Anita Brookner is a historian of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French art and a contemporary British novelist. Brookner was born on July 16, 1928, in Herne Hill, South London. The only child of Maude and Newson Bruckner, the novelist’s family were Polish Jews. Brookner’s father left Poland when he was sixteen and fought for the British in World War I; Brookner’s mother, a professional mezzo-soprano before her marriage, was born in London. The Brookner household comprised an extended family whom Brookner described as being “of such surpassing eccentricity that with the passing of the years I honestly think most of them were mad” (Barber, March, 1983, p.26). The family ran a tobacco-importing business, an interesting fact given that the last known image of the novelist –…
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Citation: Mayer, Peta. "Anita Brookner". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 December 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=589, accessed 25 November 2024.]
