C. P. Snow, George Passant

Nicolas Tredell (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kerry Myler (Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1940

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

George Passant was the first of C. P. Snow's “Strangers and Brothers” series to be published, in 1940, and was originally itself called Strangers and Brothers. In the sequence as rearranged by Snow for the 1972 omnibus edition, it comes second, after Time of Hope (1949). Its new title indicates its focus on the complex, contradictory figure of George Passant, who fails both to fulfil his worldly potential and to live up to the optimistic libertarian idealism which he preaches. Lewis Eliot, the first-person narrator of all the “Strangers and Brothers” novels, sums up George as a man who:

was larger than life, and yet capable of any self-deception; who was the most …

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1424 words

Citation: Tredell, Nicolas. "George Passant". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 February 2007 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=21628, accessed 26 November 2024.]

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