John Carey, FBA, FRSL (born 5 April 1934) is a British literary critic, and post-retirement (2002) emeritus Merton Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford. He is known for his anti-elitist views on high culture, as expounded in several books. He has twice chaired the Booker Prize committee, in 1982 and 2004, and chaired the judging panel for the first Man Booker International Prize in 2005.
Books in order of publication:
The Poems of John Milton (1968) editor with Alastair Fowler
Andrew Marvell: A Critical Anthology (1969) editor
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg (1969) editor
John Milton (1969)
Complete Shorter Poems of John Milton (1971), revised 2nd edition (1997) editor
The Violent Effigy. A Study of Dickens’ Imagination (1973) published in America as Here Comes Dickens. The Imagination of a Novelist. Republished in Faber Finds (2008)
John Milton, Christian Doctrine (1971) translator
Thackeray: Prodigal Genius (1977) republished in Faber Finds (2008)
English Renaissance Studies: Presented To Dame Helen Gardner In Honour Of Her Seventieth Birthday (1979)
John Donne: Life, Mind and Art (1981) new revised edition (1990) republished in Faber Finds (2008)
William Golding : The Man and His Books (1986) editor
Faber Book of Reportage (1987) editor. Published in America as Eyewitness to History, Harvard University Press, (1987)
Original Copy : Selected Reviews and Journalism 1969–1986 (1987)
John Donne. The Major Works (1990) editor, Oxford Authors, reprinted with revisions (2000) World’s Classics
The Intellectuals and the Masses: Pride and Prejudice among the Literary Intelligentsia, 1880–1939 (1992)
Short Stories and the Unbearable Bassington by Saki (1994) editor
Faber Book of Science (1995) editor. Published in America as Eyewitness to Science: Scientists and Writers Illuminate Natural Phenomena from Fossils to Fractals, Harvard University Press, (1997)
Selected Poetry of John Donne (1998) editor
Faber Book of Utopias (2000) editor
Pure Pleasure: a Guide to the Twentieth Century’s Most Enjoyable Books (2000)
George Orwell, Essays (2002) editor
Vanity Fair by William Thackeray (2002) editor
What Good are the Arts? (2005)
William Golding: The Man Who Wrote ‘Lord of the Flies’ (2009)
The Unexpected Professor: An Oxford Life in Books (2014)
The Essential ‘Paradise Lost (2017)
A Little History of Poetry, Yale University Press (2020)
100 Poets: A Little Anthology, Yale University Press (2021)
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