Desmond MacCarthy

Sir (Charles Otto) Desmond MacCarthy (1877–1952) was a British literary critic and journalist.

Early life and education

MacCarthy was born in Plymouth, Devon, and educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge.^[1] At Cambridge he got to know Lytton Strachey, Bertrand Russell and G. E. Moore.

Career

Though often thought to be a member of the "Bloomsbury Group", MacCarthy in fact had a wider circle of friends, including Logan Pearsall Smith.

In 1903 he became a journalist, with moderate success.

During World War I he spent some time in Naval Intelligence.

In 1917 he joined the New Statesman as drama critic, and in 1920 became its literary editor. He wrote a weekly column under the pen-name "The Affable Hawk". During this time he recruited Cyril Connolly to the paper.

By 1928 he was losing interest in the New Statesman, and became the first editor of Life and Letters.^[2] Other periodicals he was associated with were New Quarterly and Eye Witness. MacCarthy became a literary critic for the Sunday Times, and several volumes of his collected criticism were published.

He was author of the short ghost story "Pargiton and Harby", reprinted in the Fourth Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories.

Personal life

In 1906 MacCarthy married Mollie, the daughter of Francis Warre Warre-Cornish. She was a respected literary figure in her own right. Her sister Cecilia married William Wordsworth Fisher. The MacCarthys' daughter Rachel married the literary historian Lord David Cecil; their son is the actor Jonathan Cecil.

He is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge.

Works

• The Court Theatre (1907)
• Portraits (1931)
• Drama (1940)
• Theatre(1955)

References

1. ^ MacCarthy, Charles Otto Desmond in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
2. ^ Jeremy Lewis Cyril Connolly: A Life Jonathan Cape 1997

Further reading

• H. and M. Cecil, Clever Hearts: Desmond and Molly MacCarthy (1990)
• D. Cecil (ed.), Desmond MacCarthy the Man and his Writings (1984)

External links

• Works by or about Desmond MacCarthy in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

Persondata
Name	Maccarthy, Desmond
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Date of birth	1878
Place of birth
Date of death	1952
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