Mary Chavelita Dunne Bright (born Mary Elizabeth Annie Dunne; 14 December 1859 – 12 August 1945), better known by her pen name George Egerton (pronounced Edg'er-ton), was a writer of short stories, novels, plays and translations, noted for her psychological probing, innovative narrative techniques, and outspokenness about women's need for freedom, including sexual freedom. Egerton is widely considered to be one of the most important writers in the late nineteenth century

New Woman The New Woman was a feminist ideal that emerged in the late 19th century and had a profound influence well into the 20th century. In 1894, Irish writer Sarah Grand (1854–1943) used the term "new woman" in an influential article, to refer to ...

movement, and a key exponent of early modernism in English-language literature. Born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, she spent her childhood in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, where she settled for a time, and considered herself to be "intensely Irish".

Life

George Egerton was born Mary Elizabeth Annie Dunne in Melbourne, Australia, in 1859, to a Welsh Protestant mother, Elizabeth (née George, also known as "Isabella"), and an Irish Catholic father, Captain John Joseph Dunne. The earliest years of her life were marked by migration between Australia, New Zealand and Chile, but most of her formative years were spent in and around

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, and Egerton was to refer to herself throughout her life as "intensely Irish". Raised Catholic, she was schooled for two years in Germany as a teenager. There, she demonstrated a talent for art and linguistics, but her ambitions to become an artist had to be shelved after the death of her mother when she was fourteen, at which time she became the caretaker for her younger siblings. She subsequently trained as a nurse.RIA/''Cambridge Dictionary of Irish Biography'' (2009), Vol. III, p. 596. As a young adult, Egerton spent two years in New York in an abortive attempt to earn money to support her father, brothers and sisters. Failing at this endeavour (though some of her experiences in the USA would serve as inspiration for her 1898 novel ''The Wheel of God''), she returned to live in England. In 1888, in events which were notorious enough to be widely published in leading newspapers in the UK and Ireland, Egerton eloped with the then-married Henry Peter Higginson-Whyte-Melville (born Henry Peter Higginson). In retaliation, Whyte-Melville's wife accused her estranged husband of being a bigamist, claiming he was already married at the time that she wed him. This allegation was later proved to be untrue. During the period of the elopement, Egerton's father pursued the couple and, newspaper reports confirm, shot at Whyte-Melville in a hansom cab. Whyte-Melville was divorced later that year and he and Egerton married in Detroit in the summer of 1888. The marriage lasted until his death a year later. With Whyte-Melville, Egerton moved to Norway, where she lived for two years. This time spent in Norway was formative to her in terms of her intellectual growth and artistic development. While in Norway she immersed herself in the work of

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...

Ola Hansson Ola Hansson (12 November 1860, Hönsinge, Sweden – 26 September 1925, Büyükdere, Turkey) was a Swedish poet, prose writer, and critic. Biography Hansson published his first works, ''Dikter'' ("''Poems''") in 1884 and ''Notturno'' in 1 ...

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...

, and

Knut Hamsun Knut Hamsun (4 August 1859 – 19 February 1952) was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to consciousness, subject, perspective a ...

. Her brief romantic connection to Hamsun served as the inspiration for her 1893 short story "Now Spring Has Come". Hamsun went on to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, and Egerton was the first to make Hamsun's work accessible to an English readership, with her translation of his first novel ''

Hunger In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period. In the ...

'' (''Sult''), published in 1899. A second marriage (in 1891) to the minor adventurer and author Egerton Tertius Clairmonte was the impetus for her first attempts at writing fiction – instigated by his penniless status and her desire to alleviate the boredom she felt upon her return to rural Ireland. She chose the pseudonym "George Egerton" as a tribute to both her mother and to Clairmonte. Asked how to say her pen name, she told ''The

Literary Digest ''The Literary Digest'' was an influential American general interest weekly magazine published by Funk & Wagnalls. Founded by Isaac Kaufmann Funk in 1890, it eventually merged with two similar weekly magazines, ''Public Opinion'' and '' Current ...

