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Fascinating, detailed insight into the life of a very modern woman.
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Woman of Passion: The Life of E. (Edith) Nesbit
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E. Nesbit is one of the great children's writers of the century. Though known in her day for poems, short stories and novels, she is now remembered as the author of The Railway Children, The Treasures Seekers, Five Children and It, and many other stories of magic and adventure that are still triumphantly in print. Her readers love to think of her as reassuringly maternal, but this biography reveals her as a strong-minded, adventurous woman.
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Genres
biographynonfiction
473 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1,1987
This edition
- Format
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473 pages, Hardcover
- Published
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June 4, 1998 by New Amsterdam Books
- ISBN
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9780941533034
- ASIN
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0941533034
- Language
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English
About the author
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Julia Briggs was a writer and critic of great talents, a gifted scholar and a profoundly generous teacher who pioneered the study of children's literature and of women's writing in universities. Deeply humanist in outlook, she had an abiding belief in the value of literary study and in the power of education to transform lives.
Julia Ballam grew up in London. Her father, Harry, worked in advertising, but also tried his hand at writing. Her mother, Trudi, had been a commercial artist. Julia attended South Hampstead high school and in 1963 won a scholarship to study English at St Hilda's College, Oxford.
Beautiful and brilliant, she also became pregnant at the end of her first year and was, she believed, the first female undergraduate not to be instantly expelled. She married the father, Peter Gold, and stayed on to give birth to her son and take a first-class degree. The marriage was short-lived, and in 1969 she married Robin Briggs, historian and fellow of All Souls College, with whom she had two more sons. They were divorced in 1989.
Julia always followed her literary instincts. At Oxford, while bringing up her family, she wrote a BLitt thesis on the English ghost story - not considered a proper subject for a doctorate - which became Night Visitors (1977), her first book. From 1978 she took up a permanent post as fellow of Hertford College, Oxford. In 1983 she published This Stage Play World: Texts and Contexts 1580-1625, revised in 1997 and still in use by students. She then devoted herself to finishing Donald Crompton's book on William Golding, A View from the Spire (1985), after he died. In 1987 she published a life of the children's writer and Fabian socialist, E Nesbit, A Woman of Passion, which contributed to the emerging study of children's literature, as did Children and Their Books: a Celebration of the Work of Iona and Peter Opie (1989), co-edited with Gillian Avery.
Very active in the Oxford English faculty, which she also chaired, Julia canvassed successfully for courses on women's writing. As general editor of the Penguin paperback re-issue of Virginia Woolf's work, when it came out of copyright in 1991, she oversaw the reprinting of 13 volumes, with introductions by renowned women scholars from Britain and the US, some of whom required delicate handling. She died aged 63 of a brain tumour.
Julia Ballam grew up in London. Her father, Harry, worked in advertising, but also tried his hand at writing. Her mother, Trudi, had been a commercial artist. Julia attended South Hampstead high school and in 1963 won a scholarship to study English at St Hilda's College, Oxford.
Beautiful and brilliant, she also became pregnant at the end of her first year and was, she believed, the first female undergraduate not to be instantly expelled. She married the father, Peter Gold, and stayed on to give birth to her son and take a first-class degree. The marriage was short-lived, and in 1969 she married Robin Briggs, historian and fellow of All Souls College, with whom she had two more sons. They were divorced in 1989.
Julia always followed her literary instincts. At Oxford, while bringing up her family, she wrote a BLitt thesis on the English ghost story - not considered a proper subject for a doctorate - which became Night Visitors (1977), her first book. From 1978 she took up a permanent post as fellow of Hertford College, Oxford. In 1983 she published This Stage Play World: Texts and Contexts 1580-1625, revised in 1997 and still in use by students. She then devoted herself to finishing Donald Crompton's book on William Golding, A View from the Spire (1985), after he died. In 1987 she published a life of the children's writer and Fabian socialist, E Nesbit, A Woman of Passion, which contributed to the emerging study of children's literature, as did Children and Their Books: a Celebration of the Work of Iona and Peter Opie (1989), co-edited with Gillian Avery.
Very active in the Oxford English faculty, which she also chaired, Julia canvassed successfully for courses on women's writing. As general editor of the Penguin paperback re-issue of Virginia Woolf's work, when it came out of copyright in 1991, she oversaw the reprinting of 13 volumes, with introductions by renowned women scholars from Britain and the US, some of whom required delicate handling. She died aged 63 of a brain tumour.
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So before I read this book what did I know about Edith Nesbit? I knew that she wrote a series of popular children's books, I knew (thanks to my sister who lives near where Nesbit once did) where she was from and where she drew her inspiration. I also knew (thanks to that same sister) that she had a somewhat unconventional marriage. The other thing I knew was that JK Rowling cites her as a major influence, almost deferring to her as one of the greatest authors for children of all time.
