Edward Garnett Biography

British writer, born in London, the son of Richard Garnett, husband of C. Garnett, and father of D. Garnett. For some time he was employed in the British Museum Reading Room. In the early 1900s he became known for his criticism, some of it being later collected as Friday Nights (1922), and plays, notably The Breaking Point (1907), banned by the Examiner of Plays; the play's publication, complete with an impassioned assault upon the Examiner and his principles, marked the start of the long campaign in England to abolish stage censorship. Papa's War (1919) was a collection of satirical fantasies. For many years he was a publisher's reader of great influence, doing much to advance the careers of J. Conrad, D. H. Lawrence, E. M. Forster, and others.