Sir Frank Kermode dies aged 90

Celebrated British literary critic Sir Frank Kermode has passed away at the age of 90, it has been revealed.

The London Review of Books, which was launched in 1979 on Kermode's suggestion, announced that he died on August 17th in Cambridge. No cause of death was given.

Kermode's works included Romantic Image, The Sense of an Ending and Shakespeare's Language, while he was a prolific writer for scholarly journals and periodicals - contributing more than 200 pieces to the London Review of Books alone.

He also held teaching positions at some of the world's leading universities, including the post of Lord Northcliffe professor of modern English literature at University College London and that of King Edward VII professor of English literature at the University of Cambridge.

Alan Samson, Kermode's publisher at Weidenfeld & Nicolson, told the Guardian that he considers the critic to be the 'greatest literary conversationalist' he had ever met.

'He knew he had exceptional gifts, but there was a modest manner about him. He knew he was smarter than everyone else, but he was this pipe-smoking, beguiling man who listened to what you had to say,' he added.

As well as works of literary criticism, Kermode also published an autobiography - Not Entitled - in 1995.