'' it was pronounced ''edg'er-ton'', adding "This name is pronounced this way, as far as I know by all bearers of the name in England."

Literary career

Egerton's first book of short stories, ''Keynotes'', was published by John Lane and

Elkin Mathews Charles Elkin Mathews (1851 – 10 November 1921) was a British publisher and bookseller who played an important role in the literary life of London in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Mathews was born in Gravesend, and learned his tra ...

of the

Bodley Head The Bodley Head is an English publishing house, founded in 1887 and existing as an independent entity until the 1970s. The name was used as an imprint of Random House Children's Books from 1987 to 2008. In April 2008, it was revived as an adul ...

in 1893 and illustrated by

Aubrey Beardsley Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (21 August 187216 March 1898) was an English illustrator and author. His black ink drawings were influenced by Woodblock printing in Japan, Japanese woodcuts, and depicted the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He ...

. Like other Bodley Head and Beardsley-illustrated publications, it is associated with both the literary ''

fin de siècle () is a French term meaning "end of century,” a phrase which typically encompasses both the meaning of the similar English idiom "turn of the century" and also makes reference to the closing of one era and onset of another. Without context ...

'' and "

Decadent The word decadence, which at first meant simply "decline" in an abstract sense, is now most often used to refer to a perceived decay in standards, morals, dignity, religious faith, honor, discipline, or skill at governing among the members of ...

" movements. ''Keynotes'' was phenomenally successful (and notorious) on both sides of the Atlantic and as a result of this Egerton became a celebrity, was interviewed in the leading magazines of the day, and was famously lampooned in ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

''. ''Keynotes'' and her subsequent fiction often had the same thematic preoccupation: a dismissal of female purity as a male construct that denies women the right to expect and experience sexual freedom and fulfilment. Commentators long felt that ''Keynotes'' was the high-water mark of Egerton's literary career, but a renewed interest in her later work gained momentum in the first decade of the twenty-first century and has continued apace. As a result, recent academic scholarship has increasingly focused on her subsequent volume of short stories, ''Discords'', and her later efforts – including two additional short story volumes (''Symphonies'' and ''Flies in Amber''); two novels (''Rosa Amorosa'' and ''The Wheel of God''); and a book of Nietzschean parables (''Fantasias''). Her later incarnation as a playwright (''Camilla States Her Case'', 1925) and translator of plays (most notably from the French) generated only a few moderately successful productions. She was a friend of

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

Ellen Terry Dame Alice Ellen Terry, (27 February 184721 July 1928), was a leading English actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born into a family of actors, Terry began performing as a child, acting in Shakespeare plays in London, and tour ...

and

J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succ ...

Politics

Egerton's work is among the most forthrightly outspoken in nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century English-language literature in terms of a demand for women's education, financial independence, and sexual freedom. Yet, while she was firmly associated with the New Woman movement, Egerton claimed to be "embarrassed" by this reduction of her work. Interestingly, like Emily Lawless, Egerton was one of the major feminist writers of the period who chose to distance herself from the

women's suffrage movement Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to gran ...

, although in her private letters she could be forthrightly pro-suffrage. For instance, she wrote in a letter to her father in 1908: 'H. Gladstone that mediocre son of an overrated father is a feeble thing at the head of any department. The women won’t be beaten in the long run. -- In every class they have a greater average of intelligence than the men...It isn't a question of Rights. It is a question of Economic change. A Surplus population of women who must work, outside home life...means: if I pay the tax -- I must get the vote!' Some critics see an

anti-authoritarian Anti-authoritarianism is opposition to authoritarianism, which is defined as "a form of social organisation characterised by submission to authority", "favoring complete obedience or subjection to authority as opposed to individual freedom" and ...

impulse in her work. Her feminism can be read as a

difference feminism Difference feminism holds that there are differences between men and women but that no value judgment can be placed upon them and both sexes have equal moral status as persons. The term "difference feminism" developed during the "equality-versus ...

