V.S. Pritchett, a master of the English short story and keen observer of humanity, has died at age 96.
Pritchett, who had suffered a stroke in January, died Thursday at Whittington Hospital, said his son, Oliver Pritchett.Knighted in 1975 for services to literature, Pritchett published more than 40 books of short stories, novels, essays, literary criticism, travel and autobiography. He was noted for his brilliant portraits of people in his stories and journalism.
In an interview with The Associated Press before his 90th birthday, Pritchett offered this advice to aspiring writers: "Unself yourself. Try for a moment to be the man you are listening to."
"I made a point of believing what I heard even though it was fantasy, because it is part of a man's nature to have fantasies. It has been said that too many of my characters are eccentric but they are not really. They are people who are just speaking to themselves."