Stevie Smith

Spalding reveals and explores the intimate relationship between the course of Stevie Smith's life and the evolution of her art, into which she assimilated not simply the events and emotions of her private life, but the influences on her imagination of her wide and varied reading. Stevie Smith is best known for "Not Waving But Drowning", one of the English speaking world's favourite poems. Born in Hull as Florence Margaret Smith, her family moved to Palmers Green in 1905, and she lived there until her death on 7 March 1971. After her death, a film starring Glenda Jackson and a play were written about her life, bringing widespread revival among her readers. This biography reveals a new side of Stevie Smith's character, and demonstrates that her solitude has been overstated: she was actively involved in the social as well as intellectual life of literary London. She began writing poetry in her twenties while working as secretary. Her first book, "Novel on Yellow Paper", was published in 1936 and drew heavily on her own life, examining the unrest in England during World War I. Until the last ten years of her life, she remained virtually unknown, when she was then awarded the Cholmondeley Award for Poetry, and the Queen's Gold Medal for poetry. This work reveals how the events of Stevie Smith's life had a profound effect on her poetry, and that her life and art formed a very intimate relationship. AUTHOR: Frances Spalding is an art historian, critic and biographer. She read art history at the University of Nottingham and began writing pieces for the TLS, The Burlington Magazine and art journals while still a post-graduate. She went on to write lives of the artists Vanessa Bell, John Minton, Duncan Grant, Gwen Raverat and John and Myfanwy Piper, as well as a biography of the poet Stevie Smith. Between 2000 and 2015, she taught at Newcastle University, becoming Professor of Art History. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art and in 2005 was made a CBE for Services to Literature. 38 b/w illustrations

‘Confident and very readable . . . one of Frances Spalding’s achievements in this book is to display Stevie Smith’s frailties without destroying her dignity’

‘A careful, informative and worthwhile book’

‘It is a biography of inner life. It is also a hymn to tenebrous suburbia, a book full of English oddness, and a lovely loamish read.'

FRANCES SPALDING is an art historian, critic and biographer. She read art history at the University of Nottingham and began writing pieces for the TLS, The Burlington Magazine and art journals while still a post-graduate. She went on to write lives of the artists Vanessa Bell, John Minton, Duncan Grant, Gwen Raverat and John and Myfanwy Piper, as well as a biography of the poet Stevie Smith. Between 2000 and 2015, she taught at Newcastle University, becoming Professor of Art History. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art and in 2005 was made a CBE for Services to Literature.

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