, or as an

individualist feminism Individualist feminism is a libertarian feminist tradition that emphasizes individualism, personal autonomy, choice, consent, freedom from state-sanctioned discrimination against women, and equality under the law. It also opposes what is consi ...

. Egerton's short stories are typically critical of organised religion, and include many discussions of

atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

. She was scathing of marriage as an institution, and many of her protagonists overtly defy Victorian and Christian morality by advocating

free union A free union is a romantic union between two or more persons without legal or religious recognition or regulation. The term has been used since the late 19th century to describe a relationship into which all parties enter, remain, and depart ...

s, same sex parenting partnerships and single parenthood.

Reputation

Egerton's stylistic innovations and her often radical and feminist subject matter have ensured that her fiction continues to generate academic interest in America and Britain.

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...

acknowledged the influence of Egerton's work on his own, in particular on the construction of his "New Woman" character, Sue Bridehead, in ''

Jude the Obscure ''Jude the Obscure'' is a novel by Thomas Hardy, which began as a magazine serial in December 1894 and was first published in book form in 1895 (though the title page says 1896). It is Hardy's last completed novel. The protagonist, Jude Fawley ...

'', and Tina O'Toole has described New Woman writers in general, and Egerton in particular, as the "missing link" to the sexually transgressive work of later writers such as

Kate O'Brien (novelist) Kate O'Brien (3 December 1897 – 13 August 1974) was an Irish novelist and playwright. Biography Kathleen Mary Louise "Kate" O'Brien was born in Limerick City in 1897 to a middle-class family. Following the death of her mother when she w ...

Holbrook Jackson George Holbrook Jackson (31 December 1874 – 16 June 1948) was a British journalist, writer and publisher. He was recognised as one of the leading bibliophiles of his time. Biography Holbrook Jackson was born in Liverpool, England. He worked ...

credited Egerton with the first mention of

in English literature (she refers to Nietzsche in ''Keynotes'' in 1893, three years before the first of Nietzsche's works was translated into English). Her experimentation with form and content has also been described as anticipating the modernism of writers like

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

Jean Rhys Jean Rhys, ( ; born Ella Gwendolyn Rees Williams; 24 August 1890 – 14 May 1979) was a British novelist who was born and grew up in the Caribbean island of Dominica. From the age of 16, she mainly resided in England, where she was sent for her ...

, and

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

, and her 1898 novel ''The Wheel of God'', in particular, has been posited as a rudimentary template for James Joyce's ''

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'' is the first novel of Irish writer James Joyce. A ''Künstlerroman'' written in a modernist style, it traces the religious and intellectual awakening of young Stephen Dedalus, Joyce's fictional alter ...

'' and as a potential influence on segments of ''

Ulysses Ulysses is one form of the Roman name for Odysseus, a hero in ancient Greek literature. Ulysses may also refer to: People * Ulysses (given name), including a list of people with this name Places in the United States * Ulysses, Kansas * Ulysse ...

''. Whitney Standlee (2010) 'George Egerton, James Joyce and the Irish Künstlerroman', ''Irish Studies Review'', 18:4, 439-452, DOI: 10.1080/09670882.2010.515850

List of works

* ''Keynotes''. London: Elkin Mathews and John Lane, 1893. https://archive.org/details/b29012612/page/n5 * ''Discords''. London: John Lane at The Bodley Head, 1894. https://archive.org/details/discordsbygeorg00egergoog/page/n8 * "A Lost Masterpiece." ''The Yellow Book'' Vol. 1 (April 1894): 189–96. https://archive.org/details/yellowapril189401uoft/page/n205 * "The Captain's Book." ''The Yellow Book'' Vol. 6 (July 1895): 103–16. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.41184/page/n115 * ''Symphonies''. London: John Lane at The Bodley Head, 1897. https://archive.org/details/symphonies00egergoog/page/n4 * ''Fantasias''. London: John Lane at The Bodley Head, 1898. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.45969/page/n5 * ''The Wheel of God''. London: Grant Richards, 1898. https://archive.org/details/wheelgod00egergoog/page/n11 * ''Rosa Amorosa: The Love-Letters of a Woman''. London: Grant Richards, 1901. https://archive.org/details/cu31924013248129 * ''Flies in Amber''. London: Hutchinson, 1905. * "A Keynote to Keynotes." ''Ten Contemporaries: Notes Toward Their Definitive Bibliography''. Ed. John Gawsworth. London: Ernest Benn, 1932. * ''A Leaf from The Yellow Book: The Correspondence of George Egerton''. Ed. Terence de Vere White. London: Richards, 1958. Translations and adaptations *

