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W. B. Maxwell (1866–1938)

Author of Spinster of this parish

39+ Works 82 Members 1 Review

About the Author

Includes the names: William Babington Maxwell, William Babbington Maxwell

Works by W. B. Maxwell

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Associated Works

100 Twisted Little Tales of Torment (1998) — Contributor — 64 copies
Great English Short Stories (1930) — Contributor — 20 copies
The Black Cap: New Stories of Murder and Mystery (1928) — Contributor — 11 copies
Shudders (1929) — Contributor — 7 copies
Stories of Haunted Inns (1983) — Contributor — 3 copies
Rosemary — Contributor — 1 copy

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Common Knowledge

Legal name
Maxwell, William Babington
Birthdate
1866-06-14
Date of death
1938
Gender
male
Nationality
UK
Places of residence
Brighton, Sussex, England, UK
London, England, UK
Occupations
artist
novelist
Playwright
short story writer
autobiographer
Relationships
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth (mother)
Organizations
British Army (WWI)
Short biography
W.B. Maxwell was the third surviving child of novelist Mary Elizabeth Braddon and her husband John Maxwell, a publisher. He became a novelist and playwright and was a prolific author of short stories. His first work, The Countess of Maybury, was published in 1901. He followed it with a novel every year until 1913. His plays included The Last Man In, a drama produced at the Royalty Theatre, Glasgow, and The Naked Truth, a comical farce first played at Wyndham's Theatre, London, in 1910. At the outbreak of World War I, he volunteered for the British Army, though nearly 50 years old at the time, and served as a lieutenant with the Royal Fusiliers in France until 1917.

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Amos The Wanderer by W. B. Maxwell
In the wake of WWI, Amos Bentley is glad enough to return to the tiny English village in which he was born; but as the years pass he grows increasingly frustrated and stifled by its limitations, and by his necessary involvement in his father's money-driven business practices. He begins to dream of travel and adventure---and then the day arrives when the dream is no longer enough, and he knows that he must sever his ties and move on. In his fear of being hindered, Amos is blunt and harsh with both his father and Elsie Yates, the village girl who loves him; he is sorry for their pain, but determined to cut his ties. But the wild grandiosity of his dreams notwithstanding, Amos has travelled no further than a different village in the same valley when he is forced, by circumstances and a growing sense of guilt, to put down something resembling roots---if only for a time; it will only be for a time... This 1932 novel by William Babington Maxwell (son of Mary Elizabeth Braddon) is thoughtful character study of a man caught on the pivot-point between his dreams and his responsibilities; more broadly, it is also a rather beautiful, if perhaps over-idealised, look at English village life between the wars; while the story told is humorous, touching and painful in turns. I confess, though, to being a bit disappointed in the ending: Maxwell chooses Sentimental Option A rather than Ironic Option B, which I feel would have been a more fitting coda to his story (or perhaps that's just my cynicism talking). Amos Bentley is a man whose life is ultimately shaped by a key irony: that after severing himself from his past with a deliberate act of cruelty, out wholly out of character but - as he then sees it - necessary, he finds his future being increasingly dictated by his subsequent fear of ever again being so unkind. Haunted by, in particular, the memory of his cold rejection of Elsie's desperately proffered love, Amos allows the mingled strength and gentleness of his nature to come to the fore, and in doing so becomes a magnet for the weak and vulnerable, who he cannot bring himself to reject no matter how exasperating or burdensome they may be. His very generosity builds for Amos a series of traps from which he finds it increasingly difficult to extricate himself, even as the years and his youth begin to pass. His dreams never change, however, and all throughout his struggles he continues to promise himself that one day, he will pack up and leave and begin his adventures---just as soon as he is free...

    The aim of all his effort, all his scheming, was to establish Gladys so firmly that he could leave her. As soon as he made enough money he would go. It was their bargain and they often referred to it. Moreover it was the essence of his bond with a friend whose influence, far from ceasing with death, sometimes seemed stronger than when the living man had been there to enforce it with sad eyes, weak voice, and piteous gestures of appeal. The wild talk of taking Gladys with him on his travels was of course nonsense. He could not have done it, even if there had been no promise to her brother. He had promised to secure the future for her. But he had never said he would stay with her. When once he had rendered her safe, he could hold himself free in honour as in fact.
    If not, his life would have been too futile, too absurd; for, should fate compel him to go on thus indefinitely, he might just as well have never moved at all, but be now still at Wychwood, and working for somebody called Elsie instead of Gladys...… (more)
 
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lyzard | Jan 22, 2016 |
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Works
39
Also by
6
Members
82
Popularity
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Rating
½ 3.7
Reviews
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ISBNs
10
Languages
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