J. L. Carr - Works

Works

When Carr gave up teaching in 1967 his aim was to try to make his living by publishing small books of poetry and by designing a series of maps of English counties which were to be read and discussed, rather than to provide navigational information. These he published himself under the imprint The Quince Tree Press, The original printing plates from several of these maps were mounted on sheets of plywood and used by Carr as "stepping stones" in his garden. The garden also contained statues he had carved himself, many of which had mirrors set into the stone, set at such an angle that the sun would shine through the windows on his birthday.

Carr wrote eight short novels which contain elements of comedy and fantasy, as well as darker passages, based on his varied experiences of life as teacher, traveller, cricketer, footballer, publisher and restorer of English heritage. All eight were published by different publishers, apart from the last two, which he published under his own imprint, The Quince Tree Press. Though many of the characters and incidents, and even much of the dialogue, are drawn from life, he always takes them just a little further into the comic. He is widely regarded as a master of the novella form, and his masterpiece A Month in the Country was nominated for the Booker Prize in 1980, when it won the Guardian Fiction Prize. In 1985 he was short-listed again for the Booker Prize for The Battle of Pollocks Crossing.

Two of his novels have been filmed: A Month in the Country (1987) and A Day in Summer (1989).

Carr wrote several non-fiction works which he published at his Quince Tree Press, including a dictionary of cricketers, a dictionary of parsons, and dictionaries of English kings and queens. He also provided the text for several school textbooks published by Macmillan Publishers and Longman which were designed to develop children's English language skills.