Edward St Aubyn
{{Short description|British writer (born 1960)}}
{{EngvarB|date=June 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Edward St Aubyn
| image = Edward St Aubyn in 2007.jpg
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| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1960}}
| birth_place = London, England
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| notable_works = Patrick Melrose series
| education = Westminster School
| alma_mater = Keble College, Oxford
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| occupation = Author, journalist
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| spouse = {{marriage|Nicola Shulman|1987|1990|end=div.}}
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Edward St Aubyn (born 1960) is an English author and journalist. He is the author of ten novels, including notably the semi-autobiographical Patrick Melrose novels. In 2006, Mother's Milk was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
Early life and education
St Aubyn was born in 1960{{cite web | title=Edward St Aubyn | website=British Council | url=https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/edward-st-aubyn | access-date=27 March 2024}} in London, the son of Roger Geoffrey St Aubyn (1906–1985), a surgeon, and his second wife, Lorna Mackintosh (1929–2005). On his father's side, he is a great-great-grandson of Sir Edward St Aubyn, 1st Baronet, and a great-nephew of John St Aubyn, 1st Baron St Levan.{{cite book |editor-first=Charles|editor-last=Mosley |editor-link= Charles Mosley (genealogist)| title= Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage|publisher=Burke's Peerage |location=London, England|edition=107 |year= 2003 |page= 3496 |ref=Burke |isbn=0-9711966-2-1}}
St Aubyn's father was first married to Sophie Helene Freiin von Puthon, daughter of Baron Heinrich Puthon, long-time president of the Salzburg Festival, whom he divorced in 1957. St Aubyn has two half-sisters from his father's first marriage, and an elder sister, Alexandra. He grew up in London and France, where his family had houses.{{cite news |first1=Mick|last1=Brown|url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/authorinterviews/10800965/How-writing-helped-Edward-St-Aubyn-exorcise-his-demons.html |title=How writing helped Edward St Aubyn exorcise his demons |work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London, England |date=2 May 2014|access-date=4 May 2014|url-access=subscription }} He has described an unhappy childhood in which he was repeatedly raped by his sexually abusive father from the ages of 5 to 8, with the complicity of his mother.{{cite news |first1=Stephen|last1=Moss|url= https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2011/aug/17/edward-st-aubyn-interview |title=Edward St Aubyn: 'Writing is horrible' |newspaper=The Guardian|location=London, England|date=17 August 2011|access-date=4 May 2014}} St. Aubyn later said of his father, "He had a small canvas, but he was as destructive as he could be. If he’d been given Cambodia, or China, I’m sure he would have done sterling work".{{Cite magazine |last=Parker |first=Ian |date=2014-05-26 |title=The Real Life of Edward St. Aubyn |language=en-US |magazine=The New Yorker |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/06/02/inheritance |access-date=2023-06-17 |issn=0028-792X}}
St Aubyn attended Sussex House{{cite web |title=Old Cadogans |url=https://www.sussexhouseschool.co.uk/about-sussex-house/#old |website=Sussex House |publisher=Sussex House School |access-date=16 September 2022}} and then Westminster School. In 1979 he went on to read English at Keble College, Oxford. At the time a heroin addict, he graduated with a pass, the lowest possible class of degree.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/06/02/inheritance|title=The Real Life of Edward St. Aubyn|last=Parker|first=Ian|magazine=The New Yorker|date=26 May 2014|access-date=20 June 2019|issn=0028-792X}}
''Patrick Melrose'' series
{{Redirect2|Patrick Melrose|Bad News (Patrick Melrose)|the TV adaptation|Patrick Melrose (TV series)}}
Five of St Aubyn's novels, Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope, Mother's Milk, and At Last, form The Patrick Melrose Novels, the first four of which were republished in a single volume in 2012, in anticipation of the fifth. They are based on the author's own life; the titular protagonist grows up in a highly dysfunctional upper-class English family, and deals with his father's sexual abuse, the deaths of both parents, alcoholism, heroin addiction and recovery, and marriage and parenthood.{{cite news|first=Michiko|last=Kakutani|title=Laying to Rest Familial Horrors: Edward St. Aubyn's 'At Last,' an Autobiographical Novel|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/22/books/edward-st-aubyns-at-last-an-autobiographical-novel.html?pagewanted=all|newspaper=The New York Times|date=21 February 2012|access-date=1 October 2012}}
The books have been hailed as a powerful exploration of how emotional health can be carved out of childhood trauma.{{cite book|first=O.W.|last=James|title=How to Achieve Emotional Health|publisher=Vermilion|location=London, England|date=2013}}
Mother's Milk was made into a feature film released in 2011. The screenplay was written by St Aubyn and director Gerald Fox. It starred Jack Davenport, Adrian Dunbar, Diana Quick, and Margaret Tyzack in her last performance.
