Beatrice Hastings was the pen name of Emily Alice Haigh (27 January 1879 – 30 October 1943) an English writer,

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

and

theosophist Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion ...

. Her work was integral to British Magazine ''

The New Age ''The New Age'' was a British weekly magazine (1894–1938), inspired by Fabian socialism, and credited as a major influence on literature and the arts during its heyday from 1907 to 1922, when it was edited by Alfred Richard Orage. It publishe ...

'' which she helped edit along with her lover,

A. R. Orage Alfred Richard Orage (22 January 1873 – 6 November 1934) was a British influential figure in socialist politics and modernist culture, now best known for editing the magazine ''The New Age'' before the First World War. While he was working as a ...

, prior to the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. Hastings was also friend and lover of

Katherine Mansfield Kathleen Mansfield Murry (née Beauchamp; 14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923) was a New Zealand writer, essayist and journalist, widely considered one of the most influential and important authors of the modernist movement. Her works are celebra ...

, whose work was first published in ''The New Age''. She also had love affairs with

Wyndham Lewis Percy Wyndham Lewis (18 November 1882 – 7 March 1957) was a British writer, painter and critic. He was a co-founder of the Vorticist movement in art and edited ''BLAST,'' the literary magazine of the Vorticists. His novels include ''Tarr'' ( ...

and

Amedeo Modigliani Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (, ; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern style characterized by a surreal elongation of faces, necks, and ...

Biography

Beatrice Hastings was born in London but grew up in

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, So ...

, South Africa. She was educated in Pevensey, Sussex, near

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

, which may have supplied her chosen name. From 1896 to 1899, she attended the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

to study literature. In 1907 she met

, the editor of ''

'' magazine, with whom she embarked on a romantic relationship. Hastings soon began contributing to the magazine and went on to become one of its most prolific contributors, although most of her work appeared under

pseudonyms 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 individu ...

. These include: Pagan, Alice Morning, A.M.A., E.H., B.L.H., Beatrice Tina, Cynicus, Robert a Field, T.K.L., D. Triformis, Edward Stafford, S. Robert West, V.M., G. Whiz, J. Wilson, Annette Doorly, Hastings Lloyd, Mrs. Malaprop, and T.W. Hastings' work for ''The New Age'' spanned many different forms and genres, including items of correspondence, parody, poetry, polemic, travel writing, prose fiction, and dramatic dialogue. She described herself in one instance as 'a minor poet of the first class.'. One of Hastings' greatest talents was parody, and she composed parodies of many her contemporaries, including

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 ...

Filippo Marinetti Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti (; 22 December 1876 – 2 December 1944) was an Italian poet, editor, art theorist, and founder of the Futurist movement. He was associated with the utopian and Symbolist artistic and literary community Abbaye de ...

, and H.G. Wells. Hastings was also outspoken in her feminist views and ''The New Age'' correspondence section provided the space in which she developed many of the ideas which would inform her 1909 feminist tract, ''Woman's Worst Enemy: Woman''. In 1914 Hastings moved to Paris and became a figure in bohemian circles due to her friendship with Max Jacob. She shared an apartment in

Montparnasse Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. Montparnasse has bee ...

with

and became a model for 14 of his paintings, including his 1916 '' Seated Nude''. Another friend was adventure novelist

Charles Beadle Charles Beadle (October 27, 1881 – 1944?) was a novelist and pulp fiction writer, best known for his adventure stories in American pulp magazines, and for his novels of the bohemian life in Paris. He was born at sea. His father, Henry Beadle ...

, with whom she had several things in common. He grew up in Hackney, spent time in South Africa (participating in the Boer War as a member of the British South African Police), and published several novels about

bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

life in Paris. When Beadle came to America, from Paris, in November 1916, he listed Hastings as his nearest friend in Paris. Towards the end of her life Hastings felt excluded from the literary recognition she felt her due, and blamed Orage, whom she accused of conspiring to keep her out of literary circles in Britain. She published a pamphlet, ''The Old New Age'' (1936), in which she bitterly criticised Orage, calling him 'a rustic, a lout, a snob’. Hastings claimed that she ‘offended Orage’s masculine amour-propre, and for this, was made the victim of a social cabale ��a literary boycott that does, or should, matter to every reading person’. While many of the contents of this pamphlet are thought to be exaggerated, it nevertheless shines a light on Orage's already well-documented misogyny, and the experience of being a female author in the 1910s. In 1943, probably suffering from cancer, she killed herself with gas from a domestic cooker.

Posthumous recognition

Although in her lifetime Hastings was regarded as a relatively minor literary figure, more recently she has been praised for her innovative use of pseudonyms and her pioneering feminist views. Wallace Martin mentions her in his seminal study of ''

'', commenting that "Beatrice Hastings displayed amazing versatility as reviewer, poet, and satirist; she was most effective, albeit unnecessarily malicious, in the last capacity." Literary critic

Robert Scholes Robert E. Scholes (1929 – December 9, 2016) was an American literary critic and theorist. He is known for his ideas on fabulation and metafiction. Education and career Robert Scholes was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1929. After taking his ...

has noted that "Hastings, who was an important presence on the ''New Age'' editorial staff before the war, had an unhappy life that ended in suicide, never receiving the recognition as a writer that she sought."

Theosophy

Hastings was a convert to

Theosophy Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion a ...

. She attempted to defend Helena Blavatsky from charges of fraud and

plagiarism Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and though ...

. In 1937, she published two volumes entitled, ''Defence of Madame Blavatsky''. Her writings on Theosophy have been criticized by

skeptics Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the ...

. Biographer Peter Washington suggested that Hastings "suffered from delusions of literary grandeur."Washington, Peter. (1995). ''Madame Blavatsky's Baboon: A History of the Mystics, Mediums, and Misfits Who Brought Spiritualism to America''. Schocken Books. p. 203

Publications

* ''Woman's Worst Enemy – Woman'', 1909 * ''The Maids' Comedy: A Chivalric Romance in Thirteen Chapters'', 1911 * ''The Old "New Age"—Orage and Others'', Blue Moon Press, 1935 * ''Defence of Madame Blavatsky''
''Volume 1''''Volume 2''
, Hastings Press, 1937

References

External links

Beatrice Hastings: ''Defence of H.P. Blavatsky''

The Modernist Journals Project
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hastings, Beatrice 1879 births 1943 suicides Bisexual women Bisexual writers English LGBT novelists English LGBT poets English literary critics English occult writers English Theosophists English women novelists English women poets Helena Blavatsky biographers People from Hackney Central South African writers Suicides by gas Suicides in England Women literary critics