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.

Connections

Connections Sort descending Author name Excerpt
Friends, Associates Katharine Tynan
At Clarebeg they began holding a literary salon for Irish writers and intellectuals. Their guests included Irish writer Padraic Colum , his wife Mary Gunning Maguire (later an eminent literary critic), poet and novelist James Stephens
Friends, Associates Ivy Compton-Burnett
Friendship did not blossom with Woolf, whom years later ICB described to Nathalie Sarraute as a terrible snob.
Spurling, Hilary. Secrets of a Woman’s Heart. Hodder and Stoughton, 1984.
40
This was the period when Compton-Burnett was lionised after the publication of Brothers and Sisters...
Friends, Associates Rumer Godden
In London she was entertained by Una Pope Hennessy , and introduced to Rose Macaulay , though this friendship did not develop.
Godden, Rumer. A House with Four Rooms. Macmillan, 1989.
48-9
Friends, Associates Olivia Manning
OM 's friends included a number of fellow-writers: William Gerhardi , Ivy Compton-Burnett (whom she had first met before the war, at a party given by Rose Macaulay , and whose work she deeply admired),...
Friends, Associates Noel Streatfeild
NS shared her Elizabeth Street flat with another close friend, Margot Grey , whom she met in 1948 and with whom she shared a dog (as she had previously during her adult life shared a...
Friends, Associates Virginia Woolf
By the time of the move to Tavistock Square, VW began to socialize more than she had in years. She circulated with Bloomsbury familiars and (re)acquainted herself with Rebecca West , Rose Macaulay ,...
Friends, Associates G. B. Stern
GBS gave a dinner-party at Quaglino's restaurant in London for sixty-four people, including a number of the famous (whom in relating this she calls plums), such as Elinor Glyn and Rose Macaulay .
Stern, G. B. . And did he stop and speak to you?. Henry Regnery, 1958.
41-2
Friends, Associates Storm Jameson
Michael Sadleir first took Jameson to the Thursday evening salons hosted by Naomi Royde-Smith at her Queen's Gate home. These gatherings were attended by Rose Macaulay , Arnold Bennett , Edward Marsh , and Frank Swinnerton
Friends, Associates Freya Stark
After her long recovery, FS continued to enjoy her popularity in London society. Sir Sydney Cockerell , director of Cambridge 's Fitzwilliam Museum , became a friend. She was introduced to Virginia Woolf , Rose Macaulay
Intertextuality and Influence Susan Tweedsmuir
She introduces these essays with a reminder from Rose Macaulay that the Edwardians were a mixed lot . . . . merely a set of individuals, not to be lumped together under generalising adjectives.
qtd. in
Tweedsmuir, Susan. The Edwardian Lady. G. Duckworth, 1966.
prelims
Literary responses Stella Benson
Forty-six years after Benson's death, Naomi Mitchison acknowledged that her work had ceased being read, that her fantasy was misunderstood as whimsy. She felt, however, that in 1979 a revival was due.
Mitchison, Naomi. You May Well Ask: A Memoir 1920-1940. Gollancz, 1979.
127
It is...
Literary responses Ethel Sidgwick
ES 's interest in the interaction of different national cultures, and in the issue of what it means to be English, caused some commentators to liken her to Henry James . R. Brimley Johnson in...
Literary responses Lady Margaret Sackville
Whitney Womack has recently written that LMS 's war poetry should be read alongside the war poetry of Rupert Brooke , Edward Thomas , Wilfred Owen , Siegfried Sassoon , and Isaac Rosenberg , as...
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, 2004.
107
The Times Literary Supplement welcomed with joy a novel where the...
Literary responses Mary Wesley
Early praise for MW 's work came from such different writers as Marghanita Laski and Susan Hill . Other commentators likened her work to that of Rose Macaulay , Elizabeth Bowen , Barbara Pym ...

Timeline

No timeline events available.

Texts

Macaulay, Rose. The Making of a Bigot. Hodder and Stoughton, 1914.
Macaulay, Rose. The Towers of Trebizond. Collins, 1956.
Macaulay, Rose. The Two Blind Countries. Sidgwick and Jackson, 1914.
Macaulay, Rose. The World My Wilderness. Collins, 1950.
Macaulay, Rose. The Writings of E. M. Forster. Hogarth Press, 1938.
Macaulay, Rose. They Went to Portugal. Jonathan Cape, 1946.
Macaulay, Rose. They Were Defeated. Collins, 1932.
Macaulay, Rose. Three Days. Constable, 1919.
Macaulay, Rose. Told By an Idiot. Collins.
Macaulay, Rose. Views and Vagabonds. John Murray, 1912.
Macaulay, Rose. What Not: A Prophetic Comedy. Constable, 1918.