Micheal Frayn Life And Works

Playwright, novelist and translator Michael Frayn was born in London on 8 September 1933. Frayn has told many that the suburb where he used to live was the ideal place to grow up. The empty streets and acres of field left so much room for his imagination to run wild. He describes the places where himself and his friends used to play as a children's no-mans land.

When Frayn was a child he had a lot of freedom, because many parents were so preoccupied about a long list of things. Eating enough during war rations, working harder while husbands, fathers etc were away at war and surviving through the blackouts. Parents having this burden of constant worry left Frayn and his friends able to 'run free'

But it wasn't all fun and games during Frayn's childhood. Frayn tells us that the prep school he attended was horrible. He felt that as soon as he arrived home, all peace was restored. Whereas Frayn's reports of his secondary school are the opposite. Frayn felt worried about attending Kingston Grammar School, not knowing what to expect, but instead he flourished and discovered a love for writing.

Unfortunately Frayn's mother died when he was twelve. He continued to be raised by his father. Frayn's father was deaf, but still he managed to work with people all day, selling goods from door to door. After years of hard work, Frayn's father finally earned his position as a sales manager.

After Frayn's time at school was finished he made a B-line to join the forces. During his two years of National Service, Frayn learnt how to speak Russian at the Joint Services School for Linguists.

Frayn read Moral Sciences (Philosophy) at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, graduating in 1957. It was at university that Frayn found himself intertwined with a close group of friends. All of whom, Frayn states, "knew that they were going to make it".

It was from this time on that Frayn knew that his heart was set on becoming a novelist. Although he says, somehow he's known all his life.

After Frayn left university he started work as a reporter. After working himself up through the ranks he earned himself a writers column for The Guardian and The Observer.

It was during his time as a reporter that Frayn began publishing his novels and plays. Frayn released at this time The Tin Men (1965), winner of a Somerset Maugham Award. Many loved this book because Frayn wrote of the principal philosophical questions raised by computing - consciousness, artificial intelligence, future evolution etc. Even though this book was set in the 'Olden Days' of computers, the issues that Frayn raises are still relevant to continuing debates. The Russian Interpreter (1966), which won the Hawthornden Prize. This novel was widely accepted as being more interesting than his first. I feel that Frayn had a lot of input into this novel from his own experiences, which gave it a lot more depth. The novel is based on a charcter called Paul Manning who takes on part time Russian-English interpreting while working in Moscow to complete his Ph.D. thesis. He then meets the gorgeous Raya, and begins an affair, but makes the mistake of introducing him to his employer,

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