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.
The novel was criticised by some for its exclusively upper-middle-class reach—a view which was energetically countered by Rose Macaulay
on a radio programme.
Jenkins, Elizabeth. The View from Downshire Hill. Michael Johnson.
107
The Times Literary Supplement welcomed with joy a novel where the...
Literary responses
Ethel Sidgwick
ES
's interest in the interaction of different national cultures, and in the issue of what it means to be English, caused some commentators to liken her to Henry James
. R. Brimley Johnson
in...
Literary responses
Ivy Compton-Burnett
Of this novel ICB
wrote, I have never had such superficial reviews.
Spurling, Hilary. Secrets of a Woman’s Heart. Hodder and Stoughton.
Meanwhile the Times Literary Supplement saw the novel as well-written—evidently the work of a woman. The reviewer judged that as a frank and sympathetic study of certain types of mind and character, it is of...
Leonard Woolf
(in the The Nation and Athenæum on 10 September 1927), Desmond MacCarthy
, Arnold Bennett
, and Rose Macaulay
all had more or less serious reservations about the book: Macaulay used very readable...
Literary responses
Pat Barker
Reviewer Lara Feigel
found that PB
's allusions to actual, historical people (Paul sharing sentiments, his place of work, the circumstances of his falling in love, with Graham Greene
; Elinor owing something to Elizabeth Bowen
Literary responses
Rumer Godden
One reviewer wrote, [t]here is not enough meat on this book for the library cat,
Chisholm, Anne. Rumer Godden, A Storyteller’s Life. Pan Books.
200
but Una Pope Hennessy
and Rose Macaulay
told RG
that it ought to have won the Hawthornden Prize.
Chisholm, Anne. Rumer Godden, A Storyteller’s Life. Pan Books.
After the war, PB
continued to be politically active, often writing letters to the editor of the Times on subjects like liberalism and human rights in South Africa. In the issue dated 14 December 1951...
politics
Storm Jameson
Guests included Rebecca West
and Rose Macaulay
. This event led to the publication of the anthology Challenge to Death: A Symposium on War and Peace (1934)
politics
Mary Butts
MB
was a pacifist who sympathised strongly with the position of conscientious objectors. Believing that conscription was a sign of the collective insanity that has come over the world,
Blondel, Nathalie. Mary Butts: Scenes from the Life. McPherson & Company.
