Warner, Rex

Related Category: English Literature, 20th cent. to the Present: Biographies

1905–86, English author, b. Birmingham, grad. Oxford, 1928. A classical scholar noted for his translations from Greek and Latin, Warner taught in England, Egypt, and the United States. He was profoundly influenced by Kafka, and his early novels are expressionist allegories concerning problems of power; they include The Wild Goose Chase (1937) and The Aerodrome (1941), his masterpiece. Warner also wrote several historical novels, including The Young Caesar (1958) and Pericles the Athenian (1963); his essays, such as The Cult of Power (1946) and Men of Athens (1973), were also influential.