Douglas Dunn
born Oct. 23, 1942, Inchinnan,
Renfrewshire, Scot.
Scottish writer and critic, best known
for his poems evoking working-class British
life.
Dunn left school at 17 to become a junior
library assistant. He worked at libraries in
Britain and the United States before
completing his higher education at the
University of Hull, England. In 1971 he left
his job as an assistant librarian at the
university to pursue his writing.
Dunn’s first book of poetry, Terry Street
(1969), was widely hailed for its evocation
of working-class Hull. Critics praised
Dunn’s dry humour and his ability to capture
the sordid with precision, free of
sentimentality. Backwaters and Night (both
1971), The Happier Life (1972), and Love or
Nothing (1974) were not as well received.
Barbarians (1979) is a highly political
volume that attacks the sovereignty of the
propertied class and Oxbridge intellectuals
while arguing for the robustness of
“barbarian” working-class culture. Although
most critics generally admired the work,
they had greater praise for St. Kilda’s
Parliament (1981), noting Dunn’s mastery of
blank verse and his treatment of Scottish
themes. Europa’s Lover (1982) is a long poem
celebrating the best of European values.
Dunn’s highly praised Elegies (1985)
contains moving, unflinching poems on the
death of his first wife in 1981. Northlight
(1988) marks Dunn’s return to social
subjects. In addition to several television
and radio plays, including Scotsmen by
Moonlight (1977), Dunn also published two
collections of short stories—Secret Villages
(1985) and Boyfriends and Girlfriends
(1995)—and edited a number of poetry
anthologies.
