Cox, Michael 1948-

PERSONAL:

Born 1948, in Northamptonshire, England.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Northamptonshire, England. Office—Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon St., Oxford OX2 6DP, England.

CAREER:

Writer and editor. Formerly worked for Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, beginning 1989, became senior commissioning editor of reference books. Previously worked for Thorsons Publishing Group and as a songwriter and recording artist under the name Matthew Ellis and Obie Clayton.

WRITINGS:

EDITOR

(With R.A. Gilbert) The Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1986.

(And author of introduction) M.R. James, The Ghost Stories of M.R. James, illustrated by Rosalind Caldecott, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1986.

(And author of introduction) M.R. James, Casting the Runes, and Other Ghost Stories, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1987.

(And author of introduction) J.S. Le Fanu, The Illustrated J.S. Le Fanu: Ghost Stories and Mysteries by a Master Victorian Storyteller, Equation (Wellingborough, Northampshire, England), 1988.

(And author of introduction, with R.A. Gilbert) Victorian Ghost Stories: An Oxford Anthology, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1991.

(And author of introduction) Victorian Tales of Mystery and Detection: An Oxford Anthology, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1992.

(With Jack Adrian) The Oxford Book of Historical Stories, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1994.

The Oxford Book of Spy Stories, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1996.

The Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century Ghost Stories, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1996.

(And author of introduction) Twelve Victorian Ghost Stories, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1997.

(And author of introduction) Twelve Tales of the Supernatural, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1997.

(And author of introduction) Twelve English Detective Stories, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1998.

(And adapter) Top Ten Ghost Stories, illustrated by Michael Tickner, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2001.

A Dictionary of Writers and Their Works, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2001, second edition published as Who Wrote What? A Dictionary of Writers and Their Works, 2002.

The Oxford Chronology of English Literature, two volumes, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2002.

(With R.A. Gilbert) The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2002.

The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2003.

OTHER

M.R. James: An Informal Portrait (biography), Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1983.

Mysticism: The Direct Experience of God, Aquarian Press (Wellingborough, Northampshire, England), 1983.

Handbook of Christian Spirituality, Harper (San Francisco, CA), 1985.

The Meaning of Night: A Confession (novel), W.W. Norton (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Michael Cox, long an editor with Oxford University Press, has focused much of his work on the literature of the supernatural. He is a biographer of English ghost-story writer M.R. James and the editor or coeditor of several collections of ghost stories, encompassing the work of James and others. He has "splendid credentials" as an expert on the genre, noted a Washington Post Book World contributor in a review of The Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century Ghost Stories, edited by Cox.

These credentials include the biography M.R. James: An Informal Portrait. James, born in 1862, was a scholar of the Bible and the Middle Ages and provost of Cambridge University and Eton College in addition to being one of the top authors of ghost stories in his day. He published four volumes of these stories between 1904 and 1925. Many of the stories take place in estates, cathedrals, or libraries, settings he researched thoroughly. James's ghostly tales have remained popular and well regarded, and they are his most famous works. Cox's book seeks to enlighten readers about the other aspects of James's career and life. The volume "is both familiar and respectful, warm, and accomplished in its admitted informality," commented a Choice contributor.

Fifteen of James's spectral stories are collected in The Ghost Stories of M.R. James, to which Cox provides a "thought-provoking and informative" introduction, offering information about James's life and the ghost-story genre in general, related Sam Pickering in Sewanee Review. James is also among the authors anthologized in The Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories, which Cox edited with R.A. Gilbert and which features both British and American writers. This is "a rich collection of tales," Pickering remarked. It includes James's "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad" and W.W. Jacobs's "The Monkey's Paw"—both "undoubted masterpieces," a Washington Post Book World contributor observed—as well as stories by Sir Walter Scott, E. Nesbit, Henry James, W. Somerset Maugham, Edith Wharton, and several others.

Cox and Gilbert's follow-up to this volume is Victorian Ghost Stories: An Oxford Anthology, which includes works by Rudyard Kipling, Charles Dickens, Rhoda Broughton, Elizabeth Gaskell, J.S. Le Fanu, and many others. The editors note that ghost stories were a way for Victorian-era writers and readers to project their fears about social, economic, and political upheaval. With selections from diverse voices of the era, Cox and Gilbert have assembled a "superior anthology," commented a Publishers Weekly contributor. New York Times Book Review contributor Jack Sullivan pronounced the collection "splendid" and "uncommonly imaginative."

The Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century Ghost Stories, like the volumes covering the Victorians, features some writers not usually associated with the genre, such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Graham Greene, Fay Weldon, and Alison Lurie, in addition to those well known for scary stories, including Robert Aickman and L.P. Hartley. "Cox is a clear-headed editor, and this is an intriguing collection, which takes in a good range of tones," remarked Patricia Craig in the Times Literary Supplement. Celia Wren, however, writing in Commonweal, thought the modern settings of the tales "disappointingly flat," although she noted that Cox's introduction does make a case for the modern ghost story, using as an example Fritz Leiber's "Smoke Ghost," which gives a detailed and gritty urban background to its hauntings and is "one of the book's more successful stories," in Wren's opinion. A Washington Post Book World contributor praised the anthology generally, calling it "appealingly eclectic."

Cox has also edited anthologies covering other genres of fiction, such as detective stories and espionage tales. Victorian Tales of Mystery and Detection: An Oxford Anthology, features works by Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Wilkie Collins, and other famous and lesser-known writers. The Oxford Book of Spy Stories, with authors including Edgar Wallace, Len Deighton, Graham Greene, Baroness Orczy, Ambrose Bierce, John Galsworthy, and James Bond creator Ian Fleming, is a "diverse and entertaining" collection, in the view of Magpies reviewer John Murray.

