Cary, Joyce (1888-1957), ranks among the leading British novelists of the mid-1900’s. Cary combined great verbal gifts, humor, and striking realism with his lively style. The view of life he showed in his novels was full-blooded and sometimes heartwarming. His many energetic characters owe more to the comic spirit of earlier British fiction than to experimental modern works.
Cary’s major works are two trilogies (groups of three related novels). The first trilogy includes Herself Surprised (1941), To Be a Pilgrim (1942), and The Horse’s Mouth (1944). The second trilogy includes Prisoner of Grace (1952), Except the Lord (1953), and Not Honour More (1955). All six novels deal with the traditional literary themes of conflict between the generations, between the rich and the poor, the individual and society, the artist and the middle class, and freedom and authority.
Cary was born on Dec. 7, 1888, in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, and studied art at the University of Edinburgh and in Paris. He worked in Africa as a member of the Nigerian Political Service from 1913 to 1920. Cary’s early novels are about Africa and Africans. He died on March 29, 1957.
