William Sansom

For the developer from Philadelphia, see Etymologies of place names in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

William Norman Trevor Sansom[1] FRSL (18 January 1912 – 20 April 1976) was a British novelist, travel and short story writer known for his highly descriptive prose style.

Profile

Sansom was born in London, the third son of Ernest Brooks Sansom, M.I.N.A., a naval architect, by his wife Mabel (née Clark).[2][3] He was educated at Uppingham School, Rutland, before moving to Bonn to learn German. Named 'Norman Trevor' at birth, he was called 'William' as a child and used this name throughout his life.[4]

From 1930 onwards, Sanson worked in international banking for the British chapter of a German bank, but moved to an advertising company in 1935, where he worked until the outbreak of World War II. At this time he became a full-time London firefighter, serving throughout The Blitz. His experiences during this time inspired much of his writing, including many of the stories found in the celebrated collection Fireman Flower. He also appeared in Humphrey Jennings's famous film about the Blitz, Fires Were Started- Sansom is the fireman who plays the piano.

After the war, Sanson became a full-time writer. In 1946 and 1947 he was awarded two literary prizes by the Society of Authors, and in 1951 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In 1954, He married actress Ruth Grundy, daughter of Norman Grundy, FCA, and had two sons, Sean (adopted by Sansom; the son of Ruth Grundy's previous marriage, to Grey Wilson Blake[5]) and Nicholas.[6]

As well as exploring war-torn London, Sanson's writing deals with romance (The Face of Innocence), murder ('Various Temptations'), comedy ('A Last Word') and supernatural horror ('A Woman Seldom Found'). The latter, perhaps his most anthologized story, combines detailed description with narrative tension to unravel a young man's encounter with a bizarre creature in Rome.

Sansom died in London.

Partial bibliography

Novels

Short novels

Short story collections

Non-fiction

Children's literature

Illustrator

Citations

In his classical work The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Erving Goffman used an extended paragraph of Sansom's A Contest of Ladies to develop his model of the social role and the dramaturgical approach to sociology.[7]

References

  1. ↑ The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature, Michael Cox, 2005, Oxford University Press, pg 784
  2. ↑ Who Was Who, A. & C. Black, 1971
  3. ↑ World Authors, 1900-1950, volume 4, H. W. Wilson, 1996, pg 2296
  4. ↑ World Authors, 1900-1950, volume 4, H. W. Wilson, 1996, pg 2296
  5. ↑ Encyclopedia of Early Television Crime Fighters, Everett Aaker, 2006, McFarland, pg 172
  6. ↑ Who Was Who, A. & C. Black, 1971
  7. ↑ Goffman, Erving (1959): The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, published by Anchor Books, New York. Pp. 4 f.
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