Rhys, Jean

From New World Encyclopedia
(claim tag)
Line 3: Line 3:
 
'''Jean Rhys''' (August 24, 1890 - May 14, 1979), originally '''Ella Gwendolen Rees Williams''', was a [[Caribbean]] [[novelist]] who wrote in the mid [[20th century]].  Her first four novels were published during the 1920s and 1930s, but it was not until the publication of ''[[Wide Sargasso Sea]]'' in 1966 that she emerged as a significant literary figure.  A "[[prequel]]" to [[Charlotte Brontë]]'s ''[[Jane Eyre]]'', ''Wide Sargasso Sea'' won a prestigious [[WH Smith Literary Award]] in 1967.
 
'''Jean Rhys''' (August 24, 1890 - May 14, 1979), originally '''Ella Gwendolen Rees Williams''', was a [[Caribbean]] [[novelist]] who wrote in the mid [[20th century]].  Her first four novels were published during the 1920s and 1930s, but it was not until the publication of ''[[Wide Sargasso Sea]]'' in 1966 that she emerged as a significant literary figure.  A "[[prequel]]" to [[Charlotte Brontë]]'s ''[[Jane Eyre]]'', ''Wide Sargasso Sea'' won a prestigious [[WH Smith Literary Award]] in 1967.
  
Rhys was born in [[Dominica]] (a formerly [[United Kingdom|British]] island in the [[Caribbean]]) to a [[Wales|Welsh]] father and Scottish mother. She moved to [[England]] at the age of sixteen, where she worked unsuccessfully as a chorus girl. In the 1920s, she relocated to continental Europe, traveling as a [[Bohemianism|Bohemian]] artist and taking up residence sporadically in [[Paris]]. During this period, Rhys lived in near poverty, while familiarizing herself with [[modernism (art)|modern art]] and [[modernism|literature]], and acquiring the [[alcoholism]] that would persist through the rest of her life. Her experience of a [[patriarchal]] society and feelings of displacement during this period would form some of the most important themes in her work.
+
==Early life==
 +
She was born in Roseau, Dominica, to her father Rhys Williams, a doctor of Welsh descent, and her mother Minna Lockhart, a third-generation Dominican Creole. She later adopted her father’s name as her own surname. Growing up in Dominica, an island of the Lesser Antilles, Rhys was heavily influenced by her mother’s Creole cultural background, and would later manifest this in her writing. She was particularly intrigued by black culture and the colonial aspects of life in the islands, though these also resulted in questions about her self-identity.
 +
 
 +
In 1907, Rhys left the islands for England, where she felt suddenly confronted by the foreign culture and quickly identified with blacks there. While living with her aunt, Clarice Rhys Williams, she briefly attended Perse School in Cambridge before going to the Trees School (now the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts), but had to discontinue her studies after one term because her father died. Her mother arrived in England, though she died too, after arriving in poor health.
 +
 
 +
After attending the Trees School, she toured with a musical-chorus troupe; her experiences later were adapted in her novel Voyage in the Dark (1934). She went on to work in theatre, acting as a chorus girl in a few productions. During this period, Rhys lived in near poverty, while familiarizing herself with [[modernism (art)|modern art]] and [[modernism|literature]], and acquiring the [[alcoholism]] that would persist through the rest of her life. Her experience of a [[patriarchal]] society and feelings of displacement during this period would form some of the most important themes in her work. Working among the many similarly young, poor, passive, and uneducated women around her at this time, Rhys adopted the plight of females as her cause, which she would represent in her writing.
 +
 
 +
In 1919, she married Jean Lenglet, a writer whose pen name was Edouard de Nève. Lenglet served in the French Foreign Legion in Africa, fought on the Western Front, served in the Deuxième Bureau, and traveled on secret diplomatic missions for the French. They moved to Paris, but after the war, Lenglet’s work forced the couple to move constantly. In 1919, Rhys gave birth to a son named Owen, though the child died after three weeks. Rhys was devastated by the loss, and in her grief exhibited a dark, wry sense of humor that was often displayed in her later work.  In 1922, she gave birth to a daughter, Maryvonne, and the family returned to Paris shortly afterward.
 +
 
