A.J. Cronin

I had not gotten very far along in reading A. J. Cronin's 1935 novel, The Stars Look Down when the thought came to me - why haven't I heard of this novel, or the writer, before now? I became enthralled with the work almost immediately. However, I would not have been aware of Cronin had I not been reading Dorothy L. Sayers' mystery novel, Busman's Honeymoon.

In Sayers' book, she writes that Lord Wimsey's mother wrote in her diary about her attempt to read a book entitled The Stars Look Down:
"21 May.--Was reading The Stars Look Down (Mem. very depressing, and not what I expected from the title--think I must have had a Christmas carol in mind, but remember now it has something to do with the Holy Sepulchre--must ask Peter and make sure)".

I did a web search and found this description of the novel at wikipedia:
"The novel is set in 'Sleescale,' a mining town on the coast of Northumberland, as well as in 'Tynecastle' (Newcastle upon Tyne). While 'Sleescale' is a fictional locale, it is based on an excellent knowledge of similar places and people. Cronin, a Scot, served as Medical Inspector of Mines in the South Wales Valleys during the 1920s.
Beginning before World War I and extending into the 1930s, the story shows the different careers of several persons: principally, a miner's son who aspires to defend his people politically, a miner who becomes a businessman, and the mine owner's son in conflict with his domineering father."

I suspect that Sayers' mentioning of the book was a dig at Lord Wimsey's mother, rather than any criticism of Cronin's novel.

I remained puzzled. Cronin was a very well known writer in his day - there have been at least 19 film adaptations of his work as well as quite a few television credits. And yet, Cronin is almost unknown today.

In his introduction to A. J. Cronin: The Man Who Created Dr Finlay, Alan Davies notes that he would "......rate Cronin as an author alongside most of the great names in English literature, even though he is largely ignored in Britain". Davies speculates that Cronin did not care to be remembered after his death. He points out that a number of writers who had no greater literary ability - D.H. Lawrence, Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh - are remembered while Cronin is not.

I've downloaded almost 2 dozen books by Cronin which I plan to read during the next few months.It's my hope that this blog post (and any future posts I might write) will introduce more people to the work of A.J. Cronin.