Robert Smythe Hichens (14 November 1864 – 20 July 1950) was an English journalist, novelist, music lyricist, short story writer, music critic and collaborated on successful plays. He is best remembered as a satirist of the "Naughty Nineties".[1]
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Hichens was born in Speldhurst in Kent, the eldest son of a clergyman.[1] He was educated at Clifton College, the Royal College of Music and early on had a desire to be a musician.[1] Later in life he would be a music critic on the World, taking the place of George Bernard Shaw.[1] He also studied at the London School of Journalism. Hichens was a great traveler. Egypt was one of his favorite destinations -- he first went there in the early 1890s for his health.[1] For most of his later life he lived outside England, in Switzerland and the Riviera.[1] He never married.[1]
Hichens first novel, The Coastguard's Secret (1886), was written when he was only seventeen. He first became well known among the reading public with The Green Carnation (1894), a satire of Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas; since the work made clear Wilde was homosexual it was withdrawn from publication in 1895,[1] but not before helping set the stage for Wilde's public disgrace and downfall.[1]
Hichens first big success was An Imaginative Man (1895); set in the city of Cairo, Egypt a place which fascinated Hichens, it is a study of insanity, in which the hero has a number of sexual adventures and then smashes his head against the Great Sphinx.[1] Other early fiction includes The Folly of Eustace (1896), a collection of stories including some supernatural;[1] Flames (1897), a story resembling Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde;[1] The Londoners (1898), a satire about decadent London;[1] The Slave (1899), a fantasy about an amazing emerald;[1] Tongues of Conscience (1900), a collection of five horror stories including "How Love Came to Professor Guildea" (this story is about a supernatural visitation and is thought by some to be Hichens' best fiction -- it is frequently anthologized); [1] Felix (1902), is an early fictional treatment of hypodermic morphine addiction; The Garden of Allah (1904) sold well internationally,[1] and was made into film three times.
Hichens published his memoirs in 1947, Yesterday.
Novels
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Nonfiction
Anthologies containing stories by Hichens
Short stories
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