Rayner Heppenstall

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John Rayner Heppenstall (1911-1981) was a British novelist, critic, poet and diarist, and also a BBC radio producer. He was a friend of George Orwell when the two were first in London, sharing a flat.

Heppenstall's first novel (The Blaze of Noon, 1939) was, at first glance, conventional (although it was briefly banned for obscenity), but he was unusual amongst British novelists in that he became increasingly influenced by the French nouveau roman. His relationship with the nouveau roman was complex - several critics (including, according to his diaries, Helene Cixous) named Heppenstall as its founder, believing The Blaze of Noon to anticipate it. His later novels, particularly Connecting Door were consciously influenced by the French writers, particularly Alain Robbe-Grillet, and he became associated with British-based experimental writers like Anthony Burgess, B. S. Johnson, Ann Quin, Alan Burns, Stefan Themerson and Eva Figes.

He was particularly influenced by Raymond Roussel, whose Impressions of Africa he translated (he also wrote a critical study of him). He detailed his wartime experiences in Saturnine (1943) and The Lesser Infortune (1953), very autobiographical novels which also point towards the nouveau roman. Later novels include The Shearers, Two Moons and The Pier. He wrote about his relationship with George Orwell in his memoir Four Absentees - his account of Orwell's shooting-stick still causes headaches for Orwell biographers. The other three 'absentees' were Dylan Thomas, Eric Gill, and John Middleton Murry. His (voluminous) journals were published posthumously under the title The Master Eccentric.

Well regarded in the 1960s, Heppenstall's reputation has suffered - Two Moons and The Pier betrayed mental health difficulties and were infused by violently reactionary ideology, absent from his earlier, far more humanist novels, written before he drifted to the Right. Heppenstall's works are all out of print - highly praised by contemporary critics, The Blaze of Noon remains his most successful novel and is essential reading for students of 1930s literature.

[edit] Selected works

The Pier (1986) Allison and Busby. ISBN 0-85031-451-8

The Master Eccentric: Journals 1969-1981 (1986) Allison and Busby. ISBN 0-85031-536-0

The Blaze of Noon (1981) Allison and Busby. ISBN 0-85031-289-2

Two Moons (1977) Allison and Busby. ISBN 0-85031-199-3

Further reading:

http://www.centerforbookculture.org/context/no18/heppenstall.html - Context article on Heppenstall's life and works