In his own day a formidable man of letters, after his death gradually forgotten, if Cyril Connolly is still remembered it is as the author of Enemies of Promise, his study of the problems facing writers, and as the editor of Horizon, the 1940’s literary journal dedicated to preserving culture in the face of war – and also perhaps as a literary personality, the source of anecdotes told by others and epigrammatic comments he made himself, somewhat in the manner of Samuel Johnson.

Connolly was of part-Irish ancestry, though not on his father’s side. His father, Matthew Connolly, came from a long line of English military men, mostly in the navy, and was himself a major in the army, though his real love seemed to …

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Citation: Goldfarb, Sheldon. "Cyril Connolly". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 January 2013 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=986, accessed 25 April 2024.]

986 Cyril Connolly 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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