Justin Cartwright

Justin Cartwright – Life, Work, and Famous Quotes

Explore the life, literary career, key works, and memorable quotes of Justin Cartwright — a British novelist of South African origin, whose novels explored identity, moral complexity, and contemporary life.

Introduction

Justin Cartwright (born May 20, 1943 — died December 3, 2018) was a British novelist with South African roots, known for richly drawn characters and novels that blend political, moral, and personal dilemmas. His novels often probe questions of identity, belonging, history, and interpersonal conflict, combining realism with insightful psychological observation.

Early Life and Background

Cartwright was born Justin James Cartwright on 20 May 1943 in Cape Town, South Africa. Johannesburg, where his father served as the editor of the Rand Daily Mail newspaper.

He was educated in South Africa, in the United States, and ultimately at Trinity College, Oxford in England.

In addition, he was involved in British political broadcasting: he managed election broadcasts for the Liberal Party and later the SDP–Liberal Alliance during the 1979, 1983, and 1987 general elections. For this work, he was appointed MBE (Member of the British Empire).

Though sometimes referred to as a "British novelist born 1945" in some references, authoritative sources place his birth year as 1943.

Literary Career & Major Works

Themes and Style

Cartwright’s novels often straddle political, historical, and personal dimensions. He frequently engages themes of exile and return, racial and moral complexity, and the tension between individual choices and historical forces. Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh, and he himself cited influences such as Saul Bellow and John Updike.

Notable Novels

Some of Cartwright’s most recognized works include:

• In Every Face I Meet (1995) — shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Novel Award, and winner of a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize.

• Leading the Cheers (1998) — winner of the Whitbread Novel Award.

• White Lightning (2002) — shortlisted for Whitbread.

• The Promise of Happiness (2005) — winner of the Hawthornden Prize.

• The Song Before It Is Sung (2007)

• To Heaven by Water (2009)

• Other People’s Money (2011), Lion Heart (2013), Up Against the Night (2015).

Earlier in his career, he wrote thriller-style novels such as The Revenge (1978) and The Horse of Darius (1980).

His novel Look at It This Way was adapted into a BBC television mini-series in 1992, and Cartwright himself wrote the screenplay.

He also published non-fiction, including Not Yet Home (1997), This Secret Garden (2008), and Oxford Revisited (2008).

Reception & Legacy

Cartwright’s writing was often praised for its perceptiveness, moral seriousness, and emotional depth.

He authored some 17 novels over the course of his career, though at times he disowned or retracted some early works.

Cartwright passed away on 3 December 2018 in London, aged 75.

Selected Quotes

Here are some representative quotes from Justin Cartwright’s writing, capturing his perspective on art, identity, history, and life:

“...he is thinking about thoughts; so many thoughts piled up, such a quantity of half-remembered knowledge, so many emotions brought up from the well to spill out: … random thoughts…” “It’s as though a smile is ageless, or perhaps eternal, independent of the decay and collapse of the surrounding features.” “I think all women believe adultery is a betrayal of themselves as women, while many men, in my experience, think of it as an endorsement of their true natures.” “My brother and I were brought up sort of thinking that we were English. I remember hearing the poet Roy Campbell on the radio and being quite shocked that he had a South African accent.” “You can’t believe anything that’s written in an historical novel, and yet the author's job is always to create a believable world that readers can enter.” “Historians and journalists always have agendas, but if I want to find out what’s going on in South Africa, I read Nadine Gordimer or John Coetzee because they offer novelistic truth.”

These lines show Cartwright’s preoccupations: the limits of historical narrative, the instability of identity, and the role of fiction in truth-telling.

Lessons & Reflections

1. Rootedness and detachment
   Cartwright’s life straddled South Africa and Britain; his fiction often returns to that tension between belonging and exile, insider and outsider. His works remind us that identity is layered and contested.

2. Morality in the ordinary
   Rather than dramatic epics, Cartwright’s strength lay in depicting moral complexity in everyday lives — spouses, daily routines, betrayals, small acts of kindness or cruelty.

3. Historical humility
   Through many of his characters and narratives, he cautions against trusting simple historical narratives, reminding us that human motives are messy and truth is provisional.

4. Bridging politics and the personal
   He showed that meaningful fiction can intersect with political questions — power, race, justice — without losing intimacy or nuance.

5. Persistence and evolution
   Over a long career, he shifted across genres, discarded early work, and kept refining his craft — a reminder that writers evolve and endure by adapting.