L. P. Hartley

The Eustace and Hilda trilogy (1947) and The Go-Between (1953) are acknowledged to be among the most important and best-liked works by the twentieth-century British novelist L. P. Hartley (1895-1972). Peter Bien, making use of extensive correspondence with the author, who sent him unpublished materials and also met with him personally, discusses these novels at length, adds a chapter on The Boat (1949), and examines Hartley’s other novels, his book reviews, essays, and lectures. Employing biographical, historical, symbolistic, and Freudian critical approaches, he is primarily concerned with Hartley’s reconciliation of the conflict between aesthetic and moral values. This study, originally published in London in 1963 by Chatto & Windus, was the first full-length treatment of Leslie Poles Hartley’s work to appear; it was also Peter Bien’s first published book of literary criticism, preceded by translations of two novels by Nikos Kazantzakis and followed by critical studies of writings by Kazantzakis and other modern Greek authors.