William John Locke
1863–1930
Biography
William John Locke (1863–1930) was a British novelist and playwright. Born in British Guiana, he made his career in England, where he produced a steady stream of novels, stories and plays for the reading public of the early twentieth century. His fiction is marked by gentle wit and by a warm sympathy for his characters, including the unworldly and the foolish, and he is also remembered as a writer of short stories that were printed widely in magazines.
The Beloved Vagabond (1906), which follows a wandering artist who lives by his charm and his wits, is among his most widely read novels. Locke's books often centre on gifted and unconventional people who do not fit comfortably within respectable society, and his affection for them gives his comedy much of its appeal. He was a popular author in both Britain and the United States, and his lightly ironic handling of love, money and manners found a receptive audience in his lifetime.
The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol, published in 1912, is the book on this site. It is a comic novel built around a cheerful and impulsive hero, whose schemes and misadventures give the story its momentum and whose good humour makes him easy to like. The book shows Locke at his lightest, and it is a good place to meet the warmth and playfulness that made his stories popular with readers of his day.
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Books
The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol
by William John Locke
William J. Locke's 1912 collection about Aristide Pujol, a cheerful, resourceful, perpetually penniless Gascon who talks his way through the south of France and beyond. Each chapter is a small comedy of his schemes and his big heart. Light and charming. This book uses the racial…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.