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Sylvia Townsend Warner

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Sylvia Townsend Warner. Courtesy The Poetry Archive.

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Sylvia Townsend Warner
Born 6 December 1893
Harrow on the Hill
Died May 1 1978(1978-Template:MONTHNUMBER-01) (aged 84)
Genres novels, poetry

Sylvia Nora Townsend Warner (6 December 1893 - 1 May 1978) was an English poet and novelist.

Life[]

Youth and family[]

Townsend Warner was born in Harrow on the Hill (a suburb of London), the only child of George Townsend Warner and his wife Eleanora (Nora) Hudleston. Her father was a house-master at Harrow School and was, for many years, associated with the prestigious Harrow History Prize which was renamed the Townsend Warner History Prize in his honour, after his death in 1916.

As a child, Sylvia seemingly enjoyed an idyllic childhood in rural Devonshire, but was strongly affected by her father's death.

Career[]

She moved to London and worked in a munitions factory at the outbreak of World War I. She was friendly with a number of the "Bright Young People" of the 1920s. Her first major success was the novel Lolly Willowes.

In 1923 Warner met T.F. Powys, whose writing influenced her own and whose work she in turn encouraged. It was at Powys' house in 1930 that Warner met Valentine Ackland, a young woman poet. The women fell in love and lived together at Frome Vauchurch in Dorset. Alarmed by the growing threat of fascism, they were active in the Communist Party of Great Britain, and visited Spain on behalf of the Red Cross during the Civil War.

Early in her career Warner researched 15th and 16th century music, and spent 10 years as an editor of the substantial Tudor Church Music, published by Oxford University Press. In 1934 she published a joint collection of poems with Valentine Ackland entitled Whether a Dove or a Seagull.

Her novels were Lolly Willowes (1926), Mr Fortune's Maggot (1927), The True Heart (1929), Summer Will Show (1936), After the Death of Don Juan (1938), The Corner That Held Them (1948), The Flint Anchor (1954).

Her short stories include the collections A Moral Ending, and other Stories, The Salutation, More Joy in Heaven, The Cat's Cradle Book, A Garland of Straw, The Museum of Cheats. Winter in the Air, A Spirit Rises, A Stranger with a Bag, The Innocent and the Guilty, and One Thing Leading to Another. Her final work was a series of linked short stories set in the supernatural Kingdoms of Elfin.

Warner also published a biography of novelist T.H. White, which the New York Times declared "a small masterpiece which may well be read long after the writings of its subject have been forgotten."[1] Although Townsend never wrote an autobiography, Scenes of Childhood was compiled after her death from short reminiscences published over the years in the New Yorker. She also translated Contre Saint-Beuve by Marcel Proust from the original French into English.

Ackland and Warner lived together from 1930 until Ackland's death in 1969. Warner's political engagement continued for the rest of her life, even after her disillusionment with communism. She died on 1 May 1978.

Writing[]

Recurring themes are evident in a number of Warner's works. These include a rejection of Christianity (in Mr Fortune's Maggot, and in Lolly Willowes, where the protagonist becomes a witch); the position of women in patriarchal societies (Lolly Willowes, Summer Will Show, The Corner that Held Them); ambiguous sexuality, or bisexuality (Lolly Willowes, Mr Fortune's Maggot, Summer Will Show); and lyrical descriptions of landscape.

In the 1970s she became known as a significant writer of feminist or lesbian sentiment, and her novels were among the earlier books to be revived by Virago Press. Selected letters of Warner and Valentine Ackland have been published twice: Wendy Mulford edited a collection titled This Narrow Place in 1988, and 10 years later Susanna Pinney published another selection under the title Jealousy in Connecticut.

Recognition[]

Warner's poetry was included in the Oxford Book of Modern Verse, 1892-1935.

The Sylvia Townsend Warner Society was launched in 2000 in Warner’s home town of Dorchester by a group of enthusiasts, who assembled for an inaugural meeting at the Dorchester County Museum. The aim of the Society is to promote a wide readership and a better understanding of the writings of Warner, as well as a sense of community among readers, scholars, and admirers of her work.[2]

Publications[]

Poetry[]

  • The Espalier. London: Chatto & Windus, 1925; New York: L. McVeaugh / Dial Press, 1925.
  • Time Importuned. London: Chatto & Windus, 1928; New York: Viking, 1928.
  • Opus 7. London: Chatto & Windus, 1931; New York: Viking, 1931.
  • Whether A Dove Or Seagull: Poems (with Valentine Ackland). New York: Viking, 1933; London: Chatto & Windus, 1934.
  • Boxwood (illustrated by Reynolds Stone). London: Monotype, 1957; London: Chatto & Windus / Hogarth Press, 1960.
  • King Duffus, and other poems. Wells, Somerset, UK: privately printed by Clare, Son, & Co., 1968.
  • Azrael, and other poems. Newbury, Berkshire, UK: Libanus Press, 1978.
  • Twelve Poems. London: Chatto & Windus, 1980.
  • Collected Poems (edited by Claire Harman). Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 1982; New York: Viking, 1983.
  • Selected Poems. (edited by Claire Harman). Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 1985; New York: Viking, 1985.
  • New Collected Poems (edited by Claire Harman). Manchester, UK: Fyfield / Carcanet, 2008.

