Cyril Connolly Biography

Cyril Connolly was an English literary critic and novelist best known for his autobiography, ‘Enemies of Promise’ in which he explained why he failed to achieve the heights of success he once aspired to reach. Written with his characteristic terse sense of humor, he jokingly blamed his own laziness for keeping him from becoming the great writer he was supposed to become. Ironically, it was this very piece of writing which later on became known as his masterpiece and cemented his place in literary history! Known to be an eccentric, Connolly managed to charm his friends and family with his quirky sense of humor that irritated them as much as it amused. The son of an army major, he traveled a lot in childhood and this experience helped to shape the young boy’s views about the world. He attended the same school as George Orwell and Cecil Beaton and the trio became good friends. Intelligent and knowledgeable, he gained the reputation for being an intellectual in college, though by his own accounts he was never overly ambitious. His only novel, ‘The Rock Pool’ was published in 1936 though it was his autobiography that came out a couple of years later that made him famous as a writer.