Vera Brittain

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Standard Name: Brittain, Vera
Birth Name: Vera Mary Brittain
From her university days before the First World War, VB was determined to be a writer. Her career as a novelist never fulfilled her own expectations; it was not until the publication of Testament of Youth, the first of her volumes combining autobiography with social and cultural history, that she achieved significant success. She also wrote both poetry and pamphlets. Much of her oeuvre is politically engaged, from her feminist journalism and social criticism of the 1920s to her pacifist writings of World War II.
Black and white, head-and-shoulders photo of Vera Brittain, looking straight at the camera, wearing a white shirt and a white scarf wrapped around her head.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Literary responses Margaret Kennedy
The novel's initial favourable reviews came from an earlier generation of authors, including George Moore , A. E. Housman , Thomas Hardy , Arnold Bennett , J. M. Barrie , and H. G. Wells ...
Literary responses Rosamond Lehmann
Some commentators, including Vera Brittain , felt this essay too clearly reflected the influence of Virginia Woolf .
Hastings, Selina. Rosamond Lehmann. Chatto and Windus, 2002.
133
Critic Ruth Siegel commends it as displaying the assertiveness characteristic of Lehmann's expository prose, which could...
Literary responses Margaret Haig Viscountess Rhondda
Virginia Woolf liked the work, but observed that MHVR was not subtle.
Woolf, Virginia. The Letters of Virginia Woolf. Editors Nicolson, Nigel and Joanne Trautmann, Hogarth Press, 1975–1980, 6 vols.
5: 167
Close friend Winifred Holtby , journalist and novelist, thought that the autobiography was splendidly free from bunk,
qtd. in
Eoff, Shirley. Viscountess Rhondda: Equalitarian Feminist. Ohio State University Press, 1991.
103
a sentiment that...
Literary responses Annie S. Swan
Among this book's admirers was Winifred Holtby , who had proffered advice from herself and Vera Brittain not to worry about reviews, and who then wrote favourable ones herself for both Good Housekeeping and Time...
Literary responses Penelope Lively
With this book PL was a second time shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
Moran, Mary Hurley. Penelope Lively. Twayne, 1993.
96
An actual biographer, Mark Bostridge , called this a fine book, and said he relished the parallels with his actual situation...
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 Jan Struther
Responses in England were more mixed. Hardly any reviewers were able to refrain from snide comment about the inaccurate representation of their country, but most added a saving clause: the film was genuinely moving. But...
Material Conditions of Writing Winifred Holtby
WH began writing this novel, which was originally titled Anlaby Wold, in 1920 while she and Vera Brittain were still students at Oxford .
Gorham, Deborah. Vera Brittain: A Feminist Life. Blackwell, 1996.
155
Occupation Muriel Box
She had in fact discussed this venture with Sydney, and he had encouraged her. She had formerly been a non-active director of his publishing company Triton Books . She was able to capitalise her new...
Occupation Kathleen E. Innes
Among those drafted to form the Mandate's Honorary Council in Britain were prominent politicians, clergy, feminists, and writers such as Margaret Ashton , Margaret Bondfield , Vera Brittain , Arthur Henderson , Laurence Housman ,...
Occupation Margaret Haig Viscountess Rhondda
Women contributors ranged widely: Rebecca West , Stella Benson , Cicely Hamilton , Members of Parliament Lady Nancy Astor and Ellen Wilkinson , Virginia Woolf , Naomi Mitchison , E. M. Delafield , Rose Macaulay
Occupation Mary Stott
Following in the footsteps of Vera Brittain and Winifred Holtby , MS became first virtual, then titular Editor of the Women's Page for the Manchester Guardian (latterly the Guardian).
Stott, Mary. Forgetting’s No Excuse. Faber and Faber, 1973.
63-4
Other Life Event Winifred Holtby
In January 1940Vera Brittain published Testament of Friendship: The Story of Winifred Holtby, an account of their friendship which continued unbroken and unspoilt for sixteen incomparable years.
Brittain, Vera, and Rosalind Delmar. Testament of Friendship. Virago, 1980.
2
Berry, Paul, and Mark Bostridge. Vera Brittain: A Life. Chatto and Windus, 1995.
337
politics Dora Russell
The Council for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons (forerunner of CND) was founded. DR was present at its inaugural meeting next day; other prominent members were Vera Brittain , Julian Huxley , J. B. Priestley
politics Dora Russell
It featured such speakers as Vera Brittain , Ethel Mannin , Naomi Mitchison , Marie Stopes , Desmond MacCarthy , Bertrand Russell , and G. B. Shaw . Papers given included DR 's Marriage and...

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