Brave and Cruel and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by the English author Denton Welch first published in 1948. It followed his first two novels and was the last volume of his work he saw through to publication.
Publishers Hamish Hamilton released it in January 1949, despite the 1948 publication date, a few days after Welch's death. The volume comprises ten stories of varying length, the longest by far being the title story, the longest Welch wrote, which accounts for a third of the collection's length.
Background In 1944, Hamish Hamilton suggested publishing a selection of Welch's stories, both new and previously published. republished in magazines and journals, but Welch did not yet have sufficient material. Welch proposed a collection of nine stories to Routledge, his contracted publisher, in 1947 without success. Welch turned to Hamish Hamilton, but Jamie Hamilton instead expressed interest in Welch's next novel. Welch demurred, feeling that his health and other commitments made it unlikely he could complete the work on a schedule the publisher would accept.Metthuen-Campbell, James (2002) Denton Welch: Writer and Artist, Carlton-in-Coverdale: Tartarus Press , pp. 187-8 Welch countered with an offer of six previously published stories, three more completed and as yet unpublished, and one he was writing.
Welch proposed the short story "Brave and Cruel", completed but unpublished, give the volume its title. It concerns a wayward, charismatic character called Micki Beaumont and his relationship with the daughter of one of a group of friends. It appears to be leading to an ill-advised marriage. Hamilton knew that Welch's fiction was largely autobiographical and believed correctly that the story was based on a recent event, as Welch's journal for August and September 1943 demonstrates. After Welch agreed to make a few minor changes to the text, Hamilton was satisfied the story was not actionable.Methuen-Campbell (2002) p. 189
Of the other stories, in autobiographical terms, "The Coffin on the Hill", "Narcissus Bay" and "At Sea" recall Welch's childhood in China, "The Barn" is set in his school holidays in England (part of this story appears in his unfinished autobiography I Can Remember),First published in The Texas Quarterly, Fall 1972, pp. 28-30 "When I Was Thirteen" and "The Trout Stream" would appear to be roughly contemporaneous in setting, "The Judas Tree" is set in his art school years, and "Leaves from a Young Person's Notebook" is set in the first half of 1939."February" according to the story (1948, p. 119) and for a period of around four months in all. (Methuen-Campbell (2002), p. 87) "The Fire in the Wood" is (narratively) entirely fictional, written in the third person, and is the only story which features a female, called "Mary", as the principal character. Even here, however, the story appears rooted to some degree in an actual experience: "Jim", the woodman with whom Mary has a brief relationship, appears in the journals as Tom.Tom is briefly referenced (not "extensively" as Robert Phillips suggests) in the journal entries for 18 February and 9 August 1943, and 25 May 1945. In 1941 Welch had stated in a letter to his friend Marcus Oliver, "I've been having a romantic affair with a woodman."Quoted in De-la-Noy, Michael (1984) Denton Welch: The Making of a Writer, London: Viking , p. 178
Contents The Coffin on the Hill The Barn (first published in New Writing and Daylight, Winter 1943/44) Narcissus Bay (first published in The Cornhill Magazine, July 1945) At Sea (first published in English Story, Fifth Series, ed. Woodrow Wyatt 1944) When I Was Thirteen (first published in Horizon, April 1944) The Judas Tree (first published in Penguin New Writing 26, ed. John Lehmann 1945) The Trout Stream (first published in The Cornhill Magazine, Spring 1948) Leaves from a Young Person's Notebook Brave and Cruel The Fire in the Wood
Critical response Edith Sitwell considered the story "Brave and Cruel" to be "extraordinary".Lehmann, John and Parker, Derek (eds.) (1970) Edith Sitwell: Selected Letters, London: Macmillan, p. 164 Writing in The Guardian, Harold Brighouse stated that, taken as a whole, "[t]hese stories impress not by profundity but by precision".The Guardian, 7 January 1949, p. 3 Anthony Powell, writing in The Times Literary Supplement, found Micki's fantasies "well indicated; but one feels that more 'bite' is required in the telling". He concluded: "if Mr Welch can remain severely objective, he has a talent to be developed.Times Literary Supplement, 8 January 1949, p. 21
In a review in The Spectator two weeks later, Olivia Manning struck a similar note:The Spectator Book Review, 21 January 1949, p. 94
In his 1974 analysis, Robert Phillips wrote that the collection included some "of Welch's most remarkable achievements" and that it "deserves to be reprinted and made available again".Phillips, Robert (1974) Denton Welch, New York: Twayne Publishers. , pp. 87, 107
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