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His writings were not given to conventional academic scholarship or critical theory but dwelled instead directly on the characteristics of writers he admired and their works. Nevertheless, he spent much of his life at Oxford University, where he was professor of English literature from 1948 to 1969 and a popular lecturer.

The essential plot of ''[Simonetta Perkins]'' is recast dozens of times in [L. P. HARTLEY]'s stories. He often pictures an emotionally frozen central figure who, by the intervention of some external force (often a ghost), undergoes a thaw. The protagonist of ''A Rewarding Experience'' is typical, a bachelor-writer not unlike Hartley himself: ''Henry Tarrant had been asked to write a short story but he couldn't think of one.'' His sense of petrifaction extends to all aspects of life: ''The more he wrote about human beings the less he wanted to have anything to do with them.'' The muse, of course, refuses to visit such a man. It is not until he stumbles on a dogfight in the streets that a break in his emotional deadlock becomes possible. The woman who owns one of the dogs, a spaniel, screams at him, ''Call off your dog, please, call off your dog!'' The attacking dog doesn't belong to him, but he feels compelled to separate the animals, getting his hand bloodied in the process. The grateful woman accompanies him home, where she bandages his hand while her spaniel wets the author's rug. Only blood and urine, it seems, can waken Tarrant to ''real'' life. In the end, he invites the sympathetic woman to stay for sherry. Who knows what might happen next? He might even write a story. THE writer-hero of ''W.S.'' undergoes a similar spiritual crisis, this time precipitated by mysterious postcards coming from unknown places and signed by the initials W.S. The postcards rebuke the writer, Walter Streeter, for moral ambiguity and lack of resolve. The ominous tone of the story continues until W.S. appears in person to reveal his true identity. He is William Stainsforth, a character in an early story by Walter Streeter and someone on whom the author once heaped infinite scorn. The angry Stainsforth challenges his creator to find ''just one redeeming feature'' in the way he was portrayed. Unable to comply, Streeter is promptly strangled by his invention. This fierce little tale is among the finer pieces in this collection.

Continued optimism (pg. 24-25). H.M.S. Amethyst (pg. 25-26). visit of Commonwealth Prime Ministers (pg. 26). Western Union (pg. 26-27). lifting of Berlin blockade (pg. 27). Foreign Ministers' conference (pg. 27-28). parliamentary debates (pg. 28-30). Church questions (pg. 30). Eire's independence (pg. 30-33). progress of nationalised industries (pg. 33-34). Labour Believes in Britain (pg. 34-36). local elections (pg. 36-37). Blackpool conference of Labour Party (pg. 37-40). dock strikes (pg. 40-42). new economic crisis (pg. 42-43). the dollar problem reviewed (pg. 43). Sir S. Cripps' statement, 6 July (pg. 43-46). The Right Road for Britain (pg. 46-48).