A. N. Wilson

Andrew Norman Wilson (born 27 October 1950), is an English writer and newspaper columnist, known for his critical biographies, novels, works of popular history and religious views. He is a columnist for the Daily Mail and the London Evening Standard, and has been an occasional contributor to the Times Literary Supplement, New Statesman, The Spectator and The Observer. In 2006, he was the victim of a notable literary hoax played by Bevis Hillier.

Life and work

A. N. Wilson was educated at Rugby School and New College, Oxford. Destined originally for ordination in the Church of England, Wilson entered St Stephen's House, the High Church theological hall at Oxford, but left at the end of his first year. He later became a convert to Roman Catholicism, but reverted to the Church of England. In the late 1980s he publicly stated that he was an atheist, and published a pamphlet Against Religion in the Chatto & Windus CounterBlasts series; however, religious and ecclesiological themes continue to inform his work. In April 2009 he published an article in the Daily Mail affirming his rediscovery of faith, attacking at the same time both academic and media atheists^[1].

His particular slant on biography, and to some extent his take on the Victorian era topics he has covered in God's Funeral and The Victorians, can be traced to this religious ambivalence. His books on Leo Tolstoy (Whitbread Award for best biography of 1988), C. S. Lewis, Hilaire Belloc, and Jesus Christ are all simultaneously sympathetic to and critical of religious belief.

Wilson has a reputation, gained early in his career, of being a 'Young Fogey'. He also holds controversial views, for example in comments on the parentage of Queen Victoria, and his dissenting views, which many found disrespectful, of Iris Murdoch.^{[citation needed]} Wilson has received criticism, in particular, for his prose style. Martin Amis has written that "Wilson's prose is a constant distraction. He has a kind of anti-talent for the rhyme, the repetition, the tongue-twister, the ear-clouter". ^[2]

He has excited further controversy through the expression of his views on the Middle East, at one point stating that Israel no longer has a right to exist. (When asked if this should be accomplished by force he refused to answer.)^{[citation needed]} Wilson has also argued that the internet is an entirely corrosive influence, which, by allowing the use of free-file-sharing, illegal downloads, open-access encylopedias such as wikipedia, and the sharing of pornography, is undermining "the most fundamental values that underpin society."^[3]

Betjeman letter hoax

In August 2006 Wilson's biography of Sir John Betjeman was published. It was then discovered that he had been the victim of a hoax and had included a letter (to Anglo-Irish writer, Honor Tracy) which purported to be by Betjeman detailing a previously unknown love affair, but which he acknowledged to be a fiction, when it was pointed out that it contained an acrostic spelling out an insulting message to him.^[4] The letter was sent to Wilson by "Eve de Harben", who then wrote to a journalist to reveal the hoax. The acrostic spelt out "AN Wilson is a shit" and "Eve de Harben" is an anagram of "Ever been had". Bevis Hillier, Wilson's arch rival and Betjeman's authorised biographer, was an immediate suspect but initially denied all knowledge. A week after the hoax was publicised, however, Hillier admitted responsibility, stating that "When a newspaper started billing Wilson’s book as 'the big one', it was just too much."^[5]

Wilson later claimed that he has struck back with a hidden message of his own in a reprinting of the book. That has yet to be discovered.^[6]

Notes and references

1. ^ A. N. Wilson (2009-04-11). "Religion of hatred: Why we should no longer be cowed by the chattering classes ruling Britain who sneer at Christianity". Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1169145/Religion-hatred-Why-longer-cowed-secular-zealots.html. Retrieved 2009-07-09.  See also Wilson's slightly earlier article in the New Stateman, Why I believe again 02 April 2009.
2. ^ The War Against Cliche, Martin Amis (London 2001), p 80.
3. ^ The internet is destroying the world as we know it A.N. Wilson, The Daily Mail, 08 June 2007
4. ^ Brooks, Richard (2006-08-27). "Betjeman love letter is horrid hoax". The Sunday Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2330457,00.html. Retrieved 2006-08-28. 
5. ^ Brooks, Richard (2006-09-03). "Betjeman biographer confesses to literary hoax". The Sunday Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2340567,00.html. Retrieved 2006-09-05. 
6. ^ Marre, Oliver (2006-09-10). "Pendennis". The Observer. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/7days/story/0,,1868891,00.html. Retrieved 2006-09-11. 

Bibliography

• A N Wilson has completed biographies on Hilaire Belloc, Tolstoy, C S Lewis, John Milton, Sir Walter Scott and Jesus.

Non-fiction

• The Laird of Abbotsford: A view of Sir Walter Scott (1980)
• The Life of John Milton A Biography
• Hilaire Belloc: A Biography (1985)
• How Can We Know? (1985)
• Penfriends From Porlock
• Tolstoy: A Biography (1998)
• C. S. Lewis: A Biography (1990)
• Against Religion: Why we should live without it (1991)
• Jesus: A Life (1992)
• The Rise and Fall of the House of Windsor published by Sinclair Stephenson (London) in (1993).
• Paul: The mind of the Apostle (1997)
• God's Funeral: The Decline of Faith in Western Civilization (1999)
• The Victorians (2002)
• Iris Murdoch As I Knew Her (2003)
• London: A Short History (2004)
• After the Victorians (2005)
• Betjeman (2006)

Fiction

• The Sweets of Pimlico (1977)
• Unguarded Hours (1978)
• Kindly Light (1979)
• The Healing Art (1980)
• Who Was Oswald Fish? (1981)
• Wise Virgin (1982)
• Scandal (1983)
• Gentlemen in England (1983)
• Love Unknown (1986)
• Stray (1987)
• The Vicar of Sorrows (1993)
• Dream Children (1998)
• My Name Is Legion (2004)
• A Jealous Ghost (2005)
• Winnie and Wolf (2007) (Longlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize)

A novel sequence referred to as The Lampitt Chronicles:

• • Incline Our Hearts (1988)
  • A Bottle in the Smoke (1990)
  • Daughters of Albion (1991)
  • Hearing Voices (1995)
  • A Watch in the Night (1996)

External links

• "The internet is destroying the world as we know it", Daily Mail, 8 June 2007.
• James Atlas "'The Busy, Busy Wasp'", New York Times, 18 October 1992
• On ANW's biography of C.S. Lewis
• Gilbert Meilaender "Psychoanalyzing C.S.Lewis" Christian Century, May 16-23, 1990, pp. 525-529.
• Works by or about A. N. Wilson in libraries (WorldCat catalog)