About the Author

Born in 1951, Michael Shelden grew up in the American Middle West. His essays and reviews have appeared in a wide variety of journals and periodicals, including the Times Literary Supplement. Friends of Promise was his first book and he subsequently went on to write acclaimed biographies of Graham Greene and George Orwell.

Reviews

During the 1940s, the London-based literary review Horizon introduced a brilliant and eclectic group of European and American writers to war-torn Britain. Amazingly, despite air raids, paper rationing, and the material deprivations of postwar life, Horizon thrived; its monthly issues appeared almost without fail from 1939 to 1949. The review owed its success largely to Cyril Connolly, gifted essayist and well-known bon vivant, under whose imaginative editorship Horizon published works by Auden, Sartre, Orwell, Dylan Thomas, and many others. This absorbing account skillfully re-creates the literary world of the period, focusing on the lives of Connolly and Peter Watson, Horizon's wealthy patron and publisher. Sheldon enlivens his portraits with extensive quotations from letters and personal interviews. Highly recommended for collections strong in 20th-century British literature.-- Christine Stenstrom, New York Law Sch. Lib.

In his first book, Sheldon, professor of English at Indiana State University, provides in essence a dual biography: of Cyril Connolly and of Horizon magazine, which he edited. The magazine was launched in London in 1939 and folded in 1949. Subsidized by a wealthy young man named Peter Watson, Horizon was a great boost to British morale during World War II, and to the careers of artists. Sheldon's impressively researched, stylish book delves into the triumphs, tragedies and farce in Connolly's life (1903-1974), his wives and many lovers. Unfortunately, as Connolly himself acknowledged in Enemies of Promise , he never fulfilled the expectations created by his early success. Nevertheless, shows Sheldon, as cultural innovator he takes his place with Auden, Orwell, Stephen Spender, Elizabeth Bowen, Evelyn Waugh and the other luminaries who play a role in this celebratory re-creation of an era and an artistic milieu. Photos. (Sept.)