Author Birthday 11/16 Michael Arlen

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Michael Arlen Birth name: Dikran Kouyoumdjian Birthplace: Rousse, Bulgaria Date of birth: 16 November 1895 Date of death: 23 June 1956 Today is the 120th birthday of Michael Arlen, a Bulgarian-born UK writer who was the talk of the town in the 1920s. His family was of Armenian extraction and fled to Bulgaria in the wake of persecution in the Ottoman Empire. He was best known for his novels depicting London society, such as “The Green Hat,” which was adapted into a play and movies. He also wrote a collection of ghost stories and some science fiction but they never garnered the fame and fortune “The Green Hat” did. His last book, "The Flying Dutchman," publishing in 1939, was political, and harshly criticized Germany and it position in the Second World War. During that war, Arlen served as Civil Defense Public Relations Officer. He resigned the position and moved to the U.S when his loyalty was questioned in the House of Commons. The work I have read of Arlen's is “The Loquacious Lady of Lansdowne Passage,” a short story first published in Arlen’s 1927 collection “Ghost Stories.” In this short work, a narrator relates a story told to him by a friend, “George Tarylon, who is a brave man and no bigger liar than most.” Tarylon is reluctant to walk through Lansdowne Passage, a narrow path between two high walls. This passage was “carved between the princely domains of Devonshire House and Lansdowne House.” Tarylon is even more reluctant to give a reason for this reluctance. Finally, he tells the narrator of walking through Lansdowne Passage one May evening after the end of the war, and coming across a woman who asked him to walk her to end of the passage. She didn’t have the appearance of the “lady of the evening,” so Tarylon agreed. And the lady began talking… This is an old-fashioned ghost story that sort sneaks up on the reader. Tarylon is a tall man who has nothing to fear from the woman he meets. At first, he views her as an annoyance. He has no use for a prostitute. (Arlen is too delicate to use the word.) As she talks, he realizes the woman has no designs on him but merely wants company to the end of the passage. He can be a little more charitable. He then realizes that there’s someone in particular she’s afraid of.