Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Rose Macaulay
-
Standard Name: Macaulay, Rose
Birth Name: Emilie Rose Macaulay
RM
was highly prolific, publishing during the earlier half of the twentieth century twenty-three novels and two volumes of poetry, as well as three books of short stories, several historical and travel narratives, and works of literary criticism. Several volumes of her personal letters have been printed. She made many appearances on the BBC
and published scores of articles. Valued perhaps chiefly for its satire and wit, her writing shows impressive political complexity and understanding, and her skill at characterisation is noteworthy. In her early works one may feel that her satire is defensive: that she uses mockery to hold off painful involvement. Her treatment of religious issues and characters demonstrates her long struggle with and engagement in established religion. She continually pokes fun at people heavily invested in causes or movements; but the choice of a cause is one of her favourite topics, sometimes handled with poignancy rather than burlesque.
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The publication of her seventh novel marked her move from Heinemann
to Cassell
. Virago
reissued this novel as part of its Modern Classics series in 1981 with an introduction by Kennedy's author-daughter, Julia Birley
Leonardi, Susan J. Dangerous by Degrees: Women at Oxford and the Somerville College Novelists. Rutgers University Press, 1989.
57
Friends, Associates
Noel Streatfeild
NS
shared her Elizabeth Street flat with another close friend, Margot Grey
, whom she met in 1948 and with whom she shared a dog (as she had previously during her adult life shared a...
Friends, Associates
Rumer Godden
In London she was entertained by Una Pope Hennessy
, and introduced to Rose Macaulay
, though this friendship did not develop.
Godden, Rumer. A House with Four Rooms. Macmillan, 1989.
Grant, Joy. Stella Benson: A Biography. Macmillan, 1987.
239
Friends, Associates
Olivia Manning
OM
's friends included a number of fellow-writers: William Gerhardi
, Ivy Compton-Burnett
(whom she had first met before the war, at a party given by Rose Macaulay
, and whose work she deeply admired),...
Friends, Associates
Katharine Tynan
At Clarebeg they began holding a literary salon for Irish writers and intellectuals. Their guests included Irish writer Padraic Colum
, his wife Mary Gunning Maguire
(later an eminent literary critic), poet and novelist James Stephens
Friends, Associates
Theodora Benson
TB
enjoyed a wide circle of friends both literary and non-literary. The former included Rose Macaulay
and Howard Spring
. She met her future collaborator Betty Askwith
(daughter of an old friend of her mother's)...
Friends, Associates
Helen Waddell
Friends from HW
's time at Somerville
included Maude Clarke
, whom she had known as a child and whose Oxford position had been one of the incentives to go there, and archaelogist Helen Lorimer
Through her old headmistress, EB
met Rose Macaulay
, who introduced her to Naomi Royde-Smith
. Royde-Smith helped her to get the first of her writing into print.
Hoogland, Renée C. Elizabeth Bowen: A Reputation in Writing. New York University Press, 1994.
NRS
was a close friend of Rose Macaulay
, with whom in the immediate postwar period she shared entertaining duties at her flat, in something similar to a salon. They apparently met through Macaulay contributing...
Friends, Associates
Naomi Royde-Smith
Woolf
, going to a party there on 5 June 1921, disliked Royde-Smith and her world at first sight. Never did I see a less attractive woman than Naomi. . . .I fixed her with...
Friends, Associates
Elizabeth Jenkins
In her day EJ
knew most of the London literary world. She met Agatha Christie
, whom she described as the most elegantly dressed elderly woman I have ever seen.
Jenkins, Elizabeth. The View from Downshire Hill. Michael Johnson, 2004.
148
She counted among her...
Timeline
1661
John Evelyn
published a pamphlet entitled Fumifugium: or, The Inconvenience of the Aer and Smoake of London Dissipated; a reprint by the National Smoke Abatement Society
in 1933 has an introduction by Rose Macaulay
.
1904
Madame C. de Broutelles
founded the Prix Femina Vie Heureuse, a prestigious French literary prize awarded by a jury of twelve women. A. Mary F. Robinson
(an English writer living in France) was a co-founder.
8 August 1914
Early in the Great War the Defence of the Realm Act (later known as DORA) passed the House of Commons
without debate, giving the government special powers.
1928
The poet Edmund Blunden
published his memoirUndertones of War, which, with a number of works issued the following year, have been granted canonical status as imaginative accounts of the First World War.