Gabriel Fielding

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Gabriel Fielding (25 March 1916, Hexham, Northumberland, England – 27 November 1986, Bellevue, Washington), pen name of Alan Gabriel Barnsley, was a British novelist whose works include: In the Time of Greenbloom, The Birthday King, Through Streets Broad and Narrow and The Women of Guinea Lane.

Biography

Fielding's father, George, was an Anglican vicar at Hexham and his mother, Katherine Fielding Barnsley, was a descendant of the novelist Henry Fielding. His pen name was derived from his illustrious ancestor.

Education:1925-29 Secondary education started at now defunct Grange School in Eastbourne. 1929-1931 Attended St Edwards School, Oxford 1933 Attended Faircourt Academy, Eastbourne 1934 Attended Llangefni County School, Anglesey, Wales. He earned a B.A. from Trinity College, Dublin in 1939, with prizes in Anatomy, Oratory and Biology. He graduated M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. from St. George's Hospital, London in 1943. He was a captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps in World War II. His medical practice included general practice in Kent and part-time practice at Her Majesty's Prison, Maidstone, from 1952 to 1964. He once said, "Medicine, to me, was a sentence I had to fulfill in order to be free to write...."


His first book, The Frog Prince and Other Poems, was published in 1952 in England.

In 1966 he moved to the United States, where he was author-in-residence at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. He also became a full professor of English literature there, retiring in 1981 as professor emeritus. In 1964 he was awarded the W.H. Smith Award for The Birthday King, and for "the most outstanding contribution to English Literature over a two-year period" (1962–1963). In 1964 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the St. Thomas More Association for The Birthday King. In 1967 the degree of Doctor of Literature was conferred on him by Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington.

He published eight novels, three books of poetry, and numerous short stories. Three of the novels chronicle the unsuccessful love affairs of the same protagonist, John Blaydon (In the Time of Greenbloom, Through Streets Broad and Narrow and Brotherly Love), "in a series of brilliant word pictures, evocative, authentic, macabre or hilariously funny."[1]

He was married to Edwina Eleanora Cook. They had five children: Jonathan, Mario Simon, Felicity, Mary Gabriel, and fractal mathematician Michael Barnsley. Gabriel Fielding died in Bellevue, Washington on 27 November 1986.

Works

Poetry

  • The Frog Prince and Other Poems (1952)
  • 28 Poems (1955)

Fiction

Quotes

  • "It is a matter for grave doubt that Mr. Fielding could write anything from a postcard to a lexicon without perception and grace and brilliance." —Dorothy Parker

References

  1. ↑ Isabelle Mallet, The Book Review, 1960

External links

Authority control
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