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.
She and Vera Brittain
regularly attended the League of Nations Assembly
in Geneva. In 1924 they went on a lecture tour of Central Europe for the Union.
Shaw, Marion. The Clear Stream: A Life of Winifred Holtby. Virago.
112-13
Berry, Paul, and Mark Bostridge. Vera Brittain: A Life. Chatto and Windus.
WH
credited Vera Brittain
with making her a feminist during their years at Oxford. Before then, Winifred claimed that her mother's strong presence within her family had left her unaware that women suffered social and...
She became an activist for pacifism, a movement in which she played many roles. She joined the Union for Democratic Control
, whose meetings were soon being held at her home (and whose members included...
EPL
went to prison at least five more times over the course of her fight for female suffrage. She did not suffer from claustrophobia or anxiety in later imprisonments; on the contrary, at times she...
politics
Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence
Christabel Pankhurst
had escaped imprisonment by going into hiding in Paris. The Pethick-Lawrences were released on bail on 28 March, and their trial was set for 15 May. It ran until 22 May. The...
politics
Mary Stott
She scorned much of the debate as waffle but admired the clear, warm voice and the lucid, rational analysis offered by Shirley Williams
(daughter of Vera Brittain
). Sitting with other, mostly young women in...
politics
Margaret Haig, Viscountess Rhondda
The group's agenda was to obtain legislative improvements in child-assault laws, the position of unmarried mothers, equality of both parents in guardianship rights, equal pay for teachers, equal civic service opportunities for women and men...
Author summary
May Cannan
MC
was a war poet in and shortly after the First World War. In her (posthumously published) autobiography she performs, from a different viewpoint, something of the same function as Vera Brittain
as the historian...
Publishing
Dorothy Whipple
DW
must have been writing and publishing stories before her first novel appeared, since she was working on High Wages when her Miss Boddy was printed in Everyman and she recorded it as her first...
Publishing
Storm Jameson
SJ
reviewed her friend Vera Brittain
's Testament of Youth for the Sunday Times.
Gorham, Deborah. Vera Brittain: A Feminist Life. Blackwell.
2, 269
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...
