Ovenden draws on public and private papers to paint a compelling portrait of Dan Davin, OUP's Academic Publisher. He charts one man's growth against the background of war and the literary-intellectual milieu of post-war London and Oxford. A New Zealander, Davin originally came to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. During the Second World War he fought in Crete, and, later, wrote the campaign's official history. As a novelist he befriended contemporary writers such as Louis MacNeice, and Joyce Cary among others. In this fascinating biography Davin emerges as a man with a complex public and private life, beset in later life by depression and alcoholism.
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Editorial Reviews
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`It may not quite be log cabin to White House, but from a working-class Irish community in Invercargill, closest city to the South Pole, to director of the most prestigious academic press in Europe, is hardly the story of an ordinary man ... A Fighting Withdrawal has those essential ingredients for good biography - pace, accuracy, style, enthusiasm, breadth. It is a vivid and compassionate account of a gifted, hugely attractive, humane and troubled man.' Vincent O'Sullivan
`by facing the biographer's task, using sympathy and syntax, he lays before us a life which needs no further embroidery ... Davin's life as offered by Keith Ovenden is a rich and colourful tapestry which suggests insight and sensitivity on behalf of the biographer' Helen Peacocke, Oxford Times
`immensely detailed study of his childhood in New Zealand ... this is a generous and well-constructed tribute and should stir some good memories for Davin's still numerous friends and admirers' Times Literary Supplement
`by facing the biographer's task, using sympathy and syntax, he lays before us a life which needs no further embroidery ... Davin's life as offered by Keith Ovenden is a rich and colourful tapestry which suggests insight and sensitivity on behalf of the biographer' Helen Peacocke, Oxford Times
`immensely detailed study of his childhood in New Zealand ... this is a generous and well-constructed tribute and should stir some good memories for Davin's still numerous friends and admirers' Times Literary Supplement
About the Author
Keith Ovenden is a freelance writer who knew Dan Davin for the last 22 years of his life. He has held academic posts in the UK and New Zealand and has written several novels and books of political economy.
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