Cox's reference works on literature have won praise as well. A Dictionary of Writers and Their Works, listing more than 3,000 American and European authors and 25,000 of their writings, "will prove a blessing to countless students and readers," observed a Contemporary Review commentator. The Oxford Chronology of English Literature offers information on about 4,000 writers, mostly from the British Isles, and 30,000 works published from 1474, when printing-press technology began to be used in England, to 2000. The volume has "breadth and depth," remarked Kevin O'Kelly in Library Journal, while Choice contributor W. Brockman commented that "the authority, accuracy, and comprehensiveness of the work done by Cox" and his colleagues will make the book "a fundamental reference work in the field."

Cox worked sporadically planning and drafting his first novel for nearly thirty years, many of those years spent as an editor at Oxford University Press. He wrote the novel while he was preparing for cancer surgery. The Meaning of Night: A Confession is set in Victorian-era England, and the story is told by protagonist Edward Glyver. Glyver has committed a murder as a trial run to kill the man he has hated since he met him in college, his nemesis Phoebus Daunt. As the story unravels, the reader learns how Daunt tormented Glyver over the years, beginning with getting him expelled from Eton and going on to con him and others out of their money. Noting that the author "invokes emotions, from the iciest betrayal to all-consuming love, on a grand scale," Joanne Wilkinson, writing in Booklist, added that he "gives them an equally impressive backdrop as he depicts a fetid London." Joseph Eagan called the novel "stunning" in his review in the Library Journal and went on to note the "complex narrative full of unexpectedly wicked twists, and a well-drawn cast of supporting characters."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, July 1, 2006, Joanne Wilkinson, review of The Meaning of Night: A Confession, p. 6.

Bookseller, January 20, 2006, "Murray Asks Readers Meaning of Night," p. 5; August 4, 2006, Benedicte Page, "Out of the Night: Michael Cox's Muchheralded Debut Was Written as He Prepared for Cancer Surgery," p. 15; October 20, 2006, "Duel of the Debutants: Sales of Diane Setterfield's First Novel Have Overtaken Michael Cox's Offering," p. 19.

Books in Canada, November, 2006, Tim McGrenere, "A Victorian Psycho," review of The Meaning of Night, p. 6.

Book World, October 1, 2006, Michael Dirda, "Trust No One in This Accomplished Victorian Suspense Novel," review of The Meaning of Night, p. 15.

Canadian Book Review Annual, annual, 2006, Sidney Allinson, review of The Meaning of Night, p. 172.

Choice, March, 1984, review of M.R. James: An Informal Portrait, p. 974; January, 2003, W.S. Brockman, review of The Oxford Chronology of English Literature, p. 796.

Commonweal, December 20, 1996, Celia Wren, "Boo-Hoo," pp. 20-21.

Contemporary Review, July, 2001, review of A Dictionary of Writers and Their Works, p. 61.

Entertainment Weekly, September 29, 2006, Rebecca Ascher-Walsh, review of The Meaning of Night, p. 86.

Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2006, review of The Meaning of Night, p. 645.

Library Journal, October 15, 2002, Kevin O'Kelly, review of The Oxford Chronology of English Literature, p. 62; July 1, 2006, Joseph M. Eagan, review of The Meaning of Night, p. 62.

Library Media Connection, March, 2003, review of The Oxford Chronology of English Literature, p. 90.

Library Quarterly, July, 2003, Daniel Traister, review of The Oxford Chronology of English Literature, p. 357.

Magpies, September, 1996, John Murray, review of The Oxford Book of Spy Stories, pp. 38-39.

New York Times Book Review, March 8, 1992, Jack Sullivan, "A Tomb with a View," p. 12.

Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, March, 2003, T.H. Howard-Hill, review of Who Wrote What? A Dictionary of Writers and Their Works, p. 116.

Publishers Weekly, July 21, 1991, review of Victorian Ghost Stories: An Oxford Anthology, p. 38; July 17, 2006, review of The Meaning of Night, p. 134.

School Library Journal, February, 2003, Pat Bender, review of The Oxford Chronology of English Literature, p. 86.

Sewanee Review, winter, 1988, Sam Pickering, "Ghostly Occasions," pp. xiii-xv.

Times Higher Education Supplement, June 20, 2003, Edward Neill, "English Recipes from Mrs Beeton and Machiavelli," review of The Oxford Chronology of English Literature, p. 28.

Times Literary Supplement, December 6, 1996, Patricia Craig, "Pregnant Phantoms," p. 25; January 31, 2003, Bernard O'Donoghue, "Good Years for Prose," review of The Oxford Chronology of English Literature, p. 9.

Washington Post Book World, November 5, 1989, review of The Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories, p. 16; October 27, 1996, review of The Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century Ghost Stories, p. 13.

ONLINE

Curled up with a Good Book,http://www.curledup.com/ (December 8, 2007), Luan Gaines, review of The Meaning of Night.

Fantastic Fiction,http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/ (December 8, 2007), brief profile of author.

Harriet Klausner's Review Archive,http://harrietklausner.wwwi.com/ (December 8, 2007), Harriet Klausner, review of The Meaning of Night.

Meaning of Night Web site, http://www.themeaningofnight.com (December 8, 2007).

Michael Cox Home Page,http://www.authortrek.com/michael_cox_page.html (December 8, 2007).

Powell's Books Ink Q&A,http://www.powells.com/ (December 8, 2007), interview with author.