Alan Brownjohn papers

Alan Brownjohn, of London, England, is a novelist, critic, poet, translator and editor. He was born in 1931 in the Catford area of South East London, an area known at that time for its non-conformist and socialist political views. Brownjohn graduated from Merton College with a B.A. in 1953 and received a M.A. from the school in 1961. He started his career as a writer in 1954, with the publication of his first poetry pamphlet, Travellers Alone, and served as a reviewer for The Truth and co-editor of Departure. In 1961, his first collection of poems, The Railings was published to critical acclaim. The Times Literary Supplement called his poem, "William Empson at Aldermaston," one of the best protest poems written during the cold war. To help support himself during the beginning of his writing career, Alan Brownjohn worked as a tutor and a full-time teacher at Beckenham and Penge Boys Grammar Schools. He later became a lecturer in 17th-century poetry at the Battersea College of Education. Brownjohn's Catford upbringing always influenced his life and work. This was evident in his first novel, To Clear the River (1964), about a love affair in the setting of CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament). During that year, he also ran (unsuccessfully) as a Labour candidate for the House of Commons. By 1978 Alan Brownjohn had retired from teaching to become a full-time writer.

Along with his wife, Sandy, he wrote a series of teaching anthologies, Meet and Write, and co-translated several plays from German: Peter Handke's Quodlibet, Gerhard Rühm's Ophelia and the Words, and Goethe's Torquato Tasso. The translation of Torquato Tasso was later broadcast by the BBC . Brownjohn has long been active in the poetic circles of England. He has a lengthy association with the Poetry Society, having served as chairman and editor of Verse-Speaking Anthology. Brownjohn also has been a reviewer for the Times Literary Supplement and a poetry critic for the New Statesman. Brownjohn has written under the pseudonyms John Berrington and John Barrington. He enjoys sharing his work with others by giving poetry readings throughout London.