View source for John Braine

{{Short description|English writer (1922–1986)}}
{{For|the English footballer|Jonny Brain}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = 
| image         = John Braine.jpg
| alt           = 
| caption       = Braine in 1962
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1922|04|13|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Bradford]], [[West Riding of Yorkshire]], England
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|1986|10|28|1922|04|13|df=y}}
| death_place   = 
| occupation    = Novelist
| years_active  = 
| known_for     = ''[[Room at the Top (novel)|Room at the Top]]'' (1957)
| notable_works = 
}}
'''John Gerard Braine''' (13 April 1922 – 28 October 1986)<ref name=":ODNB:">{{cite ODNB|title=Braine, John Gerard (1922–1986), writer|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-39825|access-date=26 March 2018|date=23 September 2004| doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/39825 | isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> was an English novelist. Braine is usually listed among the [[angry young men]], a loosely defined group of English writers who emerged on the literary scene in the 1950s.

==Early life==
{{More citations needed|section|date=November 2022}}
John Braine was born in the Westgate area of central [[Bradford]], [[West Riding of Yorkshire]]. The family later moved to the suburb of Thackley on the northern edge of the city. Braine left [[St. Bede's Grammar School]] at 16 and worked in a shop, a laboratory and a factory before becoming, after the war, a librarian in [[Bingley]], a small town {{convert|5|mi|0}} up the Aire Valley and at [[Darton]] in 1954 where locals put his inattention down to his spending his time writing his first novel.<ref>{{cite news |editor-last=Wilson|editor-first=Charles|title=John Braine; only one room at the top |work=The Times |issue=62602 |date=30 October 1986 |page=20|issn=0140-0460}}</ref>

==Works==
Although he wrote 12 works of fiction, Braine is chiefly remembered today for his first novel, ''[[Room at the Top (novel)|Room at the Top]]'' (1957). The novel was conceived when he was being treated for [[tuberculosis]] in a hospital near the [[Yorkshire Dales]] town of [[Grassington]]. He stated that his favourite author was [[Guy de Maupassant]] and that ''Room at the Top'' was based on ''[[Bel Ami]]'', but that "the critics didn't pick it up". ''Room at the Top'' was turned into a successful [[Room at the Top (1959 film)|1959 film]], with [[Laurence Harvey]] as Joe Lampton and featuring an [[32nd Academy Awards|Oscar–winning]] performance by [[Simone Signoret]]. In September 2012, BBC television broadcast a [[Room at the Top (2012 film)|two-part dramatisation]] that had been delayed because of a dispute over copyright. [[Matthew McNulty]] was in the lead role.

After achieving literary success, Braine moved to the south of England, living from 1966 until his death in [[Woking]].<ref name=":ODNB:"/> He wrote several more novels, including ''[[Life at the Top]]'', a sequel to ''Room at the Top''. His 1968 novel ''[[The Crying Game (novel)|The Crying Game]]'' is set in London and captures some of the atmosphere of the '[[Swinging Sixties]]' (it is not related to [[The Crying Game|the 1992 film of the same name]]). His 1974 book, ''Writing a Novel'', was a guide for aspiring novelists.

==Political views==
Braine was mildly left-wing in his youth, but, like his contemporaries (and fellow "angry young men") [[Kingsley Amis]] and [[John Wain]], he later moved to the political right and supported America's involvement in the [[Vietnam War]]. In 1967, Braine, [[Robert Conquest]], Amis and several others signed a controversial letter to ''[[The Times]]'' titled "Backing for U.S. Policies in Vietnam", supporting the US government in Vietnam.<ref>John Wakeman, 
''World Authors 1950–1970 : a companion volume to Twentieth Century Authors''. New York : H. W. Wilson Company, 1975; {{ISBN|0824204190}} (pp. 444-48).</ref>

==Personal life==
Braine was married to Patricia Wood and had four children. They separated in the early 1980s, and Patricia moved to [[Shropshire]] with the two youngest children.<ref>{{cite news|title=John Braine's fall from the top|url=https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/john-braine-s-fall-from-the-top-1-2397027|access-date=26 March 2018|work=The Yorkshire Post|date=27 October 2006|archive-date=4 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180704034710/https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/john-braine-s-fall-from-the-top-1-2397027|url-status=dead}}</ref> He died from a gastric haemorrhage in 1986 at the age of 64.<ref name=":ODNB:" />

==Select bibliography==

===Fiction===
*''[[Room at the Top (novel)|Room at the Top]]'' (1957) Reissued in 2013 by [[Valancourt Books]]
*''[[The Vodi]]'' (1959) Reissued in 2013 by Valancourt Books
*''[[Life at the Top]]'' (1962) Reissued in 2015 by Valancourt Books
*''[[The Jealous God]]'' (1964)
*''[[The Crying Game (novel)|The Crying Game]]'' (1968) (not related to the 1992 film of the same title)
*''[[Stay with Me Till Morning]]'' (1970) (U.S. title: "The View from Tower Hill")
*''[[The Queen of a Distant Country]]'' (1972)
*''[[The Pious Agent]]'' (1975)
*''[[Waiting for Sheila]]'' (1976)
*''Finger of Fire'' (1977)
*''One and Last Love'' (1981)
*''The Two of Us'' (1984)
*''These Golden Days'' (1985)
*''[[Man at the Top (TV series)|Man at the Top]]'' ([[Thames Television]], 1970–1): five scripts for the first series of this drama based on Braine's character Joe Lampton<ref>See the review at [[DVDCompare]], of the 2010 UK DVD release: [http://dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=1537 DVDCompare review]</ref>

===Non-fiction===
*''A Personal Record'' (Monday Club, 1968)
*''Writing a Novel'' (1974)
*''J.B. Priestley'' (1978)

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
*[http://www.booksellerworld.com/john-braine.htm John Braine – bibliography of first editions] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303193108/http://www.booksellerworld.com/john-braine.htm |date=3 March 2016 }}
* John Braine archival collection at {{wikidata|qualifier|property|P485|Q24568958|P856|format=\[%q %p\]}}

{{John Braine}}
{{Angry young men}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Braine, John}}
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:1986 deaths]]
[[Category:Writers from Bradford]]
[[Category:People from Bingley]]
[[Category:People from Woking]]
[[Category:People educated at St. Bede's Grammar School]]
[[Category:Booker authors' division]]
[[Category:20th-century English novelists]]
[[Category:English male novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century English male writers]]