Publisher's Synopsis
Viola Meynell was in her time widely regarded as one of the generation's greatest talents. She wrote a dozen novels, several books of stories, two memoirs and two volumes of poetry, along with a great deal of literary journalism.;This study takes a chronological approach and describes and analyzes her family life and intellectual background, and discusses the reception of her work, citing letters and sales figures. It is based on archival research as well as extensive interviews with surviving family members and descendents of people who knew her.;Here Raymond MacKenzie presents a portrait of a popular writer who was a bridge between the Victorian giants such as Tennyson and Browning, and the modern iconoclasts that were T.S. Eliot and F. Scott Fitzgerald. He begins with a thorough examination of the social and political movements of the last quarter of the 19th century that were dominated by Disraeli and the Young England Movement. He also weaves into this survey the lives of Meynell's parents. Both were writers, Alice becoming the better known poet and essayist while Wilfrid encouraged Catholic emancipation in the two journals he edited.;Each chapter summarizes and criticizes Meynell's work, examining its literary influences and forebears as well as the personal struggles with love and faith.
