Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Sylvia Townsend Warner
-
Standard Name: Warner, Sylvia Townsend
Birth Name: Sylvia Nora Townsend Warner
STW
once commented that her career in writing was an accidental one, as her initial career was in musicology. However, she was very prolific for more than fifty years of the twentieth century over a considerable range of genres, including poetry, fourteen volumes of short stories, journal articles, radio plays, seven novels, biographies, and translations. Her letters and diaries have been published as well. Her fiction often explores supernatural themes and the twists of human psychology. She has been particularly praised for her short stories about middle-class characters, mainly women: for acute observation, clarity, precision, simplicity, and originality of language and of imagery.
The issues of religion and politics caused great unhappiness between Ackland and her lifelong partner, Sylvia Townsend Warner
, almost destroying their relationship. Ackland became increasingly right-wing, and their political views diverged sharply.
Mulford, Wendy. This Narrow Place. Pandora, 1988.
234-5
Dedications
Valentine Ackland
VA
, with Sylvia Townsend Warner
, published Whether a Dove or Seagull, a collection of love poems.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. “Editorial Materials”. Sylvia Townsend Warner: Collected Poems, edited by Claire Harman, Carcanet New Press, 1982, pp. xi - xxiii; 275.
xix-xx
Harman, Claire. Sylvia Townsend Warner: A Biography. Chatto and Windus, 1989.
Ackland, Valentine. For Sylvia: An Honest Account. Chatto and Windus, 1985.
76
They remained lovers during Ackland's marriage, and their relationship lasted until she fell in love with Sylvia Townsend Warner
.
Ackland, Valentine. For Sylvia: An Honest Account. Chatto and Windus, 1985.
73
Mulford, Wendy. This Narrow Place. Pandora, 1988.
20-1
Family and Intimate relationships
Valentine Ackland
VA
and Sylvia Townsend Warner
committed themselves to each other in a lesbianmarriage.
Harman, Claire. Sylvia Townsend Warner: A Biography. Chatto and Windus, 1989.
111
Family and Intimate relationships
Valentine Ackland
The three women had done political work together during the Spanish Civil War. VA
's relationship with Sylvia Townsend Warner
became increasingly strained as a result of this affair with White, which continued for more...
Family and Intimate relationships
Valentine Ackland
Sylvia Townsend Warner
, who had originally bought the house, wished not to pressure VA
, but to allow her the freedom to choose whom she preferred as a partner. She moved out to live...
Family and Intimate relationships
Valentine Ackland
VA
began an intimate relationship with Elizabeth Wade White
, a young American friend of both Ackland and Sylvia Townsend Warner
.
Harman, Claire. Sylvia Townsend Warner: A Biography. Chatto and Windus, 1989.
176ff
Family and Intimate relationships
Valentine Ackland
VA
lived with her lover, Elizabeth Wade White
, in the same house that Ackland had shared with Sylvia Townsend Warner
for many years at Lower Frome Vauchurch.
Mulford, Wendy. This Narrow Place. Pandora, 1988.
173
Harman, Claire. Sylvia Townsend Warner: A Biography. Chatto and Windus, 1989.
228-9, 234
Intertextuality and Influence
Sarah Waters
SW
puts in puts in something like a regular work day when writing, but keeps going to all hours when re-writing. Despite her success, she still finds the process largely torture. And yet [s]tarting...
Intertextuality and Influence
Elizabeth Taylor
As a child Betty Coles (later ET
) wrote plays (with very short scenes each demanding a new and elaborate setting) and stories. She said she always wanted to be a novelist.
qtd. in
Leclercq, Florence. Elizabeth Taylor. Twayne, 1985.
2
At twelve...
Literary responses
Mary Butts
Although her work received mixed reviews, MB
was generally recognized as an important if eccentric literary figure during her lifetime, and she was highly praised by other modernist writers, including Ezra Pound
, Marianne Moore
Literary responses
Naomi Royde-Smith
Askwith
(herself a published writer) defended NRS
in the columns of The Times soon after the latter's death. She ranked The Delicate Situation as a novel likely to survive, and likened it to other works...
Literary Setting
Valentine Ackland
The book extended ideas covered in her articles for the Left Review.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend, and Valentine Ackland. I’ll Stand By You: Selected Letters of Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland. Editor Pinney, Susanna, Pimlico, 1998.
141n1
The text's downtrodden family was based on tenants living at East Chaldon with Ackland and Sylvia Townsend Warner
. Ackland added...
