Denton Welch (1915–1948)

A summer in the life of a delicate child. To recollect the events of the novel, its scenes are vivid, captivating, catching an expression of meaning it would be pointless to expound. Pointless as the meaning comes of itself, is self-evident, does not call for the tribute of exposition. Welch’s language is daring yet sensitive. He focalizes sensuous detail, stilling each instant in the text to the pace of an acute receptivity. We follow Orvil Pym, this summer in his life, but he remains a mystery to us. The genuine mystery of another human being—Welch’s depiction of Orvil is so bright as to convey the genuine mystery of another human being.… (más)

Denton Welch lived but a short life, and died early, several years after a car accident he had at the age of 20, and suffered from the remainder of his life. The paintings he has left show an extraordinary talent and great originality. Likewise, his prose, most of it composed in the final years of his life, is highly original and externalises his innermost feelings. The prose style is somewhat reminiscent of the writing of Stella Gibbons, as it highlights peculiarities in people, characterizing their features and speech.

Denton Welch prose has a very poetic quality. Like I left my grandfather's house, In youth is pleasure is a shortish novel of fictionalized autobiography looking back to his early youth as a young teenager on a summer holiday.… (más)

I really must stop reading front-cover blurbs. Penguin did Denton Welch's Maiden Voyage a disservice by labelling it "Frank, fresh and spontaneous, a young man's account of China in the thirties". It is actually an account of Denton Welch being a callow but endearing youth against various backgrounds. His account of the absolutely putrid boarding school which he fled is vivid, his account of his compulsive snooping in every house he enters is amusing. As for China, he never gains enough understanding of China to give any account of it, but it's a delightful book nonetheless.… (más)