May Sinclair was the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

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. She was an active

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

, and member of the Woman Writers' Suffrage League. She once dressed up as a demure, rebel Jane Austen for a suffrage fundraising event. Sinclair was also a significant critic in the area of

modernist poetry Modernist poetry refers to poetry written between 1890 and 1950 in the tradition of modernist literature, but the dates of the term depend upon a number of factors, including the nation of origin, the particular school in question, and the biases ...

and

prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the f ...

, and she is attributed with first using the term 'stream of consciousness' in a literary context, when reviewing the first volumes of

Dorothy Richardson Dorothy Miller Richardson (17 May 1873 – 17 June 1957) was a British author and journalist. Author of ''Pilgrimage'', a sequence of 13 semi-autobiographical novels published between 1915 and 1967—though Richardson saw them as chapters of o ...

novel sequence A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. Book series can be organized in different ways, such as written by the same author, or marketed as a group by their pub ...

Pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

'' (1915–1967), in ''The Egoist'', April 1918.

Early life

Sinclair was born in

Rock Ferry Rock Ferry is an area of Birkenhead on the Wirral Peninsula, England. Administratively it is a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of the county of Cheshire. At the 2 ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

. Her mother, Amelia Sinclair, was strict and religious; her father, William Sinclair, was a

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

shipowner, who went bankrupt, became an alcoholic, and died when Sinclair was still a child. The family moved to Ilford on the edge of London. After one year of education at

Cheltenham Ladies College Cheltenham Ladies' College is an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. Consistently ranked as one of the top all-girls' schools nationally, the school was established in 1853 to pr ...

, Sinclair was obliged to look after her brothers, as four of the five, all older than she, were suffering from fatal congenital heart disease.

Career

From 1896 Sinclair wrote professionally to support herself and her mother, who died in 1901. An active feminist, Sinclair treated a number of themes relating to the position of women and marriage.Gary Crawford, "May Sinclair" in Jack Sullivan (ed) (1986) ''

The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural ''The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural'' is a reference work on horror fiction in the arts, edited by Jack Sullivan. The book was published in 1986 by Viking Press. Editor Sullivan’s stated purpose in compiling the volume, ...

'', Viking Press, 1986, (pp. 387-8). Her works sold well in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Sinclair's suffrage activities were remembered by

Sylvia Pankhurst Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst (5 May 1882 – 27 September 1960) was a campaigning English feminist and socialist. Committed to organising working-class women in London's East End, and unwilling in 1914 to enter into a wartime political truce with ...

. Photographs (as "Mary Sinlair" show her around the WSPU offices in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

. In 1912 the Women Writers' Suffrage League published her ideas on feminism. Here she de-bunked theories put forward by Sir

Almroth Wright Sir Almroth Edward Wright (10 August 1861 – 30 April 1947) was a British bacteriologist and immunologist. He is notable for developing a system of anti-typhoid fever inoculation, recognizing early on that antibiotics would create resistant ...

that the suffragists were powered by their sexual frustration because of the shortage of men. She said that suffrage and the class struggle were similar aspirations and the working woman should not be in competition with the ambitions of the male working class. Around 1913, she was a founding supporter of the Medico-Psychological Clinic in London which was run by Dr

Jessie Murray Jessie Margaret Murray (9 February 1867 – 25 September 1920) was a British psychoanalyst and suffragette. Born in India, she moved to the UK when she was 13. She undertook studies in medicine with the College of Preceptors and Worshipful So ...

. Sinclair became interested in

psychoanalytic PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might be ...

thought, and introduced matter related to

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...

's teaching in her novels. In 1914, she volunteered to join the

Munro Ambulance Corps The Munro Ambulance Corps was started in August 1914 by Hector Munro, who was one of the directors of the Medico-Psychological Clinic in London. The mission of the Corps was to move wounded troops from the battlefield to hospitals in Flanders durin ...

, a charitable organization (which included Lady Dorothie Feilding,

Elsie Knocker Elsie Knocker, later Baroness de T'Serclaes, (29 July 1884 – 26 April 1978) was a British nurse and ambulance driver in World War I who, together with her friend Mairi Chisholm, won numerous medals for bravery and for saving the lives of tho ...

and

Mairi Chisholm Mairi Lambert Gooden Chisholm of Chisholm, MM, OStJ (26 February 1896 – 22 August 1981), known as Mairi Chisholm, was a Scottish nurse and ambulance driver in the First World War. She, together with her friend Elsie Knocker, won numerous me ...

) that aided wounded

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

soldiers on the Western Front in

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

. She was sent home after only a few weeks at the front; she wrote about the experience in both prose and poetry. Her 1913 novel ''The Combined Maze'', the story of a London clerk and the two women he loves, was highly praised by critics, including

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...

, while

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...

considered it one of the greatest English novels of its time. She wrote early criticism on

Imagism Imagism was a movement in early-20th-century Anglo-American poetry that favored precision of imagery and clear, sharp language. It is considered to be the first organized modernist literary movement in the English language. Imagism is sometim ...

and the poet

H. D. Hilda Doolittle (September 10, 1886 – September 27, 1961) was an American modernist poet, novelist, and memoirist who wrote under the name H.D. throughout her life. Her career began in 1911 after she moved to London and co-founded the ...

