# Gilbert Cannan

Gilbert Eric Cannan (25 June 1884 – 30 June 1955) was a British novelist, dramatist, poet, translator, and reviewer of books and plays. He translated Romain Rolland's novel Jean-Christophe.

## Quotes

* By its truth and absolute integrity — since Tolstoy I know of no writing so crystal clear — "Jean-Christophe" is the first great book of the twentieth century. In a sense it begins the twenties century. It bridges transition, and shows us where we stand. It reveals the past and the present, and leaves the future open to us ...
** "Jean-Christophe (translation), Preface by Gilbert Cannan". The Collected Works of Romain Rolland. Strelbytskyy Multimedia Publishing. 2021. (preface written in 1910; works translated by Gilbert Cannan, Ben Ray Redman, Eleanor Stimson, Van Wyck Brooks, Katherine Miller, Charles de Kay, Barrett H. Clark, Clementina Black, B. Constance Hull, Frederick Street, Mary Blaiklock, A. Eaglefield Hull, Bernard Miall, Eden and Cedar Paul, Catherine D. Groth)
* Bad art has always been used as an escape from life; good art admits of no escape and forces a man to see himself in a glass clearly.
** The Joy of the Theatre. Fellowship Books, vol. 2. New York: E. P. Dutton. 1913. p. 3.
* I nothing know but that I nothing know, And therefore I sing merrily. I sit and watch the thronging moments go, Each taking life from me.
** "A Fool's Wisdom". Adventurous Love: And Other Verses. London: Methuen. 1915. pp. 52–54. (p. 52, 1st stanza of poem)
* Prophecy of an event is unlikely to be interesting after it and this may be the reason why my prophetic utterances regarding the Great War took the form of Satire.
** "Preface to American Edition". Windmills: A Book of Fables. New York: B. W. Huebsch, Incorporated. 1920. pp. xiii–xvi. (quote from p. xiii)

## Quotes about Gilbert Cannan

* In February 1911 Gilbert had joined the Savage Club, proposed by Alfred Sutro, the playwright, and seconded by Mostyn Pigott and Reginald Geard.
** Diana Pullein-Thompson, Gilbert Cannan: A Georgian Prodigy. London: Chatto & Windus. 1978. p. 78. ISBN 0701122455. (J. Reginald Geard was the drama critic for The Morning Leader, which merged with the The Daily News in 1912.)
* A thing is no sooner out of fashion than it begins to appear antique; and the literary movements of the last decade of the nineteenth century are already discounted as a curiosity by the rising generation. The attitude is natural enough; and yet, if the truth be realized, the despised 'nineties were actually the seed-time of the most characteristic literary harvest of to-day. The apostolic succession of literature is indeed always developing new phases. Without Mr. Kipling there would have been no Mr. Masefield; and it is undoubtedly to the faded audacities of Mr. Arthur Symons and Mr. Richard Le Gallienne that we owe the mor strenuous frankness of Mr. Gilbert Cannan and Rupert Brooke.
** Arthur Waugh, "Lionel Johnson". Tradition and Change: Studies in Contemporary Literature. London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd. 1919. pp. 89–107. (quote from p. 89)

## External links

* Encyclopedic article on Gilbert Cannan on Wikipedia
* Simkin, John (1997). Gilbert Cannan. Spartacus Educational.