Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Henrik Ibsen
-
Standard Name: Ibsen, Henrik
The plays of Henrik Ibsen
, nineteenth-century Norwegian poet and dramatist, were both controversial and enormously influential in Britain; their use of realist techniques to address contemporary social problems helped to bring about a revolution in English drama. Elizabeth Robins
and Florence Farr
played important roles in getting his plays staged in England, and Robins interpreted his characters on stage. After the 1889 production of A Doll's House in London, British feminists claimed Ibsen as an ally, and his name became closely associated with New Woman writers such as George Egerton
and Mona Caird
. Githa Sowerby
and Elizabeth Baker
were among the many dramatists influenced by his work.
GE
's realism was influenced by the Scandinavian authors she had read while living in Norway, including Ibsen
, Strindberg
, and Björnson
.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
Ledger, Sally. The New Woman. Manchester University Press.
193-4
Mix, Katherine Lyon. A Study in Yellow: <span data-tei-ns-tag="tei_title" data-tei-title-lvl="j">The Yellow Book</span> and Its Contributors. Greenwood Press.
173
Yet her work was also informed by the...
Intertextuality and Influence
U. A. Fanthorpe
The title is ironical, the houses concerned being damaged in the blitz, or such famous fictional dwellings as Ibsen
's Doll's House and Dunsinane Castle in Shakespeare
's Macbeth.
Wainwright, Eddie. Taking Stock, A First Study of the Poetry of U.A. Fanthorpe. Peterloo Poets.
89
Occupation
Florence Farr
At Shaw's bidding and with his assistance, FF
began taking roles associated with the New Drama. He persuaded her to take the role of Rebecca in Ibsen
's Rosmersholm, and coached her to...
Characters
Florence Farr
The Dancing Faun combines elements of melodrama, social realism, and comedy of manners.Grace Travers falls victim to her husband George's schemes to make a fortune by regaining entry into high society through deception and blackmail...
Theme or Topic Treated in Text
Florence Farr
One piece critiques Shaw
's clinical treatment of his female models: [H]e seats her in a dentist's chair, puts a gag in her mouth, isolates a tooth as ruthlessly as any dentist and then takes...
Fictionalization
Florence Farr
Ezra Pound
refers to FF
in Canto XXVIII as Loica (i.e. Shaw's Louka): So Loica went out and died there [Ceylon] / After her time in the post-Ibsen
movement.
Pound, Ezra. The Cantos of Ezra Pound. New Directions.
136
Several critics believe Farr...
Leisure and Society
Kate Parry Frye
When in London KPF
enjoyed going to the theatre, often with John Robert Collins
. She loved Votes for Women! by Elizabeth Robins
in April 1907, thought Ibsen
's A Doll's House splendid in March...
Performance of text
Pam Gems
PG
's adaptation of Ibsen
's A Doll's House was first performed at Tyne Wear Theatre
in Newcastle.
Aston, Elaine. “Pam Gems: Body Politics and Biography”. The Cambridge Companion to Modern British Women Playwrights, edited by Elaine Aston and Janelle Reinelt, Cambridge University Press, pp. 157-73.
171
Family and Intimate relationships
Sarah Grand
In 1896 SG
described her two stepsons, one of whom was only six years younger than her, as the greatest friends I have in the world.
Grand, Sarah. Sex, Social Purity and Sarah Grand: Volume 1. Editor Heilmann, Ann, Routledge.
281
Both of them joined the armed forces, and...
Education
H. D.
Following her withdrawal from Bryn Mawr, HD (with Pound
's assistance) embarked on an intensive independent study programme that lasted for five years. During this period she read and studied writers such as William Morris
Education
Mary Agnes Hamilton
Women were permitted to attend lectures at Kiel only by express permission from each professor involved. Mary Agnes improved her German, learned a great deal about ancient Greece, and also saw productions of most of...
Textual Features
Beatrice Harraden
It is no wonder that reference books seem divided as to whether this novel depicts an oppressive marriage or an escape from one. BH
's representation of a marriage of this sort is so exaggerated...
Textual Features
Barbara Hofland
Although written for young people, this is a powerful critique of the Romantic (and gendered) concept of genius. It opens as Mrs Lewis is being blamed as the cruel controller of Genius she could not...
Textual Features
Violet Hunt
VH
's central character here is Phoebe Elles, described by Barbara Belford
as a British version of Flaubert
's Madame Bovary.
Belford, Barbara. Violet. Simon and Schuster.
108
Phoebe is unhappily married to (and soon leaves) her abusive husband Mortimer; looking...
Occupation
Naomi Jacob
Briefly back in London in 1944, she returned to the stage as the mother of a troupe of performing acrobats in a stage adaptation of Margery Sharp
's novel The Nutmeg Tree.
Bailey, Paul. Three Queer Lives: An Alternative Biography of Fred Barnes, Naomi Jacob and Arthur Marshall. Hamish Hamilton (Penguin).