: ''Young Ofeg's Ditties''. London: J. Lane, 1895. https://archive.org/details/youngofegsdittie00hansiala/page/n5/mode/2up *

: ''

''. London: L. Smithers, 1899. https://archive.org/details/hunger00egergoog/page/n9/mode/2up *

Henri Bernstein Henri-Léon-Gustave-Charles Bernstein (20 June 1876 – 27 November 1953) was a French playwright associated with Boulevard theatre. Biography Bernstein was born in Paris. His earliest plays, including ''La Rafale'' (1905), ''Le Voleur'' (1907), ...

: ''The Whirlwind'' (1910) *Henri Bernstein: ''The Attack'' (1912) *

Pierre Loti Pierre Loti (; pseudonym of Louis Marie-Julien Viaud ; 14 January 1850 – 10 June 1923) was a French naval officer and novelist, known for his exotic novels and short stories.This article is derived largely from the ''Encyclopædia Britannica El ...

and

Judith Gautier Judith Gautier (25 August 1845, Paris – 26 December 1917) was a French poet, translator and historical novelist, the daughter of Théophile Gautier and Ernesta Grisi, sister of the noted singer and ballet dancer Carlotta Grisi. She was mar ...

: ''The Daughter of Heaven'' (1912) Plays * ''His Wife’s Family'' (1907) * ''Backsliders'' (1910) * ''Camilla States Her Case'' (1925)

Notes

References

*De Vere White, Terence. ''A Leaf from the Yellow Book''. London: The Richards Press, 1958. *Egerton, George. ''Keynotes and Discords.'' Ed. Martha Vicinus. London: Virago, 1995. *Egerton, George. ''Symphonies.'' London and New York: John Lane/The Bodley Head, 1897. *Egerton, George. ''The Wheel of God.'' New York: The Knickerbocker Press, 1898. *Gawsworth, John. ''Ten Contemporaries: Notes Toward Their Definitive Bibliography.'' London: Ernest Benn, 1932. *Hamsun, Knut. ''Hunger.'' Trans. George Egerton. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2003. *Hansson, Laura Marholm. ''Six Modern Women: Psychological Sketches.'' Trans. Hermione Ramsden. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1896. *Jusova, Iveta. ''The New Woman and the Empire.'' Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2005. *McCracken, Scott. "A Novel From/On the Margins: George Egerton's ''The Wheel of God''". ''Gender and Colonialism.'' Eds. L. Pilkington et al. Galway: Galway University Press, 1995. 139–157. *O'Toole, Tina. "''Keynotes'' from Millstreet, Co. Cork: George Egerton's Transgressive Fictions". ''Colby Library Quarterly'' 36.2(2000): 145–156. *Selected Papers of Mary Chavelita Bright. Reference C0105. Manuscripts Division. Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. Princeton University Library. *Standlee, Whitney. "Displaced Identities in the Short Stories of George Egerton". Unpublished M.A. Thesis. Humanities Department. University of Central Lancashire: Preston, United Kingdom, 2006. *Stetz, Margaret Diane. '"George Egerton": Woman and Writer of the Eighteen Nineties'. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis. The Department of English and American Language and Literature. Harvard University: Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1982.

External links

* * *
Selected Papers of Mary Chavelita Bright at Princeton University LibraryGeorge Egerton's translation of ''Hunger''
at

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Egerton, George 1859 births 1945 deaths British non-fiction writers Irish women writers Irish feminists Writers from Dublin (city) 19th-century Irish people 20th-century Irish people 19th-century pseudonymous writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers Pseudonymous women writers