Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Vera Brittain
-
Standard Name: Brittain, Vera
Birth Name: Vera Mary Brittain
From her university days before the First World War, VB
was determined to be a writer. Her career as a novelist never fulfilled her own expectations; it was not until the publication of Testament of Youth, the first of her volumes combining autobiography with social and cultural history, that she achieved significant success. She also wrote both poetry and pamphlets. Much of her oeuvre is politically engaged, from her feminist journalism and social criticism of the 1920s to her pacifist writings of World War II.
Woolf, Virginia. The Letters of Virginia Woolf. Editors Nicolson, Nigel and Joanne Trautmann, Hogarth Press.
5: 167
Close friend Winifred Holtby
, journalist and novelist, thought that the autobiography was splendidly free from bunk,
Eoff, Shirley. Viscountess Rhondda: Equalitarian Feminist. Ohio State University Press.
103
a sentiment that...
Friends, Associates
Rose Macaulay
In 1921 RM
was spending several nights a week in a room she rented in the large house of writer Naomi Royde-Smith
at 44 Prince's Gardens, Kensington.
Emery, Jane. Rose Macaulay: A Writer’s Life. John Murray.
191
Babington Smith, Constance. Rose Macaulay. Collins.
100
Chosen by Royde-Smith as a...
Literary responses
Penelope Lively
With this book PL
was a second time shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
Moran, Mary Hurley. Penelope Lively. Twayne.
96
An actual biographer, Mark Bostridge
, called this a fine book, and said he relished the parallels with his actual situation...
Literary responses
Rosamond Lehmann
Some commentators, including Vera Brittain
, felt this essay too clearly reflected the influence of Virginia Woolf
.
Hastings, Selina. Rosamond Lehmann. Chatto and Windus.
133
Critic Ruth Siegel
commends it as displaying the assertiveness characteristic of Lehmann's expository prose, which could...
Education
Margaret Kennedy
With the onset of war, the town had largely been emptied of male students, making women a more visible presence around the university. Somerville had a tradition of turning out successful women writers; in entering...
EJ
was mildly satirical about the left-wing and anti-monarchical tendencies of Naomi Mitchison
(a well-known author of the times)
Jenkins, Elizabeth. The View from Downshire Hill. Michael Johnson.
105
and the allegedly somewhat self-important Vera Brittain
(who, felt Jenkins, had let the...
Publishing
Storm Jameson
The plans for this publication were set in motion at a dinner party at the Wellington Club, hosted by Viscount Cecil
and organized primarily by Jameson and Philip Noel-Baker
. SJ
also edited the...
Literary responses
Storm Jameson
The appearance of Europe to Let struck a blow at SJ
's in any case faltering friendship with Vera Brittain
. They quarrelled over the character Olga (Johnson) Stehlík in The Hour of Prague...
Literary responses
Storm Jameson
This text delivered a final blow to SJ
's long and close friendship with Vera Brittain
(who had dedicated her political England's Hour to Jameson only that February). Not only did Brittain remain a staunch...
Textual Features
Storm Jameson
Throughout this work SJ
glosses over such events as marriage, divorce, and illness in favour of examining her psychology and behaviour, her struggle to balance motherhood and a public career, the value of creative writing...
Friends, Associates
Storm Jameson
SJ
wrote to Vera Brittain
(who had recently reviewed her), thereby initiating a close friendship which, however, was neither wholly relaxed nor in the long run lasting. Jameson and Winifred Holtby
, both Yorkshirewomen, more...
Friends, Associates
Storm Jameson
SJ
invited Vera Brittain
live with her and her sister's family at Heathfield, the house they had taken at Mortimer in Berkshire. Brittain accepted, and stayed about ten weeks.
Berry, Paul, and Mark Bostridge. Vera Brittain: A Life. Chatto and Windus.
