Ronald Firbank
Ronald Firbank, born in 1886 in London, was an English novelist known for his unique style and themes often centered on decadence and alienation. Coming from a wealthy family, his early life was marked by poor health and social struggles, leading to home schooling and later, a brief time at Cambridge University. While at Cambridge, he became known for his extravagant lifestyle and converted to Roman Catholicism, which influenced his writing. Firbank's homosexuality was a contentious aspect of his identity within the upper-class society of his time, and his literary works were often regarded as immoral.
His literary debut, a collection of stories published in 1905, reflected the influence of Oscar Wilde, whose own legal troubles deeply affected Firbank. He later penned his first novel, "Vainglory," which is considered one of the early modernist English novels, though it went largely unnoticed. Despite initial obscurity, he found a measure of commercial success with "Prancing Nigger" in 1922. Although Firbank did not achieve significant acclaim during his lifetime, his innovative writing style ultimately influenced notable authors like Aldous Huxley and Evelyn Waugh. Today, his works are recognized for their portrayal of alienation, particularly reflecting the experiences of those who feel like outsiders.
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Ronald Firbank
Author
- Born: January 17, 1886
- Birthplace: London, England
- Died: May 21, 1926
Biography
Ronald Firbank was born in 1886 to the wealthy Joseph Thomas and Jane Harriette Garrett Firbank in London, England. A sickly and socially maladjusted child, he was schooled at home and later attended Cambridge University, where he became known for his extravagant parties and his disregard for classes. He also converted to Roman Catholicism while at Cambridge in 1908. Firbank’s homosexuality remained a point of contention within his upper-class British milieu and his books were viewed as immoral and his characters as decadent. He studied literature when touring France as a young man, and became highly influenced by the highly popular writers Charles-Pierre Baudelaire and Gustave Flaubert.
The prosecution of the famous homosexual writer Oscar Wilde on charges of indecency deeply impacted the burgeoning writer. Firbank’s first book of stories, published at his own expense in 1905, included “Odette d’Anrevernes” and “A Study in Temperament,” which demonstrate the influence of Wilde’s fairy tales. At this point, Firbank left Cambridge without a degree to begin his writing career in earnest.
His first novel, Vainglory, one of the very first modernist English novels, was self-published and largely ignored. While in Versailles in 1921, he wrote The Flower Beneath the Foot: Being a Record of the Early Life of St. Laura de Nazianzi and the Times in Which She Lived (1923), but again, his work was overlooked. Firbank finally received a fair amount of commercial success in the United States with Prancing Nigger (1922), a novel about Haiti. Much of Firbank’s work was published posthumously, some as late as 1962, in The New Rhythm, and Other Pieces.
While Firbank failed to achieve critical acclaim during his writing career, he nevertheless influenced more successful writers such as Aldous Huxley and Evelyn Waugh—and thus received an amount of posthumous success. His work was published in anthologies of gay and lesbian writing. Firbank was also praised for in ability to evoke the sense of alienation felt by the writer in exile.