(1915 in ''

The Egoist ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''); she was on social terms with H. D. (Hilda Doolittle),

Richard Aldington Richard Aldington (8 July 1892 – 27 July 1962), born Edward Godfree Aldington, was an English writer and poet, and an early associate of the Imagist movement. He was married to the poet Hilda Doolittle (H. D.) from 1911 to 1938. His 50-year w ...

and

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...

at the time. She also reviewed in a positive light the poetry of T. S. Eliot (1917 in the ''

Little Review ''The Little Review'', an American literary magazine founded by Margaret Anderson in Chicago's historic Fine Arts Building, published literary and art work from 1914 to May 1929. With the help of Jane Heap and Ezra Pound, Anderson created a ma ...

'') and the fiction of

(1918 in ''The Egoist''). 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''. Sinclair wrote two volumes of

supernatural fiction Supernatural fiction or supernaturalist fiction is a genre of speculative fiction that exploits or is centered on supernatural themes, often contradicting naturalist assumptions of the real world. Description In its broadest definition, supe ...

, ''Uncanny Stories'' (1923) and ''The Intercessor and Other Stories'' (1931).

E. F. Bleiler Everett Franklin Bleiler (April 30, 1920 – June 13, 2010) was an American editor, bibliographer, and scholar of science fiction, detective fiction, and fantasy literature. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he co-edited the first "year's best" s ...

called Sinclair "an underrated writer" and described ''Uncanny Stories'' as "excellent". Gary Crawford has stated Sinclair's contribution to the supernatural fiction genre, "small as it is, is notable".

Jacques Barzun Jacques Martin Barzun (; November 30, 1907 – October 25, 2012) was a French-American historian known for his studies of the history of ideas and cultural history. He wrote about a wide range of subjects, including baseball, mystery novels, and ...

included Sinclair among a list of supernatural fiction writers that "one should make a point of seeking out".

Brian Stableford Brian Michael Stableford (born 25 July 1948) is a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who has published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped ...

has stated that Sinclair's "supernatural tales are written with uncommon delicacy and precision, and they are among the most effective examples of their fugitive kind". Andrew Smith has described ''Uncanny Stories'' as "an important contribution to the ghost story". From the late 1920s, she was suffering from the early signs of

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

, and ceased writing. She settled with a companion in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

in 1932. She is buried at

St John-at-Hampstead St John-at-Hampstead is a Church of England parish church dedicated to St John the Evangelist (though the original dedication was only refined from St John to this in 1917 by the Bishop of London) in Church Row, Hampstead, London. History H ...

's churchyard, London.

Philosophy

Sinclair also wrote non-fiction based on studies of philosophy, particularly

idealism In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to ide ...

. She defended a form of idealistic

monism Monism attributes oneness or singleness (Greek: μόνος) to a concept e.g., existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished: * Priority monism states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., i ...

in her book ''A Defence of Idealism'' (1917). Sinclair was interested in

parapsychology Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry) and other paranormal claims, for example, those related to near ...

and

spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase) ...

, she was a member of the

Society for Psychical Research The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to condu ...

from 1914.Boll, Theophilus Ernest Martin. (1973). ''Miss May Sinclair: Novelist: A Biographical and Critical Introduction''. Associated University Presses, Inc. p. 105.

Works

*''Nakiketas and other poems'' (1886) as Julian Sinclair *''Essays in Verse'' (1892) *
Audrey Craven
' (1897) *''Mr and Mrs Nevill Tyson'' (1898) 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) *''Kitty Tailleur'' (1908) *''Outlines of Church History'' by Rudolph Sohm (1909) translator *''The Creators'' (1910) *''Miss Tarrant's Temperament'' (1911) in Harper's Magazine *''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 Defence 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 ''Arnold Waterlow: a Life'' is a 1924 novel by author May Sinclair. Like Sinclair's earlier novel The Life and Death of Harriet Frean, ''Arnold Waterlow: a Life'' chronologically details the life of a single character. Plot Born in 1863 to a we ...

'' (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) *
Villa Désirée
' (1932)

References

Sources

*Theophilus Ernest Martin Boll (1973) ''Miss May Sinclair: Novelist; A Biographical and Critical Introduction'' *Suzanne Raitt (2000) ''May Sinclair: A Modern Victorian'' *George M. Johnson (2006) "May Sinclair: The Evolution of a Psychological Novelist" in Dynamic Psychology in Modern British Fiction. Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. pp. 101–143.

External links

May Sinclair SocietyAn essay on May Sinclair, Dorothy Richardson, and 'Stream of Consciousness'A 2001 essay by Leigh Wilson
(

University of Westminster , mottoeng = The Lord is our Strength , type = Public , established = 1838: Royal Polytechnic Institution 1891: Polytechnic-Regent Street 1970: Polytechnic of Central London 1992: University of Westminster , endowment = £5.1 million ...

), from ''

The Literary Encyclopedia ''The Literary Encyclopedia'' is an online reference work first published in October 2000. It was founded as an innovative project designed to bring the benefits of information technology to what at the time was still a largely conservative li ...

'' * * * * * *
''The Cellar-House of Pervyse'' (1917)
at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

''We Brought Succour to Belgium'' (1914)
at 'A Nurse at the War'

at National Humanities Center

at National Humanities Center * ttp://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/ead/detail.html?id=EAD_upenn_rbml_MsColl184 May Sinclair papersKislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania {{DEFAULTSORT:Sinclair, May 1863 births 1946 deaths British women in World War I British women short story writers English short story writers English feminists English spiritualists English women poets Idealists Ghost story writers Modernist women writers Parapsychologists People from Birkenhead