Enid Mary Starkie CBE (18 August 1897 – 21 April 1970), was an Irish literary critic, known for her biographical works on French poets. She was a Fellow of

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...

, and Lecturer and then Reader in the University.

Early life

Starkie was born in

Killiney Killiney () is an affluent seaside resort and suburb in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Ireland. It lies south of neighbouring Dalkey, east of Ballybrack and Sallynoggin and north of Shankill. The place grew around the 11th century Killiney Chu ...

, Co. Dublin, Ireland. She was the eldest daughter of Rt. Hon. William Joseph Myles (WJM) Starkie (1860–1920) and May Caroline Walsh. The academic Walter Starkie was her brother. When she was two years of age her father accepted the post of Resident Commissioner of Education for Ireland. In

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

Dublin her upbringing was steeped in studies. Her father hired a French governess, Leonie Cora, to tutor his children in French and music. The children became imbued with everything French, from cooking to Le Printemps catalogues. Enid wrote, "My French governess never stopped talking of France, and she talked with all the nostalgia of the exile." Mlle. Cora had been a pupil of the French pianist and composer Raoul Pugno, and Enid learnt to play the piano, going on to win second medal for two years in succession at

Feis Ceoil Feis Ceoil ( ; "Festival of Music") is an Irish music organisation which holds an annual competitive festival of classical music. It was first organised in Dublin in 1897 by Dr. Annie Patterson and Edward Martyn for the purpose of stimulating musi ...

, the annual music festival in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. She was educated at

Alexandra College Alexandra College ( ir, Coláiste Alexandra) is a fee-charging boarding and day school for girls located in Milltown, Dublin, Ireland. The school operates under a Church of Ireland ethos. History The school was founded in 1866 and takes its ...

in Dublin,

Somerville College Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, ...

at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

, and the Sorbonne in Paris.

Oxford

Starkie read Modern Languages at Oxford and obtained a First in 1920. She taught modern languages at

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal c ...

and then in the

Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford The Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages is a department of the University of Oxford, England. It is part of the university's Humanities Division. The Faculty offers various undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in European languages; n ...

. Her biography of Baudelaire (1933) was for many English readers their first introduction to the poet. She wrote perceptively on

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1947). Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the symbolist movement, to the advent of anticolonialism ...

(1953), securing him an honorary doctorate at Oxford in 1947. She also played a major part in establishing the poetic reputation of

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he sta ...

(1938), receiving the first doctorate to be given in the Faculty of Modern Languages for her work ''Rimbaud in Abyssinia''. She published two major volumes on

Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flaube ...

(1967, 1971). In 1951 she campaigned successfully to have the quinquennially elected

Professor of Poetry The Professor of Poetry is an academic appointment at the University of Oxford. The chair was created in 1708 by an endowment from the estate of Henry Birkhead. The professorship carries an obligation to lecture, but is in effect a part-time po ...

at Oxford be a practising poet rather than a critic. She argued that "the Chair ought to go to someone outside the University, to someone who would not otherwise be heard in Oxford. There were enough people already engaged in talking about poetry as critics, indeed too many."

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univer ...

was defeated by

Cecil Day-Lewis Cecil Day-Lewis (or Day Lewis; 27 April 1904 – 22 May 1972), often written as C. Day-Lewis, was an Irish-born British poet and Poet Laureate from 1968 until his death in 1972. He also wrote mystery stories under the pseudonym of Nicholas Bla ...

in the first subsequent election. She also campaigned successfully for W. H. Auden (1956), Robert Graves (1961), and

Edmund Blunden Edmund Charles Blunden (1 November 1896 – 20 January 1974) was an English poet, author, and critic. Like his friend Siegfried Sassoon, he wrote of his experiences in World War I in both verse and prose. For most of his career, Blunden was al ...

(1966) in subsequent elections for the Chair, leading one critic to complain that, "This was a serious academic affair until Dr. Starkie turned it into something like the Oxford and Cambridge boat race." She also secured an honorary doctorate for

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the s ...

in 1956. She was honoured as an officer of the

Legion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

in 1958, and as a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in 1967. Many people regarded her as eccentric. An article in ''Time'' magazine portrayed her as "a brilliant Rimbaud scholar who pub-crawls about Oxford in bright red slacks and beret while smoking cigars." Francis Steegmuller wrote, "One of the things I most enjoyed about her was her true eccentricity, in a world where false eccentricity has become a kind of conformity. My wife is the novelist, Shirley Hazzard, and I always wonder when Enid will appear in one of her books."Joanna Richardson, ''Enid Starkie: A Biography'', (1973) p. 250

Works

* Les sources du lyrisme dans la poésie d' Emile Verhaeren (1927) * Baudelaire (1933) *

Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he sta ...

en Abyssinie (1933) *

in Abyssinia (1937) *

(1938) revised twice * A Lady's Child (1941) autobiography *

Petrus Borel Joseph-Pierre Borel d'Hauterive, known as Petrus Borel (26 June 1809 – 14 July 1859), was a French writer of the Romantic movement. Born at Lyon, the twelfth of fourteen children of an ironmonger, he studied architecture in Paris but abandoned ...

en Algérie (1950); (written in French) * The French Mind: Studies in Honour of Gustave Rudler (1952); editor with Will Moore and

Rhoda Sutherland Rhoda Sutherland (1907 – 6 January 1989) was an academic who studied the French language and specialised in Old French and Old Provencal. Life Rhoda Clarke was born in Atherstone in 1907 and attended Nuneaton School for Girls. In 1929 she w ...

ooks.google.co.uk/books?id=RmlQQwAACAAJ The French Mind Studies in honour of Gustave Rudler, Oxford 1952 *

(1953) *

: The Lycanthrope (1954) * Three Studies in Modern French Literature (

Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel '' In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous En ...

Gide Gide is a French surname. Notable people with the surname include: *André Gide (1869–1951), French author *Catherine Gide (1923–2013), French author and daughter of André Gide *Charles Gide (1847–1932), French economist and uncle of André ...

, Mauriac) (1960); with J. M. Cocking and Martin Jarrett-Kerr *

(1961) the final revision, a complete re-evaluation based on newly discovered materials. A New Directions book * From Gautier to Eliot: 1851–1939; the Influence of France on English Literature (1962) *

: the Making of the Master (1967) *

the Master (1971)

Notes

References

*''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'', Starkie, Enid Mary (1897–1970), French scholar by Peter France.

External links

*
Enid Mary Starkie (1897–1970), Critic and university teacher
National Portrait Gallery, London * for a wonderful lambasting of her critiques of Flaubert, see "Flaubert's Parrot" by Julian Barnes Flaubert's Parrot {{DEFAULTSORT:Starkie, Enid 1897 births 1970 deaths Irish writers University of Paris alumni Irish scholars and academics Irish biographers Literary critics of French People from County Dublin First women admitted to degrees at Oxford Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford People educated at Alexandra College