Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Sir J. M. Barrie
-
Standard Name: Barrie, Sir J. M.
Used Form: Sir James Barrie
Used Form: Sir James Matthew Barrie
SJMB
began his career in the late nineteenth century as a journalist, then moved to short stories, then novels, then plays. Those of his plays which survive in the repertoire, for professionals or amateurs, all involve departures from actuality, and purposeful suspension of the laws of space and time. Far and away the most famous, the basis of Barrie's continuing fame, is the adult play which became a children's classic, Peter Pan.
The play presents a woman torn between marriage and her career as a dancer. Influenced probably by J. M. Barrie
and J. B. Priestley
, it presents two alternative outcomes, with the second act tracing...
Textual Features
Jean Ingelow
In the fantastic style rather like that of Lewis Carroll
(whose first Alice book appeared in 1865), JI
abandons her formerly didactic tone and presents a whimsical world of imagination inhabited by fairies, gypsies, and...
Textual Features
A. S. Byatt
The author at the heart of this story is a children's writer, Olive Wellwood, who is married to a wealthy banker and lives in a Kentish farmhouse strangely called Todefright. The actual Edith Nesbit
,...
Textual Features
Winifred Peck
The story opens with a young man returning from the First World War and ends with young people returning from the second. At the outset seventeen-year-old Miranda Rae, living in Devon with her family, receives...
Residence
Lady Cynthia Asquith
Though Clouds was rich in memories for LCA
, she actually grew up in Stanway House, north-east of Winchcombe in Gloucestershire. This was, she wrote, my very own home—the core of the world so...
Reception
Mary Augusta Ward
MAW
's meticulous character study and tragic love story is sometimes considered her best novel. It was positively received by George Meredith
, Sir J. M. Barrie
, and Henry James. James
wrote to her...
Publishing
Lady Cynthia Asquith
She was persuaded to write these memoirs by Jimmie or James Barrie
, nephew of her late employer Sir James Barrie
, as a text for his recently-launched publishing firm
.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
Publishing
Annie S. Swan
Sir James Barrie
selected ASS
as the chief contributor to this new women's magazine.
Though library catalogues list her as editor, her autobiography says that Barrie selected her not as editor, a job she would...
Publishing
Angela Thirkell
AT
, in Australia and pressed for both money and occupation, began writing seriously for publication by placing An Interview with J. M. Barrie in The Forum (on the women's page).
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
Author summary
Daisy Ashford
Daisy Ashford
was an avid writer as a child. She became famous when she rediscovered a novella she wrote at the age of nine, The Young Visiters, and it was published with a preface...
Performance of text
Cicely Hamilton
An earlier version involving tableaux had been given at Caxton Hall in February this year. The Scala production was sponsored by the Actresses' Franchise League
. The cast included Ellen Terry
, Lillah McCarthy
,...
Occupation
Kate Parry Frye
After seeing Pinero
's Trelawney of the Wells, KPF
recorded in her diary her longing, if only she had talent, to have a try at the one profession I love the best—going on...
Occupation
Kate Parry Frye
KPF
was often on tour while she was an actress, just as she was later as a suffrage organizer. She toured in plays by J. M. Barrie
in 1903 and again in August and September...
Occupation
Cicely Hamilton
This role led to several more in productions of plays by George Meredith
, J. M. Barrie
, and others.
Whitelaw, Lis. The Life and Rebellious Times of Cicely Hamilton. Women’s Press.
131-2
Occupation
Lady Cynthia Asquith
During the war LCA
received the last of three successive offers of significant acting roles, despite her total lack of dramatic training. Towards Christmas 1909 she had taken part in a charity production at the...
