Confessions of Two Brothers

by John Cowper Powys, Llewelyn Powys

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

266 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1916

About the author

Powys was born in Shirley, Derbyshire, where his father was vicar. His mother was descended from the poet William Cowper, hence his middle name. His two younger brothers, Llewelyn Powys and Theodore Francis Powys, also became well-known writers. Other brothers and sisters also became prominent in the arts.

John studied at Sherborne School and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and became a teacher and lecturer; as lecturer, he worked first in England, then in continental Europe and finally in the USA, where he lived in the years 1904-1934. While in the United States, his work was championed by author Theodore Dreiser. He engaged in public debate with Bertrand Russell and the philosopher and historian Will Durant: he was called for the defence in the first obscenity trial for the James Joyce novel, Ulysses, and was mentioned with approval in the autobiography of US feminist and anarchist, Emma Goldman.

He made his name as a poet and essayist, moving on to produce a series of acclaimed novels distinguished by their uniquely detailed and intensely sensual recreation of time, place and character. They also describe heightened states of awareness resulting from mystic revelation, or from the experience of extreme pleasure or pain. The best known of these distinctive novels are A Glastonbury Romance and Wolf Solent. He also wrote some works of philosophy and literary criticism, including a pioneering tribute to Dorothy Richardson.

Having returned to the UK, he lived in England for a brief time, then moved to Corwen in Wales, where he wrote historical romances (including two set in Wales) and magical fantasies. He later moved to Blaenau Ffestiniog, where he remained until his death in 1963.

Reviews

[Rupert Owen]

"The more one tries to analyze oneself the more one is conscious of amazing paradoxes and inconsistencies which lurk under the simplest surface." And so J.C.P does exactly that. He launches into a confessional that is rampantly earnest but at the same time shrewdly conscious. Dictionary to hand, I enjoyed every drop of his flurry. This book was to involve all five brothers but ended up being just John and Llewlyn. The latter producing a diarist piece that was more reflective and less probing. Llewlyn states in his introduction that he felt a "confession" was more akin to airing one's sins. Both men were liberally open-minded for their time and it is no wonder that John was a writer's writer, inspiring many a new wave of literally rebel. I can mark the effectiveness of a book by the amount of book tags I place in the pages and in this book, I marked thirteen. It is a cursory read and whatever is missing in the text makes the writing more intriguing. John delves into his aesthetics and addresses some of the common themes of death, religion et cetera. Llewlyn, on the other hand, plies the reader with his thoughts and observations, only touching on the surface. Both staunch atheists, there's no parable in what's written, it's an earthy attempt at undressing humanity in a modest way. It certainly has me in the pursuance of more John Cowper Powys and I wouldn't mind reading Llewlyn's Skin for Skin.

[Milovan Dekic]

JCP’s part is level of Rousseau or Tolstoy’s confessions. Full of deep psychological and liberating insights.

According to Steiner what blocked JCP in gaining wider popularity was refusal of Penguin to publish his Autobiography and Glastonbury Romance. Too bad as he is quite an original and daring thinker.