Mental Efficiency, and Other Hints to Men and Women

Born in Hanley, Staffordshire, in 1867, Arnold Bennett went on to become one of the most popular English novelists. He was best known for his novels like A Man From the North, The Old Wives’ Tale, Hugo, The Clayhanger Trilogy, The Card, Buried Alive, The Gates of Wrath, Leonora, and The Regent. His popular non-fiction works include Literary Taste: How To Form It, The Savour Of Life, Fame and Fiction, and How To Live, which included The Human Machine, Mental Efficiency, and Self and Self-Management. Bennett started his writing career as a journalist.

However, he gave up journalism to take up a full-time career as a novelist. Bennett was also a part of the War Propaganda Bureau, after the outbreak of the First World War. He and 24 other leading English writers were assigned to promote Britain’s interests during the war. Bennett contributed several articles to the cause.

Bennett and his French wife separated in 1921. He then fell in love with and stayed with actress Dorothy Cheston, though the two were never married. Arnold Bennett died of typhoid in London, in 1931.