Biographies

Ivor (John Carnegie) Brown 1891-1974 A critic, journalist, essayist and novelist, Ivor (John Carnegie) Brown began his life in Penang, Malaysia, the younger of two sons to Scottish parents. A prolific writer from the start, Brown wrote and illustrated his first book at the age of five. He would eventually write nearly eighty books, including political studies, travel books, biographies, satire, and even one-act plays. His literary career began, however, in the pages of journals like , for which he wrote He was a regular contributor to Orage’s journal as well as (for which he wrote from 1919 to 1935), the (1923-1930), the (1929-1954), and (1940-1942). His pieces included editorials and sports criticism, but his specialty was drama criticism. In , Brown’s contributions begin in volume 16 and continue through volume 18. He is sometimes published as I. J. C. Brown. Along with his essays and drama criticism, he also contributes to . The New Age trenchant and witty articles. The Manchester Guardian London Saturday Review Observer Punch The New Age Letters to the Editor Educated in England (a graduate of Balliol College, Oxford University) with double degrees in classics and , Brown spent two days in civil service at the Home Office in 1913 before realizing he was poorly suited for the work. A conscientious objector in World War One, Brown was active in progressive politics (see, for example, his series , beginning in ). His reaction to experimental theater that bloomed after the war made him, according to one critic, Not merely a drama critic, Brown was also a lecturer on theater at Liverpool University (1926), a professor of drama at the Royal Society of Literature (1939), the director of drama at the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (1940-1942), and chairman of the British Drama League (1954-1965). He married theater director Irene Hentschel in 1916. literae humaniores Nationalism and the Guilds 16.11 the most influential and perceptive voice in British dramatic criticism. From 1942 to 1948, Brown was editor of the weekly . Writing continuously, Brown became more conservative, both culturally and politically, as he grew older. “Witty and dogmatic,” Ivor Brown was also known for his “commonsensical” view of literature and of life. His books about language—, , and others—remain some of his most read works. In a 1951 review, one critic wrote that Ivor Brown Observer A Word in Your Ear Just Another Word New York Times plays the like an accordion. Under his deft manipulation, the droll, the curious, the whimsical, and the merely euphonious come tumbling out in pleasurable disorder. New English Dictionary Works Consulted Ed. Martin Seymour-Smith and Andrew Kimmens. New York: H. W. Wilson, 1996. Pages 358-59. World Authors, 1900-1950. Selected works by Ivor Brown H. G. Wells (1923) First Player: The Origin of Drama (1927) Shakespeare in His Time (1960) Dickens in His Time (1963) Shaw in His Time (1965) Conan Doyle (1972) Jane Austen and Her World (1966) The Heart of England (1935) Summer in Scotland (1952)