Rhys, Jean

From New World Encyclopedia
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==Literary career==
 
==Literary career==
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>
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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.  <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>  
  
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The publication of ''Postures'', later published as ''Quartet'', immediately showcased Rhys' primary thematic concern—that of the socially-trapped woman. Following ''Postures'' was ''After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie'', a novel about human relationships. Rhys demonstrated an improvement over ''Postures'' in narrative composition, and additional focus on the male consciousness. 
  
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[[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>
  
 
==Legacy==
 
==Legacy==

Revision as of 22:10, 15 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.

Personal 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.

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. Lenglet was eventually released from prison in the early 1930s, at about the time that the Rhys-Ford affair had ended, though upon Rhys' disclosure to Lenglet of her affair, they separated. Still, they remained close.

Rhys became acquainted with Leslie Tilden Smith and soon started a relationship. Smith, a literary agent, was able to introduce Rhys to many figures in literary circles, but because she was shy and somewhat reclusive, she remained on the periphery of these circles. By the mid-1930s, Smith and Rhys were married, following the death of Smith's father. These years were highlighted by the couple's visit to Rhys' native Dominica. Though she had developed such a fondness for her origins, she found that she had idealized her memory of the land and the life of its people. Her efforts to write while there were not fruitful. She returned to London, never to come back to the island. As the war broke out in Europe, Rhys maintained correspondence with her daughter Maryvonne, who lived with her father in the Netherlands.

At the onset of the war, Smith enlisted with the air force and was stationed at Norfolk, but Rhys spent most of her time in London. Smith died in October 1945, after the end of the war. It was at Smith's funeral that Rhys met his cousin, Max Hamer. Two years later, Rhys and Hamer married and moved to Beckenham, Kent.

In later life she befriended British jazz singer George Melly. She wrote a sardonic love song for him with John Chilton called Life With You.

Rhys died in the Royan Devon and Exeter Hospital on May 14, 1979.

Literary career

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. [1]

The publication of Postures, later published as Quartet, immediately showcased Rhys' primary thematic concern—that of the socially-trapped woman. Following Postures was After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie, a novel about human relationships. Rhys demonstrated an improvement over Postures in narrative composition, and additional focus on the male consciousness.

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]

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

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