Butler was educated at Shrewsbury and St. John's College, Cambridge. He spent several years in New Zealand as a sheep-breeder before returning to England where he remained for the rest of his life. He published A First Year in Canterbury Settlement (1863) recounting his time in New Zealand. In 1872, he published Erewhon, followed by, among others, The Fair Haven (1873), Life and Habit (1877), Evolution Old and New (1879), Luck or Cunning (1887) and Erewhon Revisted in 1901. His output was varied and included biographical works, scientific works, translations (of which his Homer's Iliad and Odyssey are excellent prose examples) and travel sagas. His autobiographical novel, The Way of All Flesh (1903 - posthumous), is a masterpiece. |
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