Patrick Hamilton

Patrick Hamilton was an English playwright and novelist. Born in 1904, he died of liver cirrhosis due to alcoholism in 1962. A Marxist, "anti-capitalist," and marginalized figure himself, he was captivated by the lower social classes and the atmosphere of a London that no longer exists. After his death, he was largely forgotten, despite the admiration expressed for his books by Graham Greene and J.B. Priestley. However, in recent years, his work has been revived and studied for its distinctive style and Dickensian narrative voice, which the author uses to convey aspects of London's interwar "street culture." His first success was the play "Rope," while he also wrote, among others, the trilogies "Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky" and "The Gorse Trilogy," and the novels "Craven House," "The Siege of Pleasure," "Hangover Square," and "The Slaves of Solitude."