Elizabeth von Arnim (31 August 1866 – 9 February 1941), born Mary Annette Beauchamp, was an English novelist. Born in Australia, she married a German aristocrat, and her earliest works are set in Germany. Her first marriage made her Countess von Arnim-Schlagenthin and her second Elizabeth Russell, Countess Russell. After her first husband's death, she had a three-year affair with the writer

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

Frank Russell, elder brother of the

Nobel prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

-winner and philosopher

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...

. She was a cousin of the New Zealand-born writer

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 ...

. Though known in early life as May, her first book introduced her to readers as Elizabeth, which she eventually became friends and finally to family. Her writings are ascribed to Elizabeth von Arnim. She used the pseudonym Alice Cholmondeley for only one novel, ''

Christine Christine may refer to: People * Christine (name), a female given name Film * ''Christine'' (1958 film), based on Schnitzler's play ''Liebelei'' * ''Christine'' (1983 film), based on King's novel of the same name * ''Christine'' (1987 fil ...

'', published in 1917.

Early life

She was born at her family's home on Kirribilli Point in Sydney, Australia, to Henry Herron Beauchamp (1825–1907), a wealthy shipping merchant, and Elizabeth (nicknamed Louey) Weiss Lassetter (1836–1919). She was called May by her family. She had four brothers and a sister.Arnim, Jasper von (2003
Elizabeth von Arnim
von-arnim.net. Retrieved 24 July 2020 One of her cousins was the New Zealand-born Kathleen Beauchamp, who wrote under the pen name

. When she was three years old, the family moved to England, where they lived in London but also spent several years in Switzerland.Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edition (UK library card required): ''Arnim, Mary Annette [May] von''
Retrieved 5 March 2014. Arnim was the

first cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...

of Mansfield's father,

Harold Beauchamp Sir Harold Beauchamp (15 November 1858 – 5 October 1938) was a New Zealand businessman and later two times chairman of the Bank of New Zealand. He is remembered as the father of author Katherine Mansfield. Australian by birth he was brought ...

, making her the first cousin once removed of Mansfield. Although Elizabeth was older by 22 years, she and Mansfield later corresponded, reviewed each other's works, and became close friends. Mansfield, ill with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

, lived in the Montana region of Switzerland (now

Crans-Montana Crans-Montana is a municipality in the district of Sierre in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. On 1 January 2017 the former municipalities of Chermignon, Mollens, Montana and Randogne merged to form the new municipality of Crans-Montana. ...

) from May 1921 until January 1922, renting the Chalet des Sapins with her husband

John Middleton Murry John Middleton Murry (6 August 1889 – 12 March 1957) was an English writer. He was a prolific author, producing more than 60 books and thousands of essays and reviews on literature, social issues, politics, and religion during his lifetime. ...

from June 1921. The house was only a "1/2 an hour's scramble away" from Arnim's Chalet Soleil at

Randogne Randogne () is a former municipality in the district of Sierre in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. On 1 January 2017 the former municipalities of Chermignon, Mollens, Montana and Randogne merged to form the new municipality of Crans-Montan ...

. Arnim visited her cousin's niece often during this period. They got on well, although Mansfield considered the much wealthier Arnim to be patronizing. Mansfield satirized Arnim as the character Rosemary in a short story, " A Cup of Tea", which she wrote while in Switzerland. Arnim studied at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including performanc ...

, principally learning the organ.

Personal life

On 21 February 1891, Elizabeth married the widowed German aristocrat Count (1851–1910) in London, whom she had met on a tour of Italy with her father two years earlier.Maddison, Isobel (2016) ''Elizabeth von Arnim: Beyond the German Garden''. Abingdon: Routledge. He was the eldest son of the late Count Harry von Arnim, the former German Ambassador to France. At first they lived in Berlin, then in 1896 moved to what was then Nassenheide,

Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...

(now

Rzędziny Rzędziny (formerly Nassenheide, Pomerania until 1945) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Dobra, within Police County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland, close to the German border. It lies approximately nor ...

in Poland), where the Arnim family had a landed estate. They had four daughters and a son, born between December 1891 and October 1901. In 1899, Henning von Arnim was arrested and imprisoned for fraud but was later acquitted. At the time of the

1901 United Kingdom census The United Kingdom Census 1901 was the 11th nationwide census conducted in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and was done on 31st March 1901 "relating to the persons returned as living at midnight on Sunday, March 31st". The total p ...

