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.
Usborne, Karen. "Elizabeth": The Author of Elizabeth and Her German Garden. Bodley Head.
275, 287, 290
Reception
Edith Somerville
It was well reviewed, without mention of its spiritualist sources.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
251
But sales were again disappointing.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
255
The issue of spiritualism, however, led ES
into argument with Rose Macaulay
in the columns of Time and Tide.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
252
politics
Mary Butts
MB
was a pacifist who sympathised strongly with the position of conscientious objectors. Believing that conscription was a sign of the collective insanity that has come over the world,
Blondel, Nathalie. Mary Butts: Scenes from the Life. McPherson & Company.
Williams-Ellis, Amabel. All Stracheys Are Cousins. Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
153
politics
Marie Belloc Lowndes
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...
politics
Phyllis Bottome
After the war, PB
continued to be politically active, often writing letters to the editor of the Times on subjects like liberalism and human rights in South Africa. In the issue dated 14 December 1951...
politics
Storm Jameson
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)
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...
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
Ivy Compton-Burnett
Of this novel ICB
wrote, I have never had such superficial reviews.
Spurling, Hilary. Secrets of a Woman’s Heart. Hodder and Stoughton.
Meanwhile the Times Literary Supplement saw the novel as well-written—evidently the work of a woman. The reviewer judged that as a frank and sympathetic study of certain types of mind and character, it is of...