Literary Birthday – 16 May – H.E. Bates

H. E. Bates was born on 16 May 1905 and died on 29 January 1974.

H.E. Bates Quotes

1. Notice the English attitude to weather. After three week of unbroken sun we cry out for rain, and the relief in the air is immense when it comes. Give us three weeks of snow, a rare occurrence with us, and we are depressed for the sight of grass. Give us rain, after a drought and in three days we are crying out for sun again.
2. The true gardener, like an artist, is never satisfied.
3. The basis of almost every argument or conclusion I can make is the axiom that the short story can be anything the author decides it shall be;…In that infinite flexibility, indeed lies the reason why the short story has never been adequately defined.
4. A garden should be in a constant state of fluid change, expansion, experiment, adventure; above all it should be an inquisitive, loving, but self-critical journey on the part of its owner.

H.E. Bates was a highly regarded and widely read English novelist and short story writer. Bates’ early works, such as The Two Sisters and Day’s End and Other Stories, earned praise. He gained prominence with his writings about the countryside and agricultural labourers, including The Poacher, A House of Women, and My Uncle Silas. His best-known works include Love for Lydia, The Darling Buds Of May, and My Uncle Silas. In 1973, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

Source for Image: Pipplepop, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:H.E._Bates.jpg

by Amanda Patterson

Are you interested in more authors’ birthdays? Please click here: Literary Birthday Calendar

{6}