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.
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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)
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, 1998.
6
she supported her companion (later...
Reception
Edith Somerville
It was well reviewed, without mention of its spiritualist sources.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber, 1968.
251
But sales were again disappointing.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber, 1968.
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, 1968.
Hastings, Selina. Rosamond Lehmann. Chatto and Windus, 2002.
240-1
Textual Features
Storm Jameson
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...
Textual Features
Dorothy Whipple
DW
also presents, with deliberate naivete, the ups and downs of her own career: her high points and failures of confidence. As her confidence grows, her narrative embraces funny anecdotes, moving moments, penetrating insights, and...
Rose Macaulay
had brought ICB
to Gollancz's notice. He was known for unconventional and forceful advertising. He sold Daughters and Sons to the US publisher W. W. Norton
, though it was far outside their...
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, 1997.
SG
's literary criticism for The Lady includes a number of articles on women writers. One piece criticises Rose Macaulay
for her small range and lack of subtlety. Another praises Virginia Woolf
as a giant...
Textual Production
Joanna Trollope
JT
supplied an introduction to Rose Macaulay
's The Towers of Trebizond for a handsome edition published by the Folio Society
in 2005.