, on 1 April 1901, Arnim was in England, staying with her uncle Henry Beauchamp at The Retreat,

Bexley Bexley is an area of south-eastern Greater London, England and part of the London Borough of Bexley. It is sometimes known as Bexley Village or Old Bexley to differentiate the area from the wider borough. It is located east-southeast of Ch ...

, without any of her children. Her son Henning Bernd was born in London in October 1902. The children's tutors at Nassenheide included

E. M. Forster Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English author, best known for his novels, particularly ''A Room with a View'' (1908), ''Howards End'' (1910), and ''A Passage to India'' (1924). He also wrote numerous short stori ...

, who worked there for several months in the spring and summer of 1905.R. Sully (2012
''British Images of Germany: Admiration, Antagonism & Ambivalence, 1860–1914''
p. 120, New York: Springer. Retrieved 20 July 2020 (Google Books). Forster wrote a short memoir of the months he spent there. From April to July 1907 the writer

Hugh Walpole Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (13 March 18841 June 1941) was an English novelist. He was the son of an Anglican clergyman, intended for a career in the church but drawn instead to writing. Among th ...

was the children’s tutor. In 1908, Elizabeth von Arnim moved to London with the children. The couple did not consider this a formal separation, although the marriage had been unhappy, owing to the Count's affairs, and they had slept in separate bedrooms for some time. In 1910, financial problems meant the Nassenheide estate had to be sold. Later that year, Count von Arnim died in

Bad Kissingen Bad Kissingen is a German spa town in the Bavarian region of Lower Franconia and seat of the district Bad Kissingen. Situated to the south of the Rhön Mountains on the Franconian Saale river, it is one of the health resorts, which beca ...

, with his wife and three of their daughters by his side.Römhild, Juliane (2014) ''Femininity and Authorship in the Novels of Elizabeth von Arnim: At Her Most Radiant Moment'', pp. 16–24. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. In 1911, Elizabeth moved to Randogne, Switzerland, where she had the Chalet Soleil built, and entertained literary and society friends. From 1910 until 1913, she was a mistress of the novelist

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

aged sixteen in Bremen. She had been unable to return to England because of travel and financial controls caused by the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

.Juliane Roemhild, (30 May 1916
Elizabeth von Arnim Society. 2016 Centenary Note: Two Wartime Tragedies
Retrieved 23 July 2020.

Second marriage and separation, house moves, and death

In January 1916, Arnim married

Frank Russell, 2nd Earl Russell John Francis Stanley Russell, 2nd Earl Russell, known as Frank Russell (12 August 18653 March 1931), was a British nobleman, barrister and politician, the elder brother of the philosopher Bertrand Russell, and the grandson of John Russell, 1st ...

, the elder brother of the philosopher

. The marriage ended in acrimony, with the couple separating in 1919, although they never divorced. She then went to the United States, where her daughters Liebet and Evi were living. In 1920 she returned to her home in Switzerland, using it as a base for frequent trips to other parts of Europe. In the same year, she embarked on an affair with

Alexander Stuart Frere Alexander Stuart Frere (born Frere-Reeves; 23 November 1892 – 3 October 1984) was an English publisher who was highly influential in the interwar and post-Second World War period. He was chairman of the board of William Heinemann Ltd and help ...

(1892–1984), who later became chairman of the publishing house

Heinemann Heinemann may refer to: * Heinemann (surname) * Heinemann (publisher), a publishing company * Heinemann Park, a.k.a. Pelican Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States See also * Heineman * Jamie Hyneman James Franklin Hyneman (born Se ...

. Frere, 26 years her junior, initially went to stay at the Chalet Soleil to catalog her large library, and a romance ensued. The affair lasted several years. In 1933, Frere married the writer and theater critic Patricia Wallace, and Arnim was the godmother of the couple’s only daughter Elizabeth (later Elizabeth Frere Jones) who was named in her honour. In 1930, Arnim set up a home in

Mougins Mougins (; oc, Mogins ; la, Muginum ) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes département in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 19,982. It is located on the heights of Cannes, in the a ...

in the south of France, seeking a warmer climate. She created a rose garden there and called the house ''Mas des Roses''. She continued to entertain her social and literary circle there, as she had done in Switzerland. She kept this house to the end of her life, although she moved to the United States in 1939 at the beginning of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. She died of influenza at the Riverside Infirmary, Charleston, South Carolina, on 9 February 1941, aged 74, and was cremated at Fort Lincoln Cemetery,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. In 1947 her ashes were mingled with those of her brother, Sir Sydney Beauchamp, in the churchyard of St Margaret's, Tylers Green, Penn, Buckinghamshire. The Latin inscription on her tombstone reads ''parva sed apta'' (small but apt), alluding to her short stature.

