Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Sylvia Townsend Warner
-
Standard Name: Warner, Sylvia Townsend
Birth Name: Sylvia Nora Townsend Warner
STW
once commented that her career in writing was an accidental one, as her initial career was in musicology. However, she was very prolific for more than fifty years of the twentieth century over a considerable range of genres, including poetry, fourteen volumes of short stories, journal articles, radio plays, seven novels, biographies, and translations. Her letters and diaries have been published as well. Her fiction often explores supernatural themes and the twists of human psychology. She has been particularly praised for her short stories about middle-class characters, mainly women: for acute observation, clarity, precision, simplicity, and originality of language and of imagery.
VA
finished writing her painful confessional memoir, For Sylvia: An Honest Account, and gave it to her lifelong partner, Sylvia Townsend Warner
.
Ackland, Valentine. For Sylvia: An Honest Account. Chatto and Windus.
29
Harman, Claire. Sylvia Townsend Warner: A Biography. Chatto and Windus.
226
Textual Production
Valentine Ackland
Not until 1998 were any of VA
's letters published. In that year about a third of the huge correspondence exchanged between her and her longtime lover was published as I'll Stand By You: Selected...
Publishing
Valentine Ackland
For Sylvia: An Honest Account, VA
's confessional memoir, was finally published by Chatto and Windus
, after the deaths of both Ackland and Sylvia Townsend Warner
, with a foreword by Bea Howe
.
Harman, Claire. Sylvia Townsend Warner: A Biography. Chatto and Windus.
Twenty-Eight Poems, a small collection of VA
's poems, was prepared and privately printed by Sylvia Townsend Warner
.
Harman, Claire. Sylvia Townsend Warner: A Biography. Chatto and Windus.
267
Publishing
Valentine Ackland
The year after VA
's death, a booklet of her poems, titled Later Poems, was privately printed by Sylvia Townsend Warner
as a keepsake for friends .
Harman, Claire. Sylvia Townsend Warner: A Biography. Chatto and Windus.
307
Publishing
Valentine Ackland
A substantial collection of VA
's poems, edited by Sylvia Townsend Warner
, was published posthumously as The Nature of the Moment.
Harman, Claire. Sylvia Townsend Warner: A Biography. Chatto and Windus.
307
Author summary
Valentine Ackland
VA
published very little in her lifetime, and has gone largely unrecognised since. Her lifelong partner, Sylvia Townsend Warner
, was very supportive of Ackland and helped her to get her writing into print. This...
Ackland, Valentine. For Sylvia: An Honest Account. Chatto and Windus.
76
They remained lovers during Ackland's marriage, and their relationship lasted until she fell in love with Sylvia Townsend Warner
.
Ackland, Valentine. For Sylvia: An Honest Account. Chatto and Windus.
73
Mulford, Wendy. This Narrow Place. Pandora.
20-1
Residence
Valentine Ackland
In 1937, Ackland and Warner
moved to Lower Frome Vauchurch on the river Frome, near Maiden Newton, where they lived for the rest of their lives.
Mulford, Wendy. This Narrow Place. Pandora.
40-3
Early in the Second World War, from...
Family and Intimate relationships
Valentine Ackland
VA
and Sylvia Townsend Warner
committed themselves to each other in a lesbian marriage.
Harman, Claire. Sylvia Townsend Warner: A Biography. Chatto and Windus.
111
Family and Intimate relationships
Valentine Ackland
The three women had done political work together during the Spanish Civil War. VA
's relationship with Sylvia Townsend Warner
became increasingly strained as a result of this affair with White, which continued for more...
Residence
Valentine Ackland
VA
and Sylvia Townsend Warner
lived in Miss Green's cottage at Chaldon Herring.
Mulford, Wendy. This Narrow Place. Pandora.
35
Family and Intimate relationships
Valentine Ackland
Sylvia Townsend Warner
, who had originally bought the house, wished not to pressure VA
, but to allow her the freedom to choose whom she preferred as a partner. She moved out to live...
Family and Intimate relationships
Valentine Ackland
VA
began an intimate relationship with Elizabeth Wade White
, a young American friend of both Ackland and Sylvia Townsend Warner
.
Harman, Claire. Sylvia Townsend Warner: A Biography. Chatto and Windus.
18 July 1936: The Spanish Civil War began between the Republicans...
National or international item
18 July 1936
The Spanish Civil War began between the Republicans (including Communists) and the Fascists led by Francisco Franco
.
May 1978: Virago Press issued its first Virago Modern...
Women writers item
May 1978
Virago Press
issued its first Virago Modern Classics, a historically important series most though not all of which were novels.
Texts
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. A Garland of Straw, and Other Stories. Chatto and Windus, 1943.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. A Moral Ending, and Other Stories. William Jackson, 1931.
Huguenin, Jean René. A Place of Shipwreck. Translator Warner, Sylvia Townsend, Chatto and Windus, 1963.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. A Spirit Rises. Chatto and Windus, 1962.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. A Stranger With a Bag, and Other Stories. Chatto and Windus, 1966.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. After the Death of Don Juan. Chatto and Windus, 1938.
Harman, Claire, and Sylvia Townsend Warner. “Afterword”. Sylvia Townsend Warner: Selected Poems, Carcanet Press, 1985, p. 95.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. Azrael, and Other Poems. Libanus Press, 1978.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend, and Reynolds Stone. Boxwood. Monotype Corporation, 1957.
Proust, Marcel. By Way of Sainte-Beuve. Translator Warner, Sylvia Townsend, Chatto and Windus, 1958.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend, and Valentine Ackland. “Editor’s Note”. I’ll Stand By You: Selected Letters of Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland, edited by Susanna Pinney, Pimlico, 1998, p. vii - viii.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. “Editorial Materials”. Sylvia Townsend Warner: Collected Poems, edited by Claire Harman, Carcanet New Press, 1982, pp. xi - xxiii; 275.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend, and Valentine Ackland. I’ll Stand By You: Selected Letters of Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland. Editor Pinney, Susanna, Pimlico, 1998.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. “Introduction”. Letters: Sylvia Townsend Warner, edited by William Maxwell, Chatto and Windus, 1982, p. vii - xvii.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend, and David Garnett. “Introduction and Editorial Materials”. Sylvia and David: The Townsend Warner / Garnett Letters, edited by Richard Garnett, Sinclair-Stevenson, 1994, p. various pages.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. Jane Austen, 1775-1817. Longmans, Green, 1951.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. King Duffus, and Other Poems. Clare, Son and Company, 1968.
Ackland, Valentine. Later Poems. Editor Warner, Sylvia Townsend, Privately printed by Clare, Son, 1970.