The list of public domain books 2022 below does have a few big names on it, though on the whole next year won’t be a big bonanza for suddenly available classics. I’ve collated a list which attempts to reflect some of the most popular writers whose works are now free, from a range of backgrounds. If you’re interested in seeing what else will be on offer, take a look at the Wikipedia pages for ‘1951 in literature’ (specifically, deaths that year) and ‘2022 in public domain’. In case you missed them, here are the books which entered the public domain in 2021! In a mild dark side to the wholesomeness of Winnie the Pooh, Milne’s son Christopher Robin grew to hate being his father’s famous inspiration. He described a poem about his pious younger self as being ‘the one [work] that has brought me over the years more toe-curling, fist-clenching, lip-biting embarrassment than any other’, and relentless bullying at his public school led him to observe that ‘it seemed to me almost that my father had got to where he was by climbing upon my infant shoulders, that he had filched from me my good name and had left me with the empty fame of being his son.’ Christopher’s relationship with his mother was also extremely strained, to the extent that the two did not see each other for the last 15 years of her life, and she refused to see him on his deathbed. It’s now considered his best work, and one which showcases his ‘Iceberg’ style of writing. This consists of a journalistic, spare prose style, devoid of extraneous detail or context. *As Eppie Lederer famously observed, ‘if you marry a man who cheats on his wife, you’ll be married to a man who cheats on his wife’. Pauline’s marriage to Hemingway ended the same way it began, with his infidelity. I quite like the title, so it’s worth adding that These Old Shades is a quotation from Victorian poet Austin Dobson’s ‘Epilogue’ in Eighteenth Century Vignettes. A great commentary on what draws him (and others) to a fascination with bygone times. Here it is: ‘WHAT is it then,’—some Reader asks,—‘What is it that attachesYour fancy so to fans and masks,—To periwigs and patches? ‘Is Human Life to-day so poor,—So bloodless,—you disdain it,To ‘galvanize’ the Past once more?’—Permit me. I’ll explain it. This Age I grant (and grant with pride),Is varied, rich, eventful;But, if you touch its weaker side,Deplorably resentful: Belaud it, and it takes your praiseWith air of calm conviction;Condemn it, and at once you raiseA storm of contradiction. Whereas with these old Shades of mine,Their ways and dress delight me;And should I trip by word or line,They cannot well indict me. Winston Churchill said of it, “It ranks with the greatest books ever written in the English language. As a narrative of war and adventure it is unsurpassable.”
