Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Helen Waddell
-
Standard Name: Waddell, Helen
Birth Name: Helen Waddell
HW
, an early twentieth-century scholar in the field of medieval studies and especially Latin verse, was the author of scholarly monographs and translations (from Chinese as well as Latin), and of plays, articles, reviews, short fictions based on the Bible, religious writings, newspaper columns . . . and personal letters.
Waddell, Helen. “Acknowledgements; Note; Introduction”. Between Two Eternities, edited by Felicitas Corrigan, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1993, pp. viii - ix, 1.
viii
She acquired fame in her lifetime as a popular historian of the period she studied, and her lyrics have had an unusually strong appeal for composers of song-settings.
This fictional tradition continued through Helen Waddell
's Peter Abelard, A Novel, 1933 (which has been several times reprinted), up to Suzanne Bernard
's Le roman d'Héloïse et Abélard, 2001.
Friends, Associates
Mildred Cable
During this time in England they met Helen Waddell
, who was just savouring the first months of her literary fame. She called them [t]he Gobi Three and reported them to be so good and...
Smith's Manon had an indifferent reception and weak sales.
Smith, Charlotte. “Introduction”. The Works of Charlotte Smith, edited by Michael Garner, Karla M. Taylor, and Karla M. Taylor, Pickering and Chatto, 2005, p. xxix - xxxvii.
xxxi
The three contemporary reviews, all mixed, all expressed anxiety about the work's moral effect.
Smith, Charlotte. “Introduction”. The Works of Charlotte Smith, edited by Michael Garner, Karla M. Taylor, and Karla M. Taylor, Pickering and Chatto, 2005, p. xxix - xxxvii.
xxx
A later translation by Helen Waddell
, 1931, provided the...
Reception
Rose Macaulay
The book did well in Britain (the Times Literary Supplement called it in many respects a brilliant piece of work),
Lefanu, Sarah. Rose Macaulay. Virago, 2003.
197
but it sank with scarcely a ripple in the USA.
Macaulay, Rose. Letters to a Friend from Rose Macaulay 1950-1952. Babington Smith, ConstanceEditor , Fontana, 1968.
A Desert Journal, Letters From Asia, 1934, which collects personal letters sent home during a period of years by MC
and both French sisters, is a precursor to their great success, The Gobi Desert...
Textual Production
Rumer Godden
RG
wrote part of this novel in a caravan after her house burned down. She worked on it for five years, and her new part-time secretary retyped it many times.
Godden, Rumer. A House with Four Rooms. Macmillan, 1989.
253-4
She wrote in response...
Textual Production
Storm Jameson
Jameson had been approached by the Ministry of Information
once the USA had entered World War II, for suggestions on how to cement Anglo-American relations.
Jameson, Storm. Journey from the North. Harper and Row, 1970.