D.J. Enright
born March 11, 1920, Leamington,
Warwickshire, England
died December 31, 2002, London
British poet, novelist, and teacher.
After receiving a master’s degree at the
University of Cambridge, Enright began a
prolonged period of academic wandering,
teaching English in Egypt (1947–50),
Birmingham, England (1950–53), Japan
(1953–56), Berlin (1956–57), Bangkok
(1957–59), and Singapore (1960–70); from
1975 to 1980 he was an honorary professor at
the University of Warwick. He was joint
editor of Encounter in London (1970–72).
Memoirs of a Mendicant Professor (1969)
tells of his years abroad.
Both Enright’s poetry (Selected Poems,
1969) and his novels (Academic Year, 1955;
Figures of Speech, 1965) reflect his life
abroad and are anti-sentimental, as is his
best-known collection of essays, Man Is an
Onion (1972). Later poetry is based on
literary works or themes, as Paradise
Illustrated (1975) and A Faust Book (1979).
He also wrote fiction for children, such as
Joke Shop (1976) and Wild Ghost Chase
(1978). He edited Poets of the 1950s (1955)
and The Oxford Book of Contemporary Verse
1945–1980 (1980).