=Adaptations=
{{main|Patrick Melrose (TV series)}}
In 2018 a five-part television series, Patrick Melrose was broadcast, a joint production of Showtime and Sky Atlantic. Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Patrick Melrose (with the young Patrick played by Sebastian Maltz), with each episode based on a different novel in the series. The series premiered on Showtime on 12 May 2018 to favourable reviews.{{cite web|first=Yvonne|last=Villarreal|url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-st-benedict-cumberbatch-patrick-melrose-20180512-story.html|title=Benedict Cumberbatch takes on a dream role in Showtime's 'Patrick Melrose' — thanks to Reddit|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=12 May 2018|access-date=26 July 2018}}
Awards and honours
- 1992 Betty Trask Award winner for Never Mind{{Cite web|title=Society of Authors' Awards {{!}} The Society of Authors|url=https://www.societyofauthors.org/Prizes/Society-of-Authors-Awards/Betty-Trask/Past-winners|access-date=8 January 2021|website=www.societyofauthors.org|date=8 May 2020|archive-date=4 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804054153/https://societyofauthors.org/Prizes/Society-of-Authors-Awards/Betty-Trask/Past-winners|url-status=dead}}
- 1998 Guardian Fiction Prize shortlisted for On the Edge{{Cite web|title=Edward St. Aubyn – Official Website|url=http://www.edwardstaubyn.com/|access-date=8 January 2021|language=en-US}}
- 2006 Man Booker Prize shortlisted for Mother's Milk{{Cite web|title=The Man Booker Prize 2006 {{!}} The Booker Prizes|url=https://thebookerprizes.com/fiction/2006|access-date=8 January 2021|website=thebookerprizes.com}}
- 2007 Prix Femina Etranger winner for Mother's Milk{{Cite web|title=edward-st-aubyn|url=https://www.rcwlitagency.com/authors/edward-st-aubyn/|access-date=8 January 2021|website=RCW Literary Agency|language=en}}
- 2007 South Bank Show award on literature winner for Mother's Milk
- 2011 elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature{{Cite web |date=2023-09-01 |title=St Aubyn, Edward |url=https://rsliterature.org/fellows/edward-st-aubyn/,%20https://rsliterature.org/fellows/edward-st-aubyn/ |access-date=2025-06-28 |website=Royal Society of Literature |language=en-GB}}
- 2014 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize winner for Lost for WordsLea, Richard. "Edward St Aubyn wins Wodehouse prize with a satire of literary awards". The Guardian. 19 May 2014.
Personal life
From 1987 to 1990, St Aubyn was married to the author Nicola Shulman, now Marchioness of Normanby.
He has a son by Jane Longman, daughter of publisher (head of Longman){{Cite news |date=1972-09-08 |title=Mark Longman dies at 55; Head of British Publishers |work=The New York Times |language=en |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/09/08/archives/mark-longman-dies-at-55-head-of-british-publishers.html |access-date=2023-08-10}} Mark Frederick Kerr Longman (1916-1972) and Lady Elizabeth Mary (1924-2016). Her mother, the elder daughter of Rudolph Lambart, 10th Earl of Cavan, was a bridesmaid and friend of Queen Elizabeth II.Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 1, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 723{{Cite news |date=2016-12-15 |title=Lady Elizabeth Longman, bridesmaid to the Queen – obituary |language=en-GB |work=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2016/12/15/lady-elizabeth-longman-bridesmaid-queen-obituary/ |access-date=2023-08-10 |issn=0307-1235}}
Works
- {{cite book|title=Never Mind|year=1992|publisher=Picador USA|isbn=9781447202936}}
- {{cite book|title=Bad News|year=1992|publisher=Picador USA|isbn=9781447202950}}
- {{cite book|title=Some Hope|year=1994|publisher=Heinemann|isbn=9781890447366}}
- {{cite book|title=On The Edge|year=1998|publisher=Chatto & Windus|isbn=978-1447253563}}
- {{cite book|title=A Clue to the Exit|year=2000|publisher=Chatto & Windus|isbn=0701169605}}
- {{cite book|title=Some Hope: A Trilogy|year=2003|publisher=Grove Press, Open City Books|isbn=1890447366|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vyn25iLfedsC}}
- {{cite book|title=Mother's Milk|year=2005|publisher=Grove Press, Open City Books|isbn=978-1890447403|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o8lY2W-OzzQC}}
- {{cite book|title=At Last|year=2012|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|isbn=978-0374298890|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LzEr5xgwJ3sC}}
- {{cite book|title=Lost for Words|year=2014|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|isbn=9780374280291|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/lostforwords0000stau}}
- {{cite book|title=Dunbar|year=2017|publisher=Hogarth Press|isbn=9781101904282}}
- Double Blind. Harvill Secker. 2021. {{ISBN|9781787300255}}.
- Parallel Lines. Jonathan Cape, 2025. {{ISBN|9781787335592}}.
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite magazine |last=Parker |first=Ian |date=2 June 2014 |title=Inheritance : how Edward St. Aubyn made literature out of a poisoned legacy |department=Profiles |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=90 |issue=15 |pages=42–55 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/06/02/inheritance |access-date=15 April 2015}}
External links
{{Wikiquote|Edward St. Aubyn}}
- [http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,,1681424,00.html Guardian interview]
- [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/edward-st-aubyn-stripping-off-and-cavorting-at-new-age-retreats-all-in-the-name-of-research-773795.html The Independent article]
- [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3670745/Edward-St-Aubyn-and-the-enigma-of-consciousness.html "Edward St Aubyn and the enigma of consciousness" (Telegraph)]
- [http://www.literaturfestival.com/archive/participants/authors/2009/edward-st-aubyn?set_language=en Biography] from the Berlin International Literature Festival
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:St Aubyn, Edward}}
Category:Alumni of Keble College, Oxford
Category:People educated at Westminster School, London
Category:Prix Femina Étranger winners
Category:20th-century British novelists
Category:21st-century British novelists
Category:English people of American descent
Category:English people of Scottish descent
Category:British male novelists
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature
Category:20th-century British male writers
Category:21st-century British male writers