Literary career

Arnim launched her career as a writer with her satirical and semi-autobiographical '' Elizabeth and Her German Garden'' (1898). Published anonymously, it chronicled the protagonist Elizabeth's struggles to create a garden on the family estate and her attempts to integrate into German aristocratic

Junker Junker ( da, Junker, german: Junker, nl, Jonkheer, en, Yunker, no, Junker, sv, Junker ka, იუნკერი (Iunkeri)) is a noble honorific, derived from Middle High German ''Juncherre'', meaning "young nobleman"Duden; Meaning of Junke ...

society. In it, she fictionalized her husband as "The Man of Wrath". It was reprinted twenty times by May 1899, a year after its publication. A bitter-sweet memoir and companion to it was ''The Solitary Summer'' (1899). By 1900, Arnim's books had such success that the identity of "Elizabeth" caused newspaper speculation in London, New York and elsewhere. Other works, such as ''The Benefactress'' (1902), ''The Adventures of Elizabeth on Rügen'' (1904), '' Vera'' (1921), and ''Love'' (1925), were also semi-autobiographical. Some titles ensued that deal with protest against domineering ''Junkertum'' and witty observations of life in provincial Germany, including ''The

Princess Priscilla's Fortnight ''Princess Priscilla's Fortnight'' is a 1905 comedy-drama novel by the British writer Elizabeth von Arnim, known at the time as Elizabeth, Countess Russell. It was turned into a play '' The Cottage in the Air'' in 1909.Boardman p.666 Film adaptat ...

'' (1905) and ''Fräulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther'' (1907). She would sign her twenty or so books, after the first, initially as "by the author of ''Elizabeth and Her German Garden''" and later simply as "By Elizabeth". In 1909, ''The Princess Priscilla's Fortnight'' was turned into a play called ''The Cottage in the Air'', and in 1929 into the film ''

The Runaway Princess ''The Runaway Princess'' is a 1929 British-German silent drama film directed by Anthony Asquith and Fritz Wendhausen and starring Mady Christians, Fred Rains, Paul Cavanagh, and Anne Grey. Production The film was a co-production between Bri ...

'', directed by

Anthony Asquith Anthony William Landon Asquith (; 9 November 1902 – 20 February 1968) was an English film director. He collaborated successfully with playwright Terence Rattigan on ''The Winslow Boy'' (1948) and '' The Browning Version'' (1951), among oth ...

and starring

Mady Christians Marguerita Maria "Mady" Christians (January 19, 1892 – October 28, 1951) was an Austrian actress who had a successful acting career in theatre and film in the United States until she was blacklisted during the McCarthy period. Biography She ...

. Although Arnim never wrote a conventional autobiography, ''All the Dogs of My Life'' (1936), an account of her love for her pets, contains many glimpses of her glittering social circle.

Reception

Arnim's 1921 novel ''Vera'', a dark tragi-comedy drawing on her disastrous marriage to Earl Russell, was her most critically acclaimed work, described by

as "''

Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under her pen name Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their turbulent re ...

'' by Jane Austen". Her 1922 work, ''

The Enchanted April ''The Enchanted April'' is a 1922 novel by British writer Elizabeth von Arnim. The work was inspired by a month-long holiday to the Italian Riviera, probably the most widely read (as an English and American best seller in 1923) and perhaps the ...

'', inspired by a month-long holiday to the Italian Riviera, is perhaps the lightest and most ebullient of her novels. It has regularly been adapted for the stage and screen: as a Broadway play in 1925, a 1935 American feature film, an Academy Award-nominated feature film in 1992 (starring

Josie Lawrence Josie Lawrence (born Wendy Lawrence; 6 June 1959) is an English actress and comedian. She is best known for her work with the Comedy Store Players improvisational troupe, the television series '' Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' and as Manda Best in ...

