Edward Upward, 1997 (photo)

Edward Upward (1903 – 2009) British novelist and short story writer. He was part of a group of writers including Christopher Isherwood, W. H. Auden and Stephen Spender. Spent much of his life as a school teacher. Joined the Communist party in1932. His first novel, Journey to the Border (1938, revised 1994), describes, in poetic prose, the menacing world of the 1930s. A semi-autobiographical trilogy, The Spiral Ascent, was published in the 1960s and 1970s and deals with themes of personal and political commitment. In the last decades of the 20th century Upward returned to writing short stories.