Robert Smythe Hichens

• Name — Robert Hichens • Occupation — Writer, journalist, music critic • Born — 14 November 1864 • Died — 20 July 1950 (aged 85) • Birthplace — Speldhurst, Kent, England • Education — * Clifton College • Royal College of Music • Place of death — Zürich, Switzerland

Hichens was born in Speldhurst in Kent, the eldest son of the Rev. Frederick Harrison Hichens, and his wife Abigail Elizabeth Smythe. He was educated at Clifton College, the Royal College of Music and early on had a desire to be a musician. Later in life he would become music critic on The World, taking the place of George Bernard Shaw. He studied at the London School of Journalism. Hichens was a great traveller. Egypt was one of his favourite destinations – he first went there in the early 1890s for his health. For most of his later life he lived outside England, in Switzerland and the Riviera. Hichens was a homosexual; he never married. Hichens first novel, The Coastguard's Secret (1886), was written when he was only seventeen. He first became well known among the reading public with The Green Carnation (1894), a satire of Hichens's friends Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas; since the work made clear Wilde was homosexual it was withdrawn from publication in 1895, but not before helping set the stage for Wilde's public disgrace and downfall. Hichens was also friends with several other writers, including E. F. Benson and Reggie Turner, as well as the composer Maude Valérie White. • Illustration — Hichens in August–September 1895 edition of The Bookman Hichens's first big success was An Imaginative Man (1895); set in the city of Cairo, Egypt, a place which fascinated Hichens, it is a study of insanity, in which the hero becomes dangerously obsessed with the Great Sphinx. Other early fiction includes The Folly of Eustace (1896), a collection of stories including some supernatural; Flames (1897), a story resembling Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde; The Londoners (1898), a satire about decadent London; The Slave (1899), a fantasy about an amazing emerald; Tongues of Conscience (1900), a collection of five horror stories including "How Love Came to Professor Guildea" (this story is about a supernatural visitation and is thought by some to be Hichens's best fiction – it is frequently anthologised). "How Love Came to Professor Guildea" was not initially well-received, with Frederic Taber Cooper calling the story "a hideous bit of morbidity" and Edmund Wilson dismissing the story as "trash". Later reviews of the story were more positive; J. A. Cuddon called it "outstanding" and compared it with "The Horla" by Guy de Maupassant and "The Beckoning Fair One" by Oliver Onions. Brian Stableford described the story as an "authentic masterpiece of horror fiction", and Jason Colavito called it "possibly one of the greatest stories of its age". Hichens's Felix (1902), is an early fictional treatment of hypodermic morphine addiction, while The Garden of Allah (1904) sold well internationally, and was made into a film three times. Hichens published his memoirs in 1947, Yesterday.

• The Law of the Sands (1916) • Black Magic (1917) • The Voice from the Minaret (1919)

• Bella Donna, directed by Edwin S. Porter and Hugh Ford (1915, based on the novel Bella Donna) • The Garden of Allah, directed by Colin Campbell (1916, based on the novel The Garden of Allah) • Barbary Sheep, directed by Maurice Tourneur (1917, based on the novel Barbary Sheep) • Flames, directed by Maurice Elvey (UK, 1917, based on the novel Flames) • The Slave, directed by Arrigo Bocchi (UK, 1918, based on the novel The Slave) • Hidden Lives, directed by Maurits Binger and B. E. Doxat-Pratt (Netherlands, 1920, based on a play by Robert Hichens and John Knittel) • The Call of the Blood, directed by Louis Mercanton (France, 1920, based on the novel The Call of the Blood) • The Woman with the Fan, directed by René Plaissetty (UK, 1921, based on the novel The Woman with the Fan) • The Fruitful Vine, directed by Maurice Elvey (UK, 1921, based on the novel The Fruitful Vine) • The Voice from the Minaret, directed by Frank Lloyd (1923, based on the play The Voice from the Minaret) • Bella Donna, directed by George Fitzmaurice (1923, based on the novel Bella Donna) • The Lady Who Lied, directed by Edwin Carewe (1925, based on the story The Lady Who Lied) • The Garden of Allah, directed by Rex Ingram (1927, based on the novel The Garden of Allah) • After the Verdict, directed by Henrik Galeen (UK, 1929, based on the novel After the Verdict) • Bella Donna, directed by Robert Milton (UK, 1934, based on the novel Bella Donna) • The Garden of Allah, directed by Richard Boleslawski (1936, based on the novel The Garden of Allah) • Temptation, directed by Irving Pichel (1946, based on the novel Bella Donna) • The Paradine Case, directed by Alfred Hitchcock (1947, based on the novel The Paradine Case) • Call of the Blood, directed by John Clements and Ladislao Vajda (UK, 1948, based on the novel Call of the Blood)

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