Enemies of Promise
The Enemies of Promise is a critical and autobiographical work written by Cyril Connolly and first published in 1938. It comprises two sections, the first dedicated to Connolly's observations about literature and the literary world of his time, and the second an account of Connolly's early life. The overarching theme of the book is the search for an explanation of why Connolly, though widely recognized as a leading man of letters and a highly distinguished critic, failed to produce a major work of literature.
Quotes
- "There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall."
- "All charming people have something to conceal, usually their total dependence on the appreciation of others."
- "Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice; journalism what will be read once."
- "Whom the gods wish to destroy they first call promising."
- "Were I to deduce any system from my feelings on leaving Eton, it might be called The Theory of Permanent Adolescence. It is the theory that the experiences undergone by boys at the great public schools, their glories and disappointments, are so intense as to dominate their lives and to arrest their development. From these it results that the greater part of the ruling class remains adolescent, school-minded, self-conscious, cowardly, sentimental, and in the last analysis homosexual."