May Sinclair

May Sinclair
Sinclair, c. 1916

May Sinclair was the pseudonym of Mary Amelia St. Clair (24 August 1863 - 14 November 1946), a popular British writer who wrote about two dozen novels, short stories and poetry.[1] She was an active suffragist, and member of the Woman Writers' Suffrage League. She was also a significant critic, in the area of modernist poetry and prose; the literary term 'stream of consciousness' is attributed to her.

Contents

Early life

She was born in Rock Ferry, Cheshire. Her father was a Liverpool shipowner, who went bankrupt, became an alcoholic, and died before she was an adult. Her mother was strict and religious; the family moved to Ilford on the edge of London. After one year of education at Cheltenham Ladies College, she acted as carer for her brothers (four of five, all older and all suffering from a fatal congenital heart disease).

Career

From 1896 she wrote professionally, to support herself and her mother, who died in 1901. She treated a number of themes relating to the position of women, and marriage. She also wrote non-fiction based on studies of philosophy, particularly German idealism. Her works sold well in the United States.

Around 1913, at the Medico-Psychological Clinic in London, she became interested in psychoanalytic thought, and introduced matter related to Sigmund Freud's teaching in her novels. In 1914, she volunteered to join the Munro Ambulance Corps, a charitable organization (which included Lady Dorothie Feilding, Elsie Knocker and Mairi Chisholm) that would bring aid to wounded Belgian soldiers on the Western Front in Flanders. Due to shell shock, she was able to endure only a few weeks at the front; she wrote about the experience in both prose and poetry.

She wrote early criticism on Imagism and the poet H. D. (1915 in The Egoist); she was on social terms with H. D. (Hilda Doolittle), Richard Aldington and Ezra Pound at the time. She also reviewed in a positive light the poetry of T. S. Eliot (1917 in the Little Review) and the fiction of Dorothy Richardson (1918 in The Egoist). It was in connection with Richardson that she introduced 'stream of consciousness' as a literary term, which was very generally adopted. Some aspects of Sinclair's subsequent novels have been traced as influenced by modernist techniques, particularly in the autobiographical Mary Olivier: A Life (1919). She was included in the 1925 Contact Collection of Contemporary Writers.

She was a member of the Society for Psychical Research from 1914. Some supernatural fiction devices appear in her shorter fiction.

From the late 1920s she was suffering from the early signs of Parkinson's disease, and ceased writing. She settled with a companion in Buckinghamshire in 1932.

Works

  • Nakiketas and other poems (1886) as Julian Sinclair
  • Essays in Verse (1892)
  • Audrey Craven (1897)
  • Mr and Mrs Nevill Tyson (1897) also The Tysons
  • Two Sides Of A Question (1901)
  • The Divine Fire (1904)
  • The Helpmate (1907)
  • The Judgment of Eve (1907) stories
  • The Immortal Moment (1908)
  • Outlines of Church History by Rudolf Sohm (1909) translator
  • The Creators (1910)
  • The Flaw in the Crystal (1912)
  • The Three Brontes (1912)
  • Feminism (1912) pamphlet for Women’s Suffrage League
  • The Combined Maze (1913)
  • The Three Sisters (1914)
  • The Return of the Prodigal (1914)
  • A Journal of Impressions in Belgium (1915)
  • The Belfry (1916)
  • Tasker Jevons: The Real Story (1916)
  • The Tree of Heaven (1917)
  • A Defense of Idealism : Some Questions & Conclusions (1917)
  • Mary Olivier: A Life (1919)
  • The Romantic (1920)
  • Mr. Waddington of Wyck (1921)
  • Life and Death of Harriett Frean (1922)
  • Anne Severn and the Fieldings (1922)
  • The New Idealism (1922)
  • Uncanny Stories (1923)
  • A Cure of Souls (1924)
  • The Dark Night: A Novel in Unrhymed Verse (1924)
  • Arnold Waterlow (1924)
  • The Rector of Wyck (1925)
  • Far End (1926)
  • The Allinghams (1927)
  • History of Anthony Waring (1927)
  • Fame (1929)
  • Tales Told by Simpson (1930) stories
  • The Intercessor, and Other Stories (1931)

References

  • Theophilus Ernest Martin Boll (1973) Miss May Sinclair: Novelist; A Biographical and Critical Introduction
  • Suzanne Raitt (2000) May Sinclair: A Modern Victorian

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Sinclair (surname) — Sinclair Family name Revela Domino opera tua Meaning Taken from the hermit saint; this derivation of the St. Claire surname …   Wikipedia

  • Sinclair Oil Corporation — Type Public until 1969 Subsidiary 1969–1976 Private since 1976 Industry Oil and gasoline Founded …   Wikipedia

  • Sinclair — may refer to:People* Sinclair (surname), list of people with this surname * Sinclair Lewis, Nobel Prize winning American writer * Clan Sinclair, Scottish familyCompanies* Sinclair Broadcast Group, operator of American television stations *… …   Wikipedia

  • Sinclair Radionics Ltd — was founded by Sir Clive Sinclair in Cambridge, England on 25 July 1961.Radionics initially developed hi fi equipment; it released its first product, the Sinclair Micro amplifier, in December 1962. The assembly and distribution of this product… …   Wikipedia

  • Sinclair, Iowa — Sinclair is an unincorporated community in Butler County, Iowa, United States. [gnis|464746] It was a frequent stop for the Underground Railroad during and before the American Civil War. The town was founded in 1843. Prior to the founding of the… …   Wikipedia

  • Sinclair — Sinclair, WY U.S. town in Wyoming Population (2000): 423 Housing Units (2000): 211 Land area (2000): 2.431190 sq. miles (6.296753 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km) Total area (2000): 2.431190 sq. miles (6.296753 sq.… …   StarDict's U.S. Gazetteer Places

  • Sinclair, WY — U.S. town in Wyoming Population (2000): 423 Housing Units (2000): 211 Land area (2000): 2.431190 sq. miles (6.296753 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km) Total area (2000): 2.431190 sq. miles (6.296753 sq. km) FIPS code …   StarDict's U.S. Gazetteer Places

  • May Pang — Chinois traditionnel 龐鳳儀 Chinois simplifié 庞凤仪 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Sinclair — m English and Scottish: transferred use of the Scottish surname, which originated as a Norman baronial name borne by a family that held a manor in northern France called Saint Clair, probably Saint Clair sur Elle in La Manche. It is an extremely… …   First names dictionary

  • May Pang — May Fung Yee Pang Born October 24, 1950 (1950 10 24) (age 61) Manhattan, New York Occupation …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”