Elizabeth von Arnim
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Elizabeth von Arnim (31 August 1866 – 9 February 1941), born Mary Annette Beauchamp, was an Australian born British novelist. By marriage she became Gräfin (Countess) von Arnim-Schlagenthin, and by a second marriage, Countess Russell. Although known in her early life as May, "after the publication of her first book, she was known to her readers, eventually to her friends, and finally even to her family as Elizabeth."[1] and she is now invariably referred to as Elizabeth von Arnim. She also wrote under the pen name Alice Cholmondeley.
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[edit] Life
She was born in Kirribilli Point (today part of Sydney), Australia. When she was three years old the family returned to England where she was raised.
In 1891 she married Count Henning August von Arnim-Schlagenthin, a Prussian aristocrat, whom she had met during an Italian tour with her father. They married in London but lived in Berlin and eventually moved to the countryside where, in Nassenheide, Pomerania, the Arnims had their family estate. The couple had five children, four daughters and a son. The children's tutors at Nassenheide included E. M. Forster and Hugh Walpole.
Count von Arnim died in 1910, and in 1916 his widow married John Francis Stanley Russell, 2nd Earl Russell, elder brother of Bertrand Russell. The marriage ended in disaster and the couple separated in 1919, with Elizabeth escaping to the United States and the couple separating, though they never divorced. In 1920 she embarked on an affair with Alexander Stuart Frere Reeves (1892-1984), a British publisher nearly 30 years her junior; he later married and named his only daughter Elizabeth in her honor.[1] From 1910 until 1913 she was a mistress of the novelist H.G. Wells.
She was a cousin of Katherine Mansfield, arguably New Zealand's most famous author (whose real name was Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp).
She died in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1941, aged 74.
[edit] Literary career
In 1898 she started her literary career by publishing Elizabeth and Her German Garden, a semi-autobiographical novel about a rural idyll published anonymously and, as it turned out to be highly successful, reprinted 21 times within the first year. Von Arnim wrote another 20 books, which were all published "By the author of Elizabeth and Her German Garden". Enchanted April was adapted into an Academy Award-nominated feature film, directed by Mike Newell, in 1992, and a Tony Award-nominated stage play by Matthew Barber, in 2003.
[edit] Select bibliography
- Elizabeth and Her German Garden (1898)
- The Solitary Summer (1899)
- April Baby's Book of Tunes (1900) (Illustrated by Kate Greenaway)
- The Benefactress (1901)
- The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rugen (1904)
- Princess Priscilla's Fortnight (1905)
- Fräulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther (1907) (an epistolary novel; see also Fräulein)
- The Caravaners (1909)
- The Pastor's Wife (1914)
- Christine (1917) (written under the pseudonym Alice Cholmondeley)
- Christopher and Columbus (1919)
- In the Mountains (1920)
- Vera (1921)
- The Enchanted April (1922)
- 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)
[edit] References
- ^ Usborne, Karen (1986). "Elizabeth", the author of Elizabeth and her German garden. London: Bodley Head. ISBN 0-370-30887-5.
2. Juengling, Kirsten and Brigitte Rossbeck (1996). Elizabeth von Arnim; Eine Biographie. Frankfurt: Insel. ISBN 3458335404, ISBN 978-3458335405
[edit] Other biographies
- Elizabeth of the German Garden (1958) (Leslie De Charms, a pseudonym for Elizabeth's daughter, Liebet)
- Uncommon Arrangements, Seven Portraits of Married Life in London Literary Circles 1910-1939 (2008) (Katie Roiphe)
[edit] External links
