Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Edith Somerville
-
Standard Name: Somerville, Edith
Birth Name: Edith Anne Œnone Somerville
Pseudonym: Geilles Herring
Pseudonym: Viva Graham
Pseudonym: E. Œ. Somerville
Pseudonym: Somerville and Ross
ES
, who published from 1885, is known from the Somerville and Ross partnership which produced at least one important novel and a collection of classic comic stories (set in the west of Ireland and centred on fox-hunting), as well as other endearing Irish sketches and travel writings. She continued to write in these genres, mostly story and memoir, after Ross's death (which she saw as interrupting but not ending their collaboration). The later works (the last appeared in 1949) are suffused with nostalgia, and very largely dominated by the need to make money, to keep going an estate which was no longer financially viable. The massive archive of ES
's diary and letters is still almost unexamined.
"Edith Somerville" by Hulton Archive/Stringer,1916-01-01.Retrieved from https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/irish-novelist-edith-somerville-with-her-cousin-violet-news-photo/3062689.
Edith Somerville
and MR
published another novel, The Silver Fox: the title page said 1898.
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers, 1952.
253
Textual Production
Martin Ross
Edith Somerville
and MR
worked at their first novel, An Irish Cousin, which began as the Shockerawn,
qtd. in
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber, 1968.
45
a penny thriller or shocker.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber, 1968.
45, 49
Textual Production
Martin Ross
Edith Somerville
and MR
published another book, A Patrick's Day Hunt: the first edition consisted of 5,000 copies.
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers, 1952.
254
Textual Production
Martin Ross
An Irish Cousin, the first collaborative novel by Edith Somerville
(here calling herself Geilles Herring) and MR
, appeared.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber, 1968.
71
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers, 1952.
247-8
Textual Production
Martin Ross
Edith Somerville
and MR
published their third book, Through Connemara in a Governess Cart, with illustrations by W. W. Russell
based on sketches by Somerville.
A governess cart is almost tub-shaped, with high sides...
Textual Production
Martin Ross
MR
and Edith Somerville
published another hunting novel: Dan Russel the Fox: An Episode in the Life of Miss Rowan.
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers, 1952.
258
Textual Production
Maureen Duffy
One Goodnight, the first of MD
's two radio plays about the Irish writers Edith Somerville
and Martin Ross
, aired on the BBC
.
“The Knitting Circle”. London South Bank University: Lesbian and Gay Staff Association.
Textual Production
Martin Ross
Edith Somerville
and MR
published their third travel book, Beggars on Horseback: A Riding Tour in North Wales.
The title comes from the nursery rhyme which begins: If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers, 1952.
252-3
Textual Production
Oscar Wilde
Wilde shifted the magazine's focus from fashion and transformed it into an organ for women's opinions and feelings on the subjects of modern life, art, and literature, as well as style. He was also dedicated...
Textual Production
Martin Ross
Richard Bentley
commissioned MR
and Edith Somerville
for a three-volume novel, which becameThe Real Charlotte.
Cronin, John. Somerville and Ross. Bucknell University Press, 1972.
38
Textual Production
Martin Ross
Edith Somerville
and MR
finished writing their novel The Real Charlotte, which first brought them public success.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber, 1968.
98
Textual Production
Martin Ross
Edith Somerville
and MR
published, with Ward and Downey
, their most popular novel, The Real Charlotte.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber, 1968.
98, 103
Textual Production
Elizabeth Jane Howard
She was invited to do a script for an Irish film by Jonathan Cavendish
about Edith Somerville
and Martin Ross
, but when she looked into their lives she thought they lacked the dramatic structure...
Wealth and Poverty
Martin Ross
MR
made her will: she left all her worldly possessions (including her literary copyrights) to Edith Somerville
.
Collis
connects this action with her ill health; but it seems more likely to have stemmed from...