His tales have… a real vitality, a kind of sunlit vivacity of phrase and incident, which gives brightness to stories even of relatively sombre themes… He can mingle comedy and emotion with a fine balance. He is always sensitive, often tender, and has a fine detachment in narrative and power of complete evocation in description.—London Times
H. E. BatesHerbert Ernest Bates (1905-1974) was born in Rushden, Northamptonshire. He married Madge Cox, his neighborhood sweetheart, and moved with her to Kent. He was very prolific during his lifetime, author of more than a hundred novels and short story collections. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1973.
If we set H. E. Bates’s best tales against the best of Chekhov’s, I do not believe it would be possible, with any conviction, to argue that the Russian was the finer artist.—Graham Greene
He was without an equal in England in the kind of story he had made his own.—London Times
He is the Renoir of the typewriter.—Punch
His tales have… a real vitality, a kind of sunlit vivacity of phrase and incident, which gives brightness to stories even of relatively sombre themes… He can mingle comedy and emotion with a fine balance. He is always sensitive, often tender, and has a fine detachment in narrative and power of complete evocation in description.—London Times
