Jenkins, Elizabeth

Born October 31, 1905 in the town of Hitchin, in the county of Hertfordshire. The year before her birth, her father, James Haled Jenkins, founded a preparatory , which he named in honor of her mother, Theodora Caldicott-Ingram ^[1] .

For some time she attended the Modern School . She continued her education at the in Letchworth . In 1921, she entered Women at Cambridge University , where she studied English and history ^[1] .

After completing her education, in 1929 she got a job as an English teacher at King Alfred's School in Hampstead . During World War II, she left teaching and helped Jewish refugees and London soldiers in the Assistance Council. Then she was in the public service at the Trade Council and the ^[2] .

Prose

Through Newnham College Director Jenkins met poetess Edith Sitwell and writer Virginia Woolf . The latter called her debut novel “Virginia Water” “a book as sweet as white grapes” ^[2] . Positive reviews of the novel helped Jeninx sign a contract with Victor Gollants publishing house and publish three more novels ^[1] .

The Harriet novel, published in 1934, was based on the writer’s version ^[3] , which relatives starved to death in an attempt to get her inheritance. For this work, Jenkins was awarded the Femin Prize ^[2] . In 1935-1936, her novels “Doubtful Joy” and “Nest of the Phoenix” were published. Other Jeninx books noted by critics included the Robert and Helen novel published in 1944 and the 1954 novel Turtle and the Hare. The latter, devoted to the problems of marriage, was highly praised by the writer and literary critic Hilary Mantel , who wrote in her review in the Sunday Times that Jenkins “seems to have a good understanding of how women think and how their lives work” ^[1] .

Jenkins herself considered the novel “The Story of Dr. Galli,” published in 1972 ^[4] , to be her best book. In it, she offered her version of the story of a 19th-century physician , who was suspected of poisoning , the husband of his mistress Florence Bravo ^[5] .

Documentary prose

In 1932, Jenkins published his debut biography, Lady Carolina Lamb. Following this, in 1938 her book was published on the biography of Jane Austen. In 1940, she participated in the founding of the Jane Austen Society and facilitated the acquisition of the Austin House in , where the writer wrote Emma and other novels. Later, the Jane Austen House Museum was opened here ^[1] .

In a biography of Queen Elizabeth I, published in 1958, Jenkins, according to critics, “most fully revealed her talent as a biography author” and demonstrated what the New York Times reviewer called the “psychological dimension of the portrait of [the Queen], which in the writings of others historians seemed boring. " Later, the writer used the same technique when creating the biography of the famous British surgeon Joseph Lister, which was published in 1960 ^[1] . said that the biography of Elizabeth I, written by Jenkins, "came closer to penetrating the secret of the most remarkable woman in history than anyone else" ^[2] . In her 1961 book, Elizabeth and Leicester, Jenkins presented her hypothesis that the executions of Anna Boleyn and Catherine Howard were the reasons why Elizabeth I could not enter into a full-fledged sexual relationship with Robert Dudley , 1st Earl of Leicester, because in the Queen's view, sex was closely associated with death ^[2] .

In total, Jenkins wrote about twelve novels and the same number of biographies ^[2] . In 2004, her latest book, a memoir entitled “View from Downshire Hill”, was published, in which she narrated her life in a house of , which she bought at Hampstead ^[5] . Jenkins moved here in 1939. She decorated the interior of her house with regency-style furniture, which she acquired inexpensively in the years after World War II from the houses of Regency architecture that suffered during the Nazi bombing of London. Jenkins once admitted that due to the interiors in her house, some guests believed that she did not have big difficulties in life ^[2] .

She died at the age of 104 on September 5, 2010, in a nursing home in Hampstead, in Greater London , where she spent the last years of her life. The writer was never married and had no children ^[1] .

Novels

• Virginia Water ( English Virginia Water , 1929)
• Harriet ( Eng. Harriet , 1934)
• “Doubtful Joy” ( English Doubtful Joy , 1935)
• "The Phoenix Nest" ( Eng. The Phoenix 'Nest , 1936)
• "Robert and Helen" ( born Robert and Helen , 1944)
• The Tortoise and the Hare , 1954
• "Radiance" ( English Brightness , 1963)
• "Honey" ( English Honey , 1968)
• “The Story of Dr. Gully” ( Eng. Dr Gully's Story , 1972)

Biographies

• “Lady Carolina Lamb” ( eng. Lady Caroline Lamb , 1932)
• "Jane Austen. Biography "( born Jane Austen: A Biography , 1936)
• “Henry Fielding” ( born Henry Fielding , 1947)
• "Elizabeth the Great" ( born Elizabeth the Great , 1958)
• "Joseph Lister" ( born Joseph Lister , 1960)
• "Elizabeth and Leicester" ( born Elizabeth and Leicester , 1961)

• Elizabeth Jenkins (Neopr.) . www.persephonebooks.co.uk. - Author Profile at Persephone Books. Date of appeal October 31, 2017. (English)