''To the Unknown God'' (1925). *''Keats and Shakespeare'' (1925). *''The Life of Jesus'' (1926). *''Things to Come'' (1928). *''God: An Introduction to the Science of Metabiology'' (1929). *''D .H. Lawrence'' (1930). *''Son of Woman: The Story of D. H. Lawrence'' (1931). *''Studies in Keats'' (1931). *''The Necessity of Communism'' (1932). *''Reminiscences of D.H. Lawrence'' (1933). *''William Blake'' (1933). *''The Biography of Katherine Mansfield'' (1933) with Ruth E. Mantz *''Between Two Worlds'' (1935). (autobiography) *''Marxism'' (1935). *''Shakespeare'' (1936). *''The Necessity of Pacifism'' (1937). *''Heaven and Earth'' (1938). *''Heroes of Thought'' (1938). *''The Pledge of Peace'' (1938). *''The Defence of Democracy'' (1939). *''The Price of Leadership'' (1939). *''Europe in Travail'' (1940). *''The Betrayal of Christ by the Churches'' (1940). *''Christocracy'' (1942). *''Adam and Eve'' (1944). *''The Free Society'' (1948). *''Looking Before and After: A Collection of Essays'' (1948). *''The Challenge of Schweitzer'' (1948). *''Katherine Mansfield and Other Literary Portraits'' (1949). *''The Mystery of Keats'' (1949). *''John Clare and other Studies'' (1950). *''The Conquest of Death'' (1951). *''Community Farm'' (1952). *''Jonathan Swift'' (1955). *''Unprofessional Essays'' (1956). *''Love, Freedom and Society'' (1957). *''Not as the Scribes'' (1959). *''John Middleton Murry: Selected Criticism 1916–1957'' (1960) editor Richard Rees Fiction *''Still Life'' (1916). *''The Things We Are'' (1922). *''The Voyage'' (1924). Verse *''Poems: 1917–18'' (1918). *''The Critic in Judgement'' (1919). *''Cinnamon & Angelica'' (1920). *''Poems: 1916–1920'' (1921). As editor *''Journal of Katherine Mansfield'' (1927). *''The Letters of Katherine Mansfield'' (1928).

Notes

References

* Carswell, J. P. (1978). ''Lives and Letters: A. R. Orage, Katherine Mansfield, Beatrice Hastings, John Middleton Murry, S. S. Koteliansky, 1906–1957'', New York : New Directions Pub. Corp. * Cassavant, Sharron Greer (1982). ''John Middleton Murry, the Critic as Moralist'', University of Alabama Press. * Chaney, Edward (2015). ''Genius Friend: G. B. Edwards and The Book of Ebenezer le Page'', Blue Ormer, Exeter. * Griffin, Ernest G. (1968). ''John Middleton Murry'', Twayne Publishers. * Lea, F. A. (1959). ''The Life of John Middleton Murry'' Methuen & Co. * Mais, S. P. B. (1923)
"John Middleton Murry."
In ''Some Modern Authors'', Grant Richards Ltd.

External links

* * * * Letters from John Middleton Murry to Lord and Lady Glenavy in th

Woolf disregards John Middleton Murry's criticism – Modernism Lab

* [https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/we-believe-in-life/ Berry, Neil, "We believe in life: The contentious career of John Middleton Murry," ''TLS'', January 3, 2020.] {{DEFAULTSORT:Murry, John Middleton 1889 births 1957 deaths English Christians English socialists People educated at Christ's Hospital English literary critics English male non-fiction writers English essayists 20th-century essayists 20th-century English male writers