E F Benson

David Blaize E F Benson

David Blaize is a novel of school life by English author Edward Frederic Benson. The first edition was published in 1916 by Hodder and Stoughton, London. Set in England before World War I, the novel describes David's years at prep school and public school, his studies, sports and friendships, and finally, his brush with death when he stops a runaway horse. SequelsA second novel, David Blaize and the Blue Door, set in David's early childhood, was published in 1918. In contrast to the first book, it is a fantasy in the style of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, set in a dream landscape permeated with nonsense. David of King's (published in the United States as David Blaize of King's) is Benson's 1924 sequel to David Blaize. It follows David's university career at King's College, Cambridge. It was also re-published in 2010 with a new introduction and literary notes by Dr. Craig Paterson for Viewforth Press... Edward Frederic "E. F." Benson (24 July 1867 - 29 February 1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist and short story writer. Early lifeE. F. Benson was born at Wellington College in Berkshire, the fifth child of the headmaster, Edward White Benson (later Chancellor of Lincoln Cathedral, Bishop of Truro and Archbishop of Canterbury), and his wife born Mary Sidgwick ("Minnie"). E. F. Benson was the younger brother of Arthur Christopher Benson, who wrote the words to "Land of Hope and Glory," Robert Hugh Benson, author of several novels and Roman Catholic apologetic works, and Margaret Benson (Maggie), an author and amateur Egyptologist. Two other siblings died young. Benson's parents had six children and no grandchildren. Benson was educated at Temple Grove School, then at Marlborough College, where he wrote some of his earliest works and upon which he based his novel David Blaize. He continued his education at King's College, Cambridge. At Cambridge, he was a member of the Pitt Club, and later in life he became an honorary fellow of Magdalene College. At Cambridge he fell in love with Vincent Yorke. Benson wrote in his diary: "I feel perfectly mad about him just now... Ah, if only he knew, and yet I think he does."