Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
G. B. Stern
-
Standard Name: Stern, G. B.
Birth Name: Gladys Bertha Stern
Self-constructed Name: Bronwyn
Indexed Name: G. B. Stern
Pseudonym: G. B. Stern
Nickname: Peter
Nickname: Tynx
GBS
, who was writing through a large stretch of the twentieth century, published over forty novels of a middle-brow character, as well as light plays, short stories, informal criticism, and haphazard autobiographical memoirs. Her high reputation has somewhat declined, but her family saga about the cosmopolitan Jewish Rakonitz family is still remembered.
Over her lifetime, RW
made countless friends. These included US journalist Dorothy Thompson
(whose long-lasting friendship with her is treated in Susan Hertog
's double biography Dangerous Ambition. Rebecca West and Dorothy Thompson: New Women...
Dedications
Rebecca West
This semi-autobiographical novel was West's third to appear after her death. Dedicated to G. B. Stern
, it was based on West's affair with Lord Beaverbrook
.
Glendinning, Victoria, and Rebecca West. “Afterword”. Sunflower, Virago, pp. 268-76.
268, 270
In 1928 she still planned to...
Friends, Associates
May Sinclair
Her articles and critical reviews were encouraging for many writers, including T. S. Eliot
.
Scott, Bonnie Kime. Refiguring Modernism. Indiana University Press.
MS
's friendship with Charlotte Mew
(whom she met through Catharine Dawson Scott in spring 1913) is still the subject of debate and disagreement among commentators. Mew kept the letters she received from her, but...
Textual Features
Berta Ruck
This, like her previous volume of memoirs, is deliberately non-monologic and non-chronological, rather like the similar books of BR
's near-contemporary G. B. Stern
, but giving perhaps even more space to the voices of other people.
There has been much speculation, both at the time and more recently, about the nature of the relationship between the two writers. CM
seems to have fallen in love, but Sinclair was not receptive, not...
Textual Production
Flora Macdonald Mayor
This novel sold reasonably well and FMM
was again lauded by several contemporary critics, including E. M. Forster
, G. B. Stern
, and Rebecca West
.
Williams, Merryn. Six Women Novelists, Macmillan.
45
Keith, Rhonda. British Novelists 1890-1929: Modernists. Editor Staley, Thomas F., Gale Research Company, pp. 169-71.
Critics, wrote her friend G. B. Stern
years later, took her writing to be masculine in its picaresque gusto and boldness. Some enjoyed this tendency in her first novel, but some were shocked.
Stern, G. B. . And did he stop and speak to you?. Henry Regnery.
79
Walker, Dorothea. Sheila Kaye-Smith. Twayne.
23
Literary responses
Sheila Kaye-Smith
This novel brought critical and popular acclaim. SKS
said that the weeks following its appearance were some of the happiest of her life.
Walker, Dorothea. Sheila Kaye-Smith. Twayne.
85
The Times Literary Supplement notice began: No matter what fine work...
Intertextuality and Influence
Sheila Kaye-Smith
W. L. George
persuaded her to set this book in Sussex (instead of the Channel Island setting she was planning) on grounds of her identification with Sussex in the public mind.
Anderson, Rachel, and Sheila Kaye-Smith. “Introduction”. Joanna Godden, Dial, p. xi - xviii.
xiv-xv
When he further...
Literary responses
Sheila Kaye-Smith
G. B. Stern
mentions that this book made an impression on the public comparable to that of SKS
's Sussex Gorse or Joanna Godden; its popularity stemmed largely from those who sympathised with its...
Literary responses
Sheila Kaye-Smith
G. B. Stern
felt that among SKS
's postwar novels, this one and the next, The View from the Parsonage, 1954, are even superior to her earlier books in humor, shrewdness and mental breadth...
Literary responses
Sheila Kaye-Smith
G. B. Stern
calls this book Kaye-Smith's most important contribution to Catholic literature.
Stern, G. B. . And did he stop and speak to you?. Henry Regnery.
90
Textual Production
Sheila Kaye-Smith
With her friend G. B. Stern
, SKS
published More Talk of Jane Austen, proposed by Kaye-Smith to follow their earlier Talking of Jane Austen, 1943.
British Book News. British Council.
(1951): 52
Stern, G. B. . And did he stop and speak to you?. Henry Regnery.
1752: Francis Coventry anonymously published The...
Writing climate item
1752
Francis Coventry
anonymously published The History of Pompey the Little; or, the life and adventures of a lap-dog, a novelà clef which satirizes Pompey's successive owners.
26 October 1951: At the general election the postwar reforming...
National or international item
26 October 1951
At the general election the postwar reforming Labour government of Clement Attlee
polled the highest number of votes it had ever received, but fewer seats than before: it was ousted by the Conservatives under Winston Churchill
Texts
Stern, G. B. "See-Saw". Hutchinson, 1914.
Stern, G. B. . And did he stop and speak to you?. Coram, 1957.
Stern, G. B. . And did he stop and speak to you?. Henry Regnery, 1958.
Stern, G. B. A Name to Conjure With. Collins, 1953.
Stern, G. B. All in Good Time. Sheed and Ward, 1954.
Stern, G. B. Another Part of the Forest. Cassell, 1941.
Stern, G. B. Benefits Forgot. Cassell, 1949.
Stern, G. B. Bouquet. Chapman and Hall, 1927.
Stern, G. B. Children of No Man’s Land. Duckworth, 1919.
Stern, G. B. He Wrote Treasure Island. Heinemann, 1954.
Stern, G. B. Johnny Forsaken. Collins, 1954.
Stern, G. B. Little Red Horses. Heinemann, 1932.
Stern, G. B. Long Lost Father. E. Benn, 1932.
Stern, G. B. Monogram. Chapman and Hall, 1936.
Kaye-Smith, Sheila, and G. B. Stern. More Talk of Jane Austen. Cassell, 1950.
Stern, G. B. No Son of Mine. Cassell, 1948.
Stern, G. B. Pantomime. Hutchinson, 1914.
Stern, G. B. Pelican Walking. Heinemann, 1934.
Stern, G. B. Promise Not to Tell. Collins, 1964.
Stern, G. B. Shining and Free. Heinemann, 1935.
Kaye-Smith, Sheila, and G. B. Stern. Talking of Jane Austen. Cassell, 1943.
Stern, G. B. Tents of Israel. Chapman and Hall, 1924.
Stern, G. B. The Augs. Heinemann, 1933.
Stern, G. B. The Dark Gentleman. Chapman and Hall, 1927.