Occupation
Valentine Ackland
VA
opened an antique shop in Lower Frome Vauchurch, where she lived with Sylvia Townsend Warner
.
Mulford, Wendy. This Narrow Place. Pandora, 1988.
234
politics
Valentine Ackland
VA
and Warner
joined the Communist Party
, believing, like many of their contemporaries, that Communism offered the best or only defence against encroaching Fascism.
Mulford, Wendy. This Narrow Place. Pandora, 1988.
55
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. “Introduction”. Letters: Sylvia Townsend Warner, edited by William, 1908 - 2000 Maxwell, Chatto and Windus, 1982, p. vii - xvii.
xiv
Timeline
21 February 1924: The first issue appeared of the New Yorker...
Writing climate item
21 February 1924
The first issue appeared of the New Yorker magazine (still going strong in the twenty-first century).
Borne Back Daily. 2001, http://borneback.com/ .
21 February 2011
Kindley, Evan. “Ismism”. London Review of Books, Vol.
36
, No. 2, 23 Jan. 2014, pp. 33-5.
33
16 April 1926: The Book-of-the-Month Club, newly founded...
Writing climate item
16 April 1926
The Book-of-the-Month Club
, newly founded in the USA, mailed out its first monthly choice: Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
.
Orlans, Harold. “Potpourri”. Change, Vol.
36
, No. 1, Jan.–Feb. 2004, pp. 6-9.
7
Borne Back Daily. 2001, http://borneback.com/ .
16 April 2008
February 1936: The awesome trio of political theorist Harold...
Writing climate item
February 1936
The awesome trio
Laity, Paul. “The left’s ace of clubs”. Guardian Unlimited, 7 July 2001.
Laity, Paul. “The left’s ace of clubs”. Guardian Unlimited, 7 July 2001.
18 July 1936: The Spanish Civil War began between the Republicans...
National or international item
18 July 1936
The Spanish Civil War began between the Republicans (including Communists) and the Fascists led by Francisco Franco
.
Bruno, Leonard. On the Move: A Chronology of Advances in Transportation. Gale Research, 1993.
228
May 1978: Virago Press issued its first Virago Modern...
Women writers item
May 1978
Virago Press
issued its first Virago Modern Classics, a historically important series most though not all of which were novels.
Callil, Carmen. “The stories of our lives”. Guardian Unlimited, 26 Apr. 2008.
Texts
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. A Garland of Straw, and Other Stories. Chatto and Windus, 1943.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. A Moral Ending, and Other Stories. William Jackson, 1931.
Huguenin, Jean René. A Place of Shipwreck. Translator Warner, Sylvia Townsend, Chatto and Windus, 1963.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. A Spirit Rises. Chatto and Windus, 1962.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. A Stranger With a Bag, and Other Stories. Chatto and Windus, 1966.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. After the Death of Don Juan. Chatto and Windus, 1938.
Harman, Claire, and Sylvia Townsend Warner. “Afterword”. Sylvia Townsend Warner: Selected Poems, Carcanet Press, 1985, p. 95.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. Azrael, and Other Poems. Libanus Press, 1978.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend, and Reynolds Stone. Boxwood. Monotype Corporation, 1957.
Proust, Marcel. By Way of Sainte-Beuve. Translator Warner, Sylvia Townsend, Chatto and Windus, 1958.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend, and Valentine Ackland. “Editor’s Note”. I’ll Stand By You: Selected Letters of Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland, edited by Susanna Pinney, Pimlico, 1998, p. vii - viii.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. “Editorial Materials”. Sylvia Townsend Warner: Collected Poems, edited by Claire Harman, Carcanet New Press, 1982, pp. xi - xxiii; 275.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend, and Valentine Ackland. I’ll Stand By You: Selected Letters of Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland. Editor Pinney, Susanna, Pimlico, 1998.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. “Introduction”. Letters: Sylvia Townsend Warner, edited by William, 1908 - 2000 Maxwell, Chatto and Windus, 1982, p. vii - xvii.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend, and David Garnett. “Introduction and Editorial Materials”. Sylvia and David: The Townsend Warner / Garnett Letters, edited by Richard Garnett, Sinclair-Stevenson, 1994, p. various pages.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. Jane Austen, 1775-1817. Longmans, Green, 1951.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. King Duffus, and Other Poems. Clare, Son and Company, 1968.
Ackland, Valentine. Later Poems. Editor Warner, Sylvia Townsend, Privately printed by Clare, Son, 1970.