Sylvia Townsend Warner

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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.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Publishing Valentine Ackland
For Sylvia: An Honest Account, VA 's confessional memoir, was finally published by Chatto and Windus , after the deaths of both Ackland and Sylvia Townsend Warner , with a foreword by Bea Howe .
Harman, Claire. Sylvia Townsend Warner: A Biography. Chatto and Windus.
226
OCLC WorldCat. http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.
Publishing Valentine Ackland
Twenty-Eight Poems, a small collection of VA 's poems, was prepared and privately printed by Sylvia Townsend Warner .
Harman, Claire. Sylvia Townsend Warner: A Biography. Chatto and Windus.
267
Publishing Valentine Ackland
The year after VA 's death, a booklet of her poems, titled Later Poems, was privately printed by Sylvia Townsend Warner as a keepsake for friends .
Harman, Claire. Sylvia Townsend Warner: A Biography. Chatto and Windus.
307
Publishing Valentine Ackland
A substantial collection of VA 's poems, edited by Sylvia Townsend Warner , was published posthumously as The Nature of the Moment.
Harman, Claire. Sylvia Townsend Warner: A Biography. Chatto and Windus.
307
Author summary Valentine Ackland
VA published very little in her lifetime, and has gone largely unrecognised since. Her lifelong partner, Sylvia Townsend Warner , was very supportive of Ackland and helped her to get her writing into print. This...
politics Virginia Woolf
On 10 May Germany had invaded Holland and Belgium. In the event of an invasion of England, they could indeed expect a terrible personal fate, on account of their anti-war politics, Leonard's anti-war career and...
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.
55
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. “Introduction”. Letters: Sylvia Townsend Warner, edited by William Maxwell, Chatto and Windus, p. vii - xvii.
xiv
politics Valentine Ackland
VA voted Liberal (against Harold Wilson 's Labour government) in the general election, a departure from socialism which pained Warner considerably.
Mulford, Wendy. This Narrow Place. Pandora.
235
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.
234
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.
141n1
The text's downtrodden family was based on tenants living at East Chaldon with Ackland and Sylvia Townsend Warner . Ackland added...
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...
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.
Leclercq, Florence. Elizabeth Taylor. Twayne.
2
At twelve...
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...

Timeline

No timeline events available.

Texts

Warner, Sylvia Townsend. Rainbow. Alfred Knopf, 1932.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. Scenes of Childhood, and Other Stories. Chatto and Windus, 1981.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. Sketches From Nature. Clare, Son and Company, 1963.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. Some World Far From Ours; and, ’Stay, Corydon, Thou Swain’. E. Mathews and Marrot, 1929.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. Somerset. Paul Elek, 1949.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. Summer Will Show. Chatto and Windus, 1936.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend, and David Garnett. Sylvia and David: The Townsend Warner / Garnett Letters. Editor Garnett, Richard, Sinclair-Stevenson, 1994.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. Sylvia Townsend Warner: Collected Poems. Editor Harman, Claire, Carcanet New Press, 1982.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. Sylvia Townsend Warner: Selected Poems. Carcanet Press, 1985.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. T. H. White: A Biography. Jonathan Cape with Chatto and Windus, 1967.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. The Cat’s Cradle Book. Viking, 1940.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. The Corner That Held Them. Chatto and Windus, 1948.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. The Diaries of Sylvia Townsend Warner. Editor Harman, Claire, Chatto and Windus, 1994.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. The Espalier. Chatto and Windus, 1925.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. The Flint Anchor. Chatto and Windus, 1954.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. The Innocent and the Guilty: Stories. Chatto and Windus, 1971.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. The Kingdoms of Elfin. Chatto and Windus, 1977.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. The Maze. Fleuron, 1928.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. The Museum of Cheats, and Other Stories. Chatto and Windus, 1947.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. “The People Have No Generals”. Our Time, Vol.
1
, No. 1, Newport Publications.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. The Salutation. Chatto and Windus, 1932.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. The True Heart. Chatto and Windus, 1929.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. This Our Brother. Lanston Monotype Corporation, 1930.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend. Time Importuned. Chatto and Windus, 1928.
Warner, Sylvia Townsend, and Sir Peter Pears. Twelve Poems. Chatto and Windus, 1980.