Alvarez, A.

(Alfred Alvarez)(ălvär´ĕz, ăl´vərĕz´´), 1929–, English writer and critic, b. London, grad. Oxford. He has been a theater critic, a writer for the British Broadcasting Corp., a poetry editor and critic, and a visiting professor at numerous universities. His writing, characterized by a vigorous style, includes his Poems (1978) and the novels Hunt (1979) and Day of Atonement (1991). Among his critical works are The New Poetry (1962), Beyond All This Fiddle (1968), and Samuel Beckett (1973); and other nonfiction works include The Savage God (1972), a meditation on suicide, Feeding the Rat (1989), and Night (1995), a multifaceted study of nighttime.

See his memoir, Where Did It All Go Right? (1999).