Stephen McKenna (1888–1967) was a prolific English novelist and biographer whose work primarily chronicled the lives and social dynamics of the British upper class. Educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, McKenna initially pursued a career in teaching before his independent wealth allowed him to travel extensively across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. During the First World War, deemed medically unfit for active military service, he contributed to the war effort through his work with the War Trade Intelligence Department and as part of Arthur Balfour's 1917 mission to the United States.\n\nMcKenna's literary career began with the publication of The Reluctant Lover in 1912. He achieved major commercial success with his 1917 novel, Sonia: Between Two Worlds, which became a bestseller in the United States and was later adapted into a British film. Over his career, McKenna published forty-seven novels and six non-fiction works, demonstrating a versatile range that spanned from social realism to philosophical fantasy, as seen in his 1926 Pan-themed novel, The Oldest God.\n\nHis satirical work, Confessions of a Well-Meaning Woman, was notable for its moral inversion, a technique later cited by C.S. Lewis as a direct influence on The Screwtape Letters. In addition to his fiction, McKenna wrote several biographical works, including a memoir of his uncle, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer Reginald McKenna, and a biography of the translator Alexander Teixeira de Mattos. His own early life and Oxford years are captured in his 1921 autobiographical volume, While I Remember.
