Tom Sharpe
Tom Sharpe, born Thomas Ridley Sharpe on March 30, 1928, in London, England, was a notable British author known for his satirical novels and plays. He had a diverse upbringing, influenced by his father, a Unitarian minister. Sharpe's educational journey included running away from boarding schools and later attending Lancing College. After serving in the Royal Marines from 1946 to 1948, he earned a degree in history and social anthropology from Pembroke College, Cambridge. His career began in South Africa, where he worked in finance, welfare, and education, ultimately facing arrest due to the political content of his play, "The South African," which criticized apartheid.
Sharpe transitioned to fiction writing later in life, publishing his debut novel "Riotous Assembly" in 1971, followed by "Indecent Exposure" in 1973. His works are characterized by dark humor and sharp satire, often exploring complex themes related to race relations and societal tensions in South Africa. Over his literary career, Sharpe wrote thirteen novels and nine plays, establishing himself alongside other notable satirists. His contributions to literature earned him several accolades, including the Le Legion d'Humeur and the Laureat du Grand Prix de l'Humeur Noir. Sharpe's unique perspective and distinctive voice continue to resonate within the realm of satirical literature.
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Tom Sharpe
Author
- Born: March 30, 1928
- Birthplace: Holloway, London, England
- Died: June 6, 2013
Biography
Born Thomas Ridley Sharpe on March 30, 1928, in the Holloway section of London, England, Tom Sharpe was the son of George Coverdale Sharpe and Grace Egerton Sharpe. His father, a Unitarian minister, was fifty-eight years of age when Tom was born. Before going off to boarding schools, Sharpe lived in Crayton. He ran away from one these schools, the Blaxham School in Buckinghamshire, and then entered Lancing College.
As a young man, Sharpe espoused the socialist/fascist philosophies of his father, but he abandoned them after learning about the Nazi death camps. Between 1946 and 1948, Sharpe served in the Royal Marines, after which he earned a degree in history and social anthropology at Pembroke College, Cambridge.
Following his graduation in 1951, he went to South Africa to work in a finance corporation, but some months later he left that position to do welfare work in black Soweto, a township near Johannesburg, for the Department of Non European Affairs. Less than a year later, in 1952, he left this job to become a teacher in the Pietermaritzburg province of Natal, in a school for white children. Four years later, he resigned his position in 1956 to open a studio for photography, also in Pietermaritzburg.
By this time, Sharpe had already begun to write plays, among them the political play The South African, which would be produced at the Questors Theatre in London in 1961. The government of South Africa took exception to the play’s content since it was highly of the apartheid policy there, and Sharpe was arrested and imprisoned in South Africa before being deported to England. Back in England, in 1963, he began an eight- year tenure at the Cambridge College of Arts and Technology, where he taught history and liberal studies. His experiences there provided background for the novel Wilt.
In 1969, Sharpe married Nancy Anne Looper, a researcher; they had three daughters: Melanie, Grace, and Jemima. Sharpe began writing fiction when he was forty-one years of age, publishing Riotous Assembly in 1971, followed by Indecent Exposure in 1973. Both novels are set in Piemburg, a thinly disguised Pietermaritzburg. The novels provide a satirical view of psychiatry and modern medicine, and focus on Boer-English tensions and black-white relationships.
Sharpe went on to write thirteen novels in addition to nine plays (of which only The South African was produced), and a television script that adapted Dornford Yates’s novel, She Fell Among Thieves. His use of black humor, face, and satire link him with such names as P. G. Wodehouse, Thomas Love Peacock, Kurt Vonnegut, and Joseph Heller. In 1986, Sharpe was awarded the Le Legion d’Humeur from the Association for the Promotion of Humor in International Affairs, and the Laureat du Grand Prix de l’Humeur Noir Xavier Fornerot.