Home > Michael Arlen

Born Dikran Kouyoumdjian in Rustchuck , Bulgaria to a Christian Armenian merchant family during their flight from Turkish-controlled Armenia, Arlen arrived in England in 1901 and settled with his family in Lancashire. He went to public school and to St Andrews, ScotlandScotland or in Scottish Gaelic, Alba is a country and former independent kingdom of northwest Europe, and one of the four nations comprising the United Kingdom. Scotland occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Scotland took part in a p but left again without taking a degree. Disinherited, he went to LondonLondon is the capital of the United Kingdom and of England, and with over seven million inhabitants in the Greater London area, is the second-most populous conurbation in Europe (after Moscow). From being Londinium the capital of the Roman province of Bri, where he wanted to live by his pen. Adopting the English-sounding nom de plume of Michael Arlen, he at first he wrote for newspapers and magazines. His first novel, The London Venture ( 1920See also 1919 in literature, other events of 1920, 1921 in literature, List of years in literature. Events Beyond the Horizon Eugene O'Neill's first full-length play, opens at a special matinee at the Morosco Theater on February 2 partly as an experiment), a fictionalised account of his own life as a fledgling author, received some attention, as did his first volume of short stories, The Romantic Lady ( 1921See also 1920 in literature, other events of 1921, 1922 in literature, list of years in literature. Events New Books Nets to Catch the Wind Elinor Wylie Alexander's Bridge Willa Cather Alice Adams Booth Tarkington The Black Moth Georgette Heyer The Byzant).

In 19201920 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) Events January January 7 Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. January 9 Britain announces it will build 100,000 homes for war veterans. January 10 Leagu Arlen spent some time in FranceThe French Republic or France ( French: Republique francaise or France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents., where he got to know, and spent a lot of time with, Nancy CunardNancy Clare Cunard ( March 10 1896 March 17 1965) was an English writer, editor and publisher, political activist and poet. Her father was Sir Bache Cunard, an heir to the Cunard shipping money, interested in polo and fox hunting, and a baronet. Her mothe although she was married to someone else at the time—a relationship which fuelled Aldous HuxleyAldous Leonard Huxley ( July 26, 1894 November 22, 1963) was a British writer. Best known for his novels and wide-ranging output of essays, he also published short stories, poetry and travel writing. Biography Early years Huxley was born in Godalming, Sur's jealousy. In 1922 Arlen became a naturalized British citizen and on that occasion made Michael Arlen also his legal name.

In 1922, Arlen's successful novel Piracy came out. In the following year, in his short story volume, These Charming People , he for the first time published tales which included elements of fantasy and horror, in particular "The Ancient Sin" and "The Loquacious Lady of Lansdowne Passage". The volume also introduced a gentleman crook reminiscent of Raffles in the story "The Cavalier of the Streets".

In 1924 Michael Arlen eventually shot to fame and prosperity with the publication of his novel The Green Hat . He dramatised it himself, and it was shown on the West End stage starring Tallulah Bankhead (128 performances at the Adelphi Theatre). In 1928, a silent movie entitled A Woman of Affairs starring Greta Garbo was also based on The Green Hat.

Over the following years, Arlen wrote both novels and short stories, but none could equal the success he had already achieved. Some storylines, like that of, say, Lily Christine ( 1929), are very similar to the plot of The Green Hat. He tried to break new ground with his novel Man's Mortality ( 1933), which, set in the 1980s, is a serious attempt at utopian fiction. Most critics, however, compared it unfavourably with Huxley's Brave New World, which had been published the year before. His last novel, The Flying Dutchman , a political thriller, appeared in 1939. His 1920s novels about trendy people and how they spend their lives soon appeared dated, and were no longer reprinted when the era was over.

His claim to fame in the world of crime fiction rests on one short story, " Gay Falcon " ( 1940), in which he introduced gentleman sleuth Gay Stanhope Falcon. Renamed Gay Lawrence, the character was taken up by Hollywood in 1941 and expanded into a long-running series of feature films with George Sanders in the title role. (Cf. Farewell, My Lovely.)

framed Dust jacket of the first edition of Arlen's 1934 novel Arlen also wrote a number of ghost stories, and a collection actually entitled Ghost Stories was published in London by Collins in 1927. Two of his macabre stories, "The Gentleman from America" and "The Smell in the Library", have been widely anthologized. In 1934 he published a vampire novel, Hell! Said the Duchess: A Bedtime Story , which many critics have found remarkable.

Very much a 1920s society figure resembling the characters he portrayed in his novels, and a man who might be referred to as a dandy, Arlen invariably impressed everyone with his immaculate manners. He was always impeccably dressed and groomed and was seen driving around London in a fashionable yellow Rolls Royce and engaging in all kinds of luxurious activities. However, he was well aware of the latent racism, the contempt for foreigners mixed with envy, with which his success was viewed. Sydney Horler (1888-1954), another popular author of the time, is said to have called Arlen "the only Armenian who never tried to sell me a carpet", while Arlen half-jokingly described himself as "every other inch a gentleman".

In 1928 he married a Greek countess, Atalanta Mercati . He later preferred to live in Cannes on the Cote d'Azur. At the outbreak of the Second World War he moved to the United States, and died of cancer in New York in 1956. His son, Michael J. Arlen , wrote a biography of his father, Exiles ( 1970), in which his final years, characterized by writer's block, are detailed.

The young Michael Arlen served as a model for Michaelis, the successful Irish playwright with whom Connie starts an affair in D. H. Lawrence's 1928 novel Lady Chatterley's Lover. __NOTOC__