 +
==Literary career==
 +
Rhys was able to fashion a literary career after meeting Ford Madox Ford. During the same time, Lenglet’s financial woes led him to make illegal transactions, and he was convicted and sent to prison. Left to support herself and her daughter, Rhys published a collection of stories in The Left Bank (1927), with editorial help from Ford. She followed that with the publication of her first novel Postures, understood to be an account of her affair with Ford.  
  
 
Rhys's writing often centers on the lives of women transplanted from their roots and left to die at the whims of unfamiliar societies—an obvious echo of her own life.  Her style is often noted for its distinctive blend of [[modernist]] techniques and [[West Indian]] sensibilities.  Her work was published and promoted by [[Ford Madox Ford]], among others.<ref name= "Stravinsky">{{cite book |last= Modjeska |first= Drusilla  |title= Stravinsky's Lunch  |publisher= Picador |date= 1999 |location= Sydney |isbn= 0 330 36259 3}}Retrieved October 14, 2007.</ref> [[Diana Athill]] of [[Andre Deutsch]]'s publishing house helped return Rhys's work to a wider audience after her writing had fallen out of favor and was responsible for choosing to publish ''Wide Sargasso Sea''.<ref name = "BBC">{{cite web |title= The prime of Miss Jean Rhys by Vanessa Thorpe |publisher= The Observer UK, October 1, 2006 |url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1884906,00.html|}}Retrieved October 14, 2007.</ref>
 
Rhys's writing often centers on the lives of women transplanted from their roots and left to die at the whims of unfamiliar societies—an obvious echo of her own life.  Her style is often noted for its distinctive blend of [[modernist]] techniques and [[West Indian]] sensibilities.  Her work was published and promoted by [[Ford Madox Ford]], among others.<ref name= "Stravinsky">{{cite book |last= Modjeska |first= Drusilla  |title= Stravinsky's Lunch  |publisher= Picador |date= 1999 |location= Sydney |isbn= 0 330 36259 3}}Retrieved October 14, 2007.</ref> [[Diana Athill]] of [[Andre Deutsch]]'s publishing house helped return Rhys's work to a wider audience after her writing had fallen out of favor and was responsible for choosing to publish ''Wide Sargasso Sea''.<ref name = "BBC">{{cite web |title= The prime of Miss Jean Rhys by Vanessa Thorpe |publisher= The Observer UK, October 1, 2006 |url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1884906,00.html|}}Retrieved October 14, 2007.</ref>
  
 +
==Later life==
 
In later life she lived in London and was a friend of [[British jazz]] singer [[George Melly]]. She wrote a sardonic love song for him with [[John Chilton]] called ''Life With You''.
 
In later life she lived in London and was a friend of [[British jazz]] singer [[George Melly]]. She wrote a sardonic love song for him with [[John Chilton]] called ''Life With You''.
  
 +
==Legacy==
 
Her collected papers and ephemera are housed in the [[University of Tulsa]]'s McFarlin Library, Department of Special Collections and University Archives.
 
Her collected papers and ephemera are housed in the [[University of Tulsa]]'s McFarlin Library, Department of Special Collections and University Archives.
  