Novels[]

  • Lolly Willowes; or, The loving huntsman. London: Chatto & Windus, 1926; New York: Viking, 1926; Chicago: Academy Chicago Publishers, 1999.
  • Mr Fortune's Maggot. London: Chatto & Windus, 1927; New York: Literary Guild, 1927.
  • The True Heart. London: Chatto & Windus, 1929; New York: Viking, 1929.
  • Summer Will Show. London: Chatto & Windus, 1936; New York: Viking, 1936.
  • After The Death Of Don Juan. London: Chatto & Windus, 1938; New York: Viking, 1939; London: Virago, 2002.
  • The Corner That Held Them. London: Chatto & Windus, 1948; New York: Viking, 1948.
  • The Flint Anchor: A novel. London: Chatto & Windus, 1954; New York: Viking, 1954.
  • Four in Hand: A quartet of novels. New York: Norton, 1986.

Short fiction[]

  • Some World Far From Ours. London: Elkin Mathews / Marrott, 1929.
  • Elinor Barley (illustrated by I.R. Hodgkins). London: Cresset Press, 1930.
  • A Moral Ending, and other stories (foreword by T.F. Powys). London: William Jackson, 1931.
  • The Salutation. London: Chatto & Windus 1932; New York: Viking, 1932.
  • Rainbow. New York: Knopf, 1933.
  • More Joy In Heaven. London: Cresset Press, 1935.
  • Summer Will Show. London: Chatto & Windus 1936; New York: Viking, 1936; New York: New York Review of Books, 2009.
  • A Garland Of Straw: Twenty-eight stories. London: Chatto & Windus 1943; New York: Viking, 1943; Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1977.
  • The Museum Of Cheats, and other stories. London: Chatto & Windus, 1947; New York: Viking, 1947.
  • Winter In The Air, and other stories. London: Chatto & Windus, 1955; New York: Viking, 1955; London: Faber, (Faber Finds), 2011.
  • The Cat's Cradle Book. London: Chatto & Windus / Edinburgh: Constable, 1960.
  • A Spirit Rises. London: Chatto & Windus, 1962; New York: Viking, 1962; London: Faber (Faber Finds), 2011.
  • A Stranger With a Bag, and other stories. London: Chatto & Windus, 1966; London: Faber (Faber Finds), 2011,
  • Swans on an Autumn River: Stories. New York: Viking, 1966.
  • The Innocent And The Guilty. London: Chatto & Windus, 1971; New York: Viking, 1971.
  • Kingdoms Of Elfin. London: Chatto & Windus, 1976; New York: Viking, 1977.
  • Selected Stories. London: Chatto & Windus, 1980; New York: Viking, 1988; London: Virago, 1990.
  • Scenes of Childhood, and other stories. London: Chatto & Windus, 1981; New York: Viking, 1981; London: Faber (Faber Finds), 2011.
  • One Thing Leading to Another, and other stories. London: Chatto & Windus / Hogarth Press, 1984; New York: Viking, 1984.
  • The Music at Long Verney: Twenty stories. London: Harvill, 2001; Washington, DC: Counterpoint, 2001.
  • Dorset Stories. Norwich, UK: Black Dog Books, 2006.
  • Mr Fortune (Mr Fortune’s Maggot & The Salutation). New York: New York Review of Books, 2011.

Non-fiction[]

  • Somerset. London: Paul Elek (Vision of England series), 1949; Norwich, UK: Black Dog, 2007.
  • Jane Austen, 1775-1851 (pamphlet). Longmans, Green / British Council), 1951.
  • Sketches from Nature. London: privately printed by Clare, Son, & Co., 1963; Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1993.
  • T.H. White: A biography. London: Cape / Chatto & Windus, 1967; New York: Viking, 1968.

Letters and journals[]

  • Letters (edited by William Maxwell). London: Chatto & Windus, 1982; New York: Viking, 1982.
  • Diaries. London: Chatto & Windus, 1994.
  • Sylvia and David: The Townsend Warner/Garnett letters (edited by Richard Garnett). London: Sinclair-Stevenson, 1994.
  • I'll Stand By You: Selected letters of Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland (edited by Susanna Pinney). London: Pimlico, 1998.
  • The Element of Lavishness: Letters of Sylvia Townsend Warner and William Maxwell (edited by Michael Steinman). Washington, DC: Counterpoint, 2001.
  • Cousin and Friend (Letters to Rachel 1950-1952). Durham, UK: White, 2011.


Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy the Sylvia Townsend Warner Society[3] & WorldCat.[4]

Sylvia_Townsend_Warner_"Go_the_Long_Way,_the_Long_Way_Home"_Poem_animation

Sylvia Townsend Warner "Go the Long Way, the Long Way Home" Poem animation

See also[]

References[]

  • Harman, Claire (1989) Sylvia Townsend Warner: A biography. Chatto & Windus
  • Pinney, Susanna (1998) I'll Stand by You: Selected letters of Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland with narrative by Sylvia Townsend Warner. North Pomfret, Vt.: Pimlico/Trafalgar Square ISBN 0-7126-7371-7
  • Mulford, Wendy (1988) This Narrow Place: Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland 1930-1951

Fonds[]

Notes[]

  1. ↑ Allen, Walter. "Lucky In Art Unlucky In Life" (fee required), The New York Times, 1968-04-21. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
  2. ↑ About the Society, Sylvia Townsend Warner Society. Web, May 6, 2021.
  3. ↑ Bibliography, Sylvia Townsend Warner Society, Web, June 21, 2012.
  4. ↑ Search results = au:Sylvia Townsend Warner, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Mar. 9, 2014.

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