But all that I knew about her paled into insignificance as I turned the pages of this biography of her life. Nesbit did not just have an unconventional marriage, but lived with a husband that was, in all but the strictest legal sense, polygamous. Her husband, Hubert Bland, was already in a relationship with another woman when he married Nesbit, and had no intention of giving her up following his marriage. He also began a relationship with a friend of Nesbit's, moving her into the family home, along with their child. I cannot stop thinking about how much this must have hurt Nesbit, and how she internalised all of that pain and carried on, writing some of the most captivating and magical children's stories that would ultimately influence the Harry Potter series (the parallels with some of the themes from the Harry Potter series, and the incorporation of mystical beasts, and the believability of the child characters are particularly apparent as a shared authorial mastery).
Leaving aside the fascinating story of Nesbit's life, as a biography it is worth noting that it relies heavily on the earlier incarnation written by Doris Langley Moore, whose biography of Nesbit, written in 1933, used interviews with surviving family members, letters, newspapers and the other usual stories to write Edith's story. It also delves a little further. I have Langley Moore's biography on my TBR list now, as it will be interesting to consider how much more Briggs could say in 1987 about the unusual marital and living arrangements of Hubert Bland, Edith's first husband.
That said, I think a modern biography of Edith Nesbit would be warranted. As a woman who influenced one of the greatest living female children's author of our times, her legacy is one that should be celebrated, and a modern treatment of Edith's family life would be particularly interesting.
Edith's biography reveals her as a strong, determined, resilient woman, but also a woman that internalised much emotional turmoil and pain, including the death of her beloved son Fabian, having to accept her husband's sexual incontinence, and having to reduce herself to accommodate his sense of self. There were times when I was angry on her behalf, wishing that she had just upped and walked away from him. But this is her story... and what an incredible story it is.
But all that I knew about her paled into insignificance as I turned the pages of this biography of her life. Nesbit did not just have an unconventional marriage, but lived with a husband that was, in all but the strictest legal sense, polygamous. Her husband, Hubert Bland, was already in a relationship with another woman when he married Nesbit, and had no intention of giving her up following his marriage. He also began a relationship with a friend of Nesbit's, moving her into the family home, along with their child. I cannot stop thinking about how much this must have hurt Nesbit, and how she internalised all of that pain and carried on, writing some of the most captivating and magical children's stories that would ultimately influence the Harry Potter series (the parallels with some of the themes from the Harry Potter series, and the incorporation of mystical beasts, and the believability of the child characters are particularly apparent as a shared authorial mastery).
Leaving aside the fascinating story of Nesbit's life, as a biography it is worth noting that it relies heavily on the earlier incarnation written by Doris Langley Moore, whose biography of Nesbit, written in 1933, used interviews with surviving family members, letters, newspapers and the other usual stories to write Edith's story. It also delves a little further. I have Langley Moore's biography on my TBR list now, as it will be interesting to consider how much more Briggs could say in 1987 about the unusual marital and living arrangements of Hubert Bland, Edith's first husband.
That said, I think a modern biography of Edith Nesbit would be warranted. As a woman who influenced one of the greatest living female children's author of our times, her legacy is one that should be celebrated, and a modern treatment of Edith's family life would be particularly interesting.
Edith's biography reveals her as a strong, determined, resilient woman, but also a woman that internalised much emotional turmoil and pain, including the death of her beloved son Fabian, having to accept her husband's sexual incontinence, and having to reduce herself to accommodate his sense of self. There were times when I was angry on her behalf, wishing that she had just upped and walked away from him. But this is her story... and what an incredible story it is.
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I couldn't make myself finish this book. Author is too interested in the intimate life of Edith Nesbit. A whole chapter on her affair with George Bernard Shaw (and this chapter looks more like a detective investigation than part of the book), another one on Alice Hoatson, lover of her husband, another one on Edith's young admirers and lovers...
Felt like poking around dirty linen.
It appears to me that Julia Briggs just wasn't able to tell a story about Edith Nesbit's life. She kind of flooded the reader with all those tedious and very private details, that's all/
Felt like poking around dirty linen.
It appears to me that Julia Briggs just wasn't able to tell a story about Edith Nesbit's life. She kind of flooded the reader with all those tedious and very private details, that's all/
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Read as a useful background to "The Children's Book" by AS Byatt as one of the characters in that book is loosely based on Nesbit.
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The Memorable Life of Edith Nesbit http://boryanabooks.com/?p=696
Gore Vidal on E Nesbit http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archi...
Folio Society http://www.foliosociety.com/book/NS2/...
Gore Vidal on E Nesbit http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archi...
Folio Society http://www.foliosociety.com/book/NS2/...
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