==Selected bibliography==
+
==Bibliography==
 
*''[[The Left Bank and Other Stories]]'', 1927
 
*''[[The Left Bank and Other Stories]]'', 1927
*''[[Postures]]'', 1928 (released as ''[[Quartet (Novel)|Quartet]]'' in 1929)
+
*''[[Postures]]'', 1928 (released as ''[[Quartet (Novel)|Quartet]]'' in 1929). ISBN 0393315460.
*''[[After Leaving Mr Mackenzie]]'', 1931
+
*''[[After Leaving Mr Mackenzie]]'', 1931. ISBN 0393315479.
*''[[Voyage in the Dark]]'', 1934
+
*''[[Voyage in the Dark]]'', 1934. ISBN 0393311465.
*''[[Good Morning, Midnight]]'', 1939
+
*''[[Good Morning, Midnight]]'', 1939. ISBN 0393303942.
*''[[Wide Sargasso Sea]]'', 1966
+
*''[[Wide Sargasso Sea]]'', 1966. ISBN 0393308804.
*''[[Tigers Are Better-Looking]]: With a Selection from 'The Left Bank' '', 1968
+
*''[[Tigers Are Better-Looking]]: With a Selection from 'The Left Bank' '', 1968. ISBN 0140183469.
 
*''[[Penguin Modern Stories 1]]'', 1969 (with others)
 
*''[[Penguin Modern Stories 1]]'', 1969 (with others)
 
*''[[My Day: Three Pieces]]'', 1975
 
*''[[My Day: Three Pieces]]'', 1975
*''[[Sleep It Off Lady]]'', 1976
+
*''[[Sleep It Off Lady]]'', 1976. ISBN 0060135727.
*''[[Smile Please: An Unfinished Autobiography]]'', 1979
+
*''[[Smile Please: An Unfinished Autobiography]]'', 1979. ISBN 0140184058.
*''[[Jean Rhys Letters 1931-1966]]'', 1984
+
*''[[Jean Rhys Letters 1931-1966]]'', 1984. ISBN 0233975675.
 
*''[[Early Novels]]'', 1984
 
*''[[Early Novels]]'', 1984
 
*''[[The Complete Novels]]'', 1985
 
*''[[The Complete Novels]]'', 1985
*''[[Tales of the Wide Caribbean]]'', 1985
+
*''[[Tales of the Wide Caribbean]]'', 1985. ISBN 0435987496.
*''[[The Collected Short Stories]]'', 1987
+
*''[[The Collected Short Stories]]'', 1987. ISBN 0393306259.
  
 
==Notes==
 
==Notes==
Line 34: Line 46:
 
==References==
 
==References==
 
* {{cite book |last= Modjeska |first= Drusilla  |title= Stravinsky's Lunch  |publisher= Picador |date= 1999 |location= Sydney |isbn= 0 330 36259 3}}
 
* {{cite book |last= Modjeska |first= Drusilla  |title= Stravinsky's Lunch  |publisher= Picador |date= 1999 |location= Sydney |isbn= 0 330 36259 3}}
 +
* ''Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 36: British Novelists, 1890-1929: Modernists''. A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Edited by Thomas F. Staley, University of Tulsa. The Gale Group, 1985. pp. 188-202.
  
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
Line 40: Line 53:
 
*[http://www.lennoxhonychurch.com/jeanrhysbio.cfm Jean Rhys bio with particular ref. to her time in Dominica].Retrieved October 14, 2007.
 
*[http://www.lennoxhonychurch.com/jeanrhysbio.cfm Jean Rhys bio with particular ref. to her time in Dominica].Retrieved October 14, 2007.
 
* [http://www.lib.utulsa.edu/speccoll/collections/rhysjean/index.htm University of Tulsa McFarlin Library's inventory of the Jean Rhys Archive housed in their Department of Special Collections and University Archives].Retrieved October 14, 2007.
 
* [http://www.lib.utulsa.edu/speccoll/collections/rhysjean/index.htm University of Tulsa McFarlin Library's inventory of the Jean Rhys Archive housed in their Department of Special Collections and University Archives].Retrieved October 14, 2007.
 
+
* [http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/rhys.htm Author's calendar]. Retrieved December 12, 2007.
  
 
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rhys, Jean}}
 
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rhys, Jean}}

Revision as of 04:22, 13 December 2007

Jean Rhys (August 24, 1890 - May 14, 1979), originally Ella Gwendolen Rees Williams, was a Caribbean novelist who wrote in the mid 20th century. Her first four novels were published during the 1920s and 1930s, but it was not until the publication of Wide Sargasso Sea in 1966 that she emerged as a significant literary figure. A "prequel" to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, Wide Sargasso Sea won a prestigious WH Smith Literary Award in 1967.

