George Palmer Garrett, Jr. (1929—2008), was a native of Orlando, Florida. After attending Princeton, he was a boxer and an Army sergeant before deciding on a literary career. Garrett was without one of the greatest Southern and American writers of the second half of the 20th century. He was honoured by numerous prizes and was esteemed as novelist, poet, literary critic and editor, biographer, screenwriter, essayist (often satirical) on current affairs, and teacher of writing, serving finally at the University of Virginia. Most of Garrett’s work concerns life and literature of the post-1945 world. However, perhaps his most recognized book is Death of the Fox: A Novel of Elizabeth and Raleigh. This is not strictly a Southern book but is a novel about Sir Walter Raleigh, the great explorer of the New World.
Garrett immersed himself in Elizabethan England. He knew everything about the period — everyday life, economy, politics, religion, war, theatre, prisons, travel, health, ad infinitum For those interested in Southern history, Death of the Fox is a rich and unforgettable picture of the English society out of which the earliest settlers of Virginia and Carolina ventured forth. In fact, it was Raleigh who, along with others, sponsored the 1587 expedition to establish a colony at Roanoke Island (located in what is now north-eastern North Carolina), that being the first attempt to establish an English settlement in North America, an attempt which failed and became known was the “Lost Colony.”
Entered from the Sun: The Murder of Marlowe and The Succession: A Novel of Elizabeth and James are prequels to Death of the Fox though published later.
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