Callow, Philip 1924–2007

(Philip Kenneth Callow)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born October 26, 1924, in Birmingham, England; died September 22, 2007. Novelist, poet, biographer, and short-story writer. Callow was the author of more than a dozen novels, at least nine poetry collections, and six well-received biographies—a substantial accomplishment for a man who considered himself pathologically shy and who spent the first twenty-five years of his adulthood in clerical, apprentice, and civil service positions. The novels for which he is best known are the trilogy that began with Going to the Moon in 1968 and ended with Flesh of the Morning in 1971. In the trilogy, he celebrated simplicity and the working-class life of the British Midlands through the character Colin Patten, who grows from adolescence to manhood within its pages. The biographies that brought Callow the greatest recognition include three volumes that he wrote about the author D.H. Lawrence, beginning with Son and Lover: The Young D.H. Lawrence(1975). This work was based primarily on secondary sources, like most published biographies of Lawrence and like most of Callow's other nonfiction works, but critics made special note of the Midlands perspective that flavored Callow's account and the unique insights he added to the biographical record. He was also praised for his sensitive portrayal of the poet in From Noon to Starry Night: A Life of Walt Whitman(1992). As he aged, Callow himself devoted increasing amounts of time to writing poetry, producing several collections in his sixties, including Fires in October, published in 1994. Callow's literary accomplishments were recognized by several grants and fellowships from the British Arts Council, and he served as a writer in residence at Sheffield City Polytechnic in the 1980s.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

BOOKS

Callow, Philip,In My Own Land, Times Press (Douglas, Isle of Man), 1965.

Callow, Philip,Passage from Home: A Memoir, Shoestring Press (Nottingham, England), 2002.

Contemporary Novelists,7th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 2001.

PERIODICALS

Times(London, England), September 26, 2007, p. 64.