Early life

She was born in Roseau, Dominica, to her father Rhys Williams, a doctor of Welsh descent, and her mother Minna Lockhart, a third-generation Dominican Creole. She later adopted her father’s name as her own surname. Growing up in Dominica, an island of the Lesser Antilles, Rhys was heavily influenced by her mother’s Creole cultural background, and would later manifest this in her writing. She was particularly intrigued by black culture and the colonial aspects of life in the islands, though these also resulted in questions about her self-identity.

In 1907, Rhys left the islands for England, where she felt suddenly confronted by the foreign culture and quickly identified with blacks there. While living with her aunt, Clarice Rhys Williams, she briefly attended Perse School in Cambridge before going to the Trees School (now the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts), but had to discontinue her studies after one term because her father died. Her mother arrived in England, though she died too, after arriving in poor health.

After attending the Trees School, she toured with a musical-chorus troupe; her experiences later were adapted in her novel Voyage in the Dark (1934). She went on to work in theatre, acting as a chorus girl in a few productions. During this period, Rhys lived in near poverty, while familiarizing herself with modern art and literature, and acquiring the alcoholism that would persist through the rest of her life. Her experience of a patriarchal society and feelings of displacement during this period would form some of the most important themes in her work. Working among the many similarly young, poor, passive, and uneducated women around her at this time, Rhys adopted the plight of females as her cause, which she would represent in her writing.

In 1919, she married Jean Lenglet, a writer whose pen name was Edouard de Nève. Lenglet served in the French Foreign Legion in Africa, fought on the Western Front, served in the Deuxième Bureau, and traveled on secret diplomatic missions for the French. They moved to Paris, but after the war, Lenglet’s work forced the couple to move constantly. In 1919, Rhys gave birth to a son named Owen, though the child died after three weeks. Rhys was devastated by the loss, and in her grief exhibited a dark, wry sense of humor that was often displayed in her later work. In 1922, she gave birth to a daughter, Maryvonne, and the family returned to Paris shortly afterward.

Literary career

Rhys was able to fashion a literary career after meeting Ford Madox Ford. During the same time, Lenglet’s financial woes led him to make illegal transactions, and he was convicted and sent to prison. Left to support herself and her daughter, Rhys published a collection of stories in The Left Bank (1927), with editorial help from Ford. She followed that with the publication of her first novel Postures, understood to be an account of her affair with Ford.

Rhys's writing often centers on the lives of women transplanted from their roots and left to die at the whims of unfamiliar societies—an obvious echo of her own life. Her style is often noted for its distinctive blend of modernist techniques and West Indian sensibilities. Her work was published and promoted by Ford Madox Ford, among others.[1] Diana Athill of Andre Deutsch's publishing house helped return Rhys's work to a wider audience after her writing had fallen out of favor and was responsible for choosing to publish Wide Sargasso Sea.[2]

Later life

In later life she lived in London and was a friend of British jazz singer George Melly. She wrote a sardonic love song for him with John Chilton called Life With You.

Legacy

Her collected papers and ephemera are housed in the University of Tulsa's McFarlin Library, Department of Special Collections and University Archives.

Bibliography

Notes

  1. Modjeska, Drusilla (1999). Stravinsky's Lunch. Sydney: Picador. ISBN 0 330 36259 3. Retrieved October 14, 2007.
  2. The prime of Miss Jean Rhys by Vanessa Thorpe. The Observer UK, October 1, 2006.Retrieved October 14, 2007.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Modjeska, Drusilla (1999). Stravinsky's Lunch. Sydney: Picador. ISBN 0 330 36259 3. 
  • Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 36: British Novelists, 1890-1929: Modernists. A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Edited by Thomas F. Staley, University of Tulsa. The Gale Group, 1985. pp. 188-202.

External links

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.