Welch, Denton

Welch’s autobiographical novella I Left My Grandfather’s House,

written in 1943. It was first published posthumously in 1958 and has only briefly been in print since. In the novella, Welch recounts a walking tour undertaken while he was a student at Goldsmith’s School of Art. His many adventures along the way are described with a characteristic lyricism and energy, as well as with a sense of nostalgia not only for the pre-war world, but for the innocent enjoyment of existence in the years before Welch was permanently disabled by a life-threatening accident. As Edmund White has written:

‘Welch has the power to generate interest out of even the most meagre materials. He had this gift from the beginning but suffering and illness refined it into a white-hot flame.’