, Jim Broadbent and

Joan Plowright Joan Ann Olivier, Baroness Olivier, (née Plowright; born 28 October 1929), professionally known as Dame Joan Plowright, is an English retired actress whose career has spanned over seven decades. She has won two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony ...

among others), a Tony Award-nominated stage play in 2003, a musical play in 2010, and in 2015 a serial on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

. Terence de Vere White credits ''The Enchanted April'' with making the Italian resort of

Portofino Portofino (; ) is a ''comune'' located in the Metropolitan City of Genoa on the Italian Riviera. The town is clustered around its small harbour, and is known for the colourfully painted buildings that line the shore. Since the late 19th century ...

fashionable.Terence De Vere White, Introduction to ''The Enchanted April'', Virago: 1991 It is also, probably, the most widely read of all her works, having been a Book-of-the-Month club choice in America upon publication. Her 1940 novel ''Mr. Skeffington'' was made into an Academy Award-nominated feature film by Warner Bros. in 1944, starring

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her pe ...

and Claude Rains, and a 60-minute "

Lux Radio Theater ''Lux Radio Theatre'', sometimes spelled ''Lux Radio Theater'', a classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of American Broadcasting Company ...

" broadcast radio adaptation of the movie on 1 October 1945. Since 1983, the British publisher

Virago A virago is a woman who demonstrates abundant masculine virtues. The word comes from the Latin word ''virāgō'' ( genitive virāginis) meaning vigorous' from ''vir'' meaning "man" or "man-like" (cf. virile and virtue) to which the suffix ''-ā ...

has been reprinting her work with new introductions by modern writers, some of which claim her as a feminist. ''The Reader's Encyclopedia'' reports that many of her later novels are "tired exercises", but this opinion is not widely held. Perhaps the best example of Arnim's mordant wit and unusual attitude to life is provided in one of her letters: "I'm so glad I didn't die on the various occasions I have earnestly wished I might, for I would have missed a lot of lovely weather."Letter to Maud Ritchie, quoted by Deborah Kellaway in introduction to ''The Solitary Summer'', Virago: 1993

Select bibliography

*'' Elizabeth and Her German Garden'' (1898) �
online at Project Gutenberg
*''The Solitary Summer'' (1899) �
online at Project Gutenberg
*''The April Baby's Book of Tunes'' (1900) (Illustrated by Kate Greenaway) �
online at Project Gutenberg
*''The Benefactress'' (1901) �
online at Project Gutenberg
*''The Ordeal of Elizabeth'' (1901; draft of a novel, published posthumously) *''The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rugen'' (1904) �
online at Project Gutenberg
*''

'' (1905) �
online at Project Gutenberg
*''Fräulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther'' (1907) �
online at Project Gutenberg
*''The Caravaners'' (1909) *''The Pastor's Wife'' (1914) �
online at Project Gutenberg
*''

'' (1917) (written under the pseudonym Alice Cholmondeley) �
online at Project Gutenberg
*''Christopher and Columbus'' (1919) �
online at Project Gutenberg
*''In the Mountains'' (1920) �
online at Project Gutenberg
*'' Vera'' (1921) �
online at Project Gutenberg
*''

'' (1922) �
online at Project Gutenberg
*''Love'' (1925) *''Introduction to Sally'' (1926) *''Expiation'' (1929) *''Father'' (1931) *''The Jasmine Farm'' (1934) *''All the Dogs of My Life'' (autobiography, 1936) *''Mr. Skeffington'' (1940) �

Notes

Sources * * * *

Other biographies

*Joyce Morgan, ''The Countess from Kirribilli''. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2021 * *

Katie Roiphe Katie Roiphe (born July 13, 1968) is an American author and journalist. She is best known as the author of the non-fiction book '' The Morning After: Fear, Sex and Feminism'' (1994). She is also the author of ''Last Night in Paradise: Sex and Mora ...

, ''Uncommon Arrangements: Seven Portraits of Married Life in London Literary Circles 1910–1939''. New York: Dial Press, 2008 *Jennifer Walker, ''Elizabeth of the German Garden – A Literary Journey''. Brighton: Book Guild, 2013

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arnim, Elizabeth Von 1866 births 1941 deaths Writers from Sydney

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

Russell German countesses British women novelists 19th-century British novelists 20th-century British novelists 19th-century British women writers 19th-century British writers 20th-century British women writers Deaths from influenza Infectious disease deaths in South Carolina