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 letter challenged a recent antisuffragist manifesto, and stressed three points from Prime Minister Asquith
's statement to suffragists of 14 August. The points were that women had rendered as effective service to their country...
Literary responses
Rosamond Lehmann
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...
Hastings, Selina. Rosamond Lehmann. Chatto and Windus.
240-1
Textual Production
Margery Lawrence
ML
's ghost stories have been frequently anthologised. They appear in, for instance, Fifty Strangest Stories Ever Told (1937), The Virago
Book of Ghost Stories: The Twentieth Century (1987), and Vampire Stories (1993).
Clute, John, and John Grant, editors. The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. St Martin’s Press.
The publication of her seventh novel marked her move from Heinemann
to Cassell
. Virago
reissued this novel as part of its Modern Classics series in 1981 with an introduction by Kennedy's author-daughter, Julia Birley
In her day EJ
knew most of the London literary world. She met Agatha Christie
, whom she described as the most elegantly dressed elderly woman I have ever seen.
Jenkins, Elizabeth. The View from Downshire Hill. Michael Johnson.
148
She counted among her...
Literary responses
Elizabeth Jenkins
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...
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)
Textual Production
Storm Jameson
Jameson had been approached by the Ministry of Information
once the USA had entered World War II, for suggestions on how to cement Anglo-American relations.
Jameson, Storm. Journey from the North. Harper and Row.
Janet Montefiore
has noted that in A Cup of Tea for Mr. Thorgill Jameson included a rancorous portrait of Rebecca West
in the character of Retta Spencer-Savage, a celebrated anti-Communist writer who has built her...
Literary responses
Nina Hamnett
The first Times reviewer of her exhibition at the Claridge Gallery
in Brook Street, London in 1926 wrote that her art resembled Rose Macaulay
's writing in showing no illusions and but few prejudices, and...