Talk:Arnold Bennett

Non-Fiction works

Smelly Arnold Bennett, while perhaps best known for his Clayhanger series and The Old Wives' Tale, was actually a very prolific writer and wrote plays, newspaper articles and several non-fiction works, the most popular of which was most probably How to Live on 24 Hours a Day.

topher67 08:51, 2004 Sep 21 (UTC)

neutral POV

There are some comments in the "Works" and "Criticism" sections that are unattributed opinions, such as: "Bennett believed in ordinary people. His style reminds one of Maupassant, one of the French writers on whom he modeled himself. Bennett made simple things and ordinary people interesting. He has also documented the daily life in the Potteries as well as anyone could have done."

Also: "This may have been unfair - did critics search for weakness on the assumption that writing for financial gain must give rise to it? Did they attribute a genuine weakness in Bennett's work to an unrelated factor? Or were they making an unbiased and valid point? It must also be recognised that Bennett represented the "old guard" in literary terms. His style was traditional rather than modern, which made him an obvious target for those challenging literary conventions. His reputation, for much of the 20th Century, was tainted by this perception, and it was not until the 1990s that a more positive view of his work became widely accepted."

These need to either be attributed or changed to reflect a more neutral POV. Does anyone know if these are original opinions from an editor or if there are sources for these opinions? Freeguam 01:30, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

I can't take any credit for the first paragraph, although it is accurate (afaik). The second one is from me, is accurate, but does need references. I'll see what I can find. Tomandlu 08:29, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Regarding the second paragraph, I feel that the first portion provides a NPOV because it simply asks questions from different points of view, provoking thoughts. I can't really say the rest for the second half without citations. --Etni3s 05:36, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

Family Tradition

According to Bennett family tradition his Great Great Grandfather was a natural son of James Brindley, John Bennett. [1] --jmb 13:24, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Mother's name

I thought it was very interesting that his mother's name was not on this page. Does anyone know what it is and if so I think it'd be beneficial to insert it. --Etni3s 17:55, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

External links

Please consider adding this external link to the entry on Bennett

• The Diary Junction Blog Pikle (talk) 10:12, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Done

Death - please don't delete this time

Rather disapointed to see that "Alanmaher" had entirely deleted my previous similar comment here about his death on the grounds that it was irrelevant.

I had heard that he died after drinking a caraffe of water at a hotel to prove that it was harmless, during an epidemic. I cannot see how that interesting death is irrelevant. If it is not true, then it may need denying as an old wives tale. I though it was in Italy but I see the article says he caught typhoid in France. Very arrogant to completely delete it rather than the usual practice of commenting on it. 92.29.117.90 (talk) 14:16, 16 March 2011 (UTC)

This is supported by an entry in the Typhoid fever article: "Arnold Bennett, English novelist, died in 1931 of typhoid, two months after drinking a glass of water in a Paris Hotel to prove it was safe." Some other webpage said that he was the last person in London for whom straw was put down in the street outside while he was ill. An interesting death, worth recording. Even if his final months did not affect his earlier writing, it could have influenced the critics and publics subsequent opinion of him and his work. 92.29.117.90 (talk) 14:31, 16 March 2011 (UTC)