1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,320 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:17,280 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy Vie Wilson. So recently 4 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:20,480 Speaker 1: I was on a road trip with my beloved friend Bernadette, 5 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:22,720 Speaker 1: and she mentioned that she had been reading the novels 6 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:26,480 Speaker 1: of a Victorian Jewish woman writer and really enjoying them, 7 00:00:26,520 --> 00:00:29,920 Speaker 1: and my interest was piqued. Bernie is herself a writer. 8 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:32,120 Speaker 1: She's a very smart woman. She's someone I've known for 9 00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:35,000 Speaker 1: a long time, and I generally trust her taste. She 10 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:37,559 Speaker 1: has often introduced me to media that I might not 11 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:41,599 Speaker 1: otherwise have found. And so I looked this person up. 12 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:44,519 Speaker 1: And then when I looked Amy Levy up, and I 13 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:47,560 Speaker 1: have heard scholars pronounced her name both Levy and Levy. 14 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:51,000 Speaker 1: We'll go with Levy, but just know that there's some 15 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:53,239 Speaker 1: question mark there. But when I looked her up and 16 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:56,640 Speaker 1: discovered that she was well known in Britain's literary circles 17 00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 1: in the Victorian era, including having the admiral ration of 18 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:02,640 Speaker 1: Lord Byron, I was a little wowed. And I was like, 19 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:06,800 Speaker 1: how had I missed her? My English major focused a 20 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:13,399 Speaker 1: lot on English Victorian literature, yet no Amy Levy. It 21 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:15,480 Speaker 1: turns out a lot of people missed her and for 22 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:17,640 Speaker 1: a very long time, and the exact why is a 23 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 1: little bit difficult to pin down. I think part of 24 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: it is that her life was very short and it 25 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:27,240 Speaker 1: ended tragically, and some of her work was controversial, and 26 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:30,200 Speaker 1: she kind of has an intersectionality that I think a 27 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:32,920 Speaker 1: lot of people have had trouble wrapping their brains around. 28 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:37,840 Speaker 1: But she was recognized as an extraordinary talent, specifically of 29 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:41,199 Speaker 1: the eighteen eighties. So we're going to talk about her today, 30 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:43,240 Speaker 1: and as a heads up, we need to let you 31 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 1: know there is a brief discussion of suicide late in 32 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 1: this episode. Amy Levy was born on November tenth, eighteen 33 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:54,000 Speaker 1: sixty one, in the Lambeth section of London, to Louis 34 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 1: Levy and Isabelle Levin Levy. Louis Levy was a stockbroker, 35 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:00,680 Speaker 1: and the Levies were Jewish, but they seem to have 36 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:04,920 Speaker 1: been fairly casual in their religion. Their gentile nanny sometimes 37 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:08,360 Speaker 1: took the children with her to Christian church services. The 38 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:12,799 Speaker 1: family didn't seem to rigorously observe religious dietary laws, and 39 00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:16,840 Speaker 1: some members of the family also celebrated Christmas, but there's 40 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:20,160 Speaker 1: evidence that the family attended synagogue and that the children 41 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:23,760 Speaker 1: may have had Hebrew lessons. Amy was the second child, 42 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: after a sister named Katie, who she was very close to. 43 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:30,960 Speaker 1: Louis and Isabelle had five more children after Amy. They 44 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:34,920 Speaker 1: were Alfred, Willie, ned Ella, and Donald. And from a 45 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:38,560 Speaker 1: young age, literature was a deep love of Amy's and 46 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: that was one that she and her sister Katie shared, 47 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:45,920 Speaker 1: and these two sisters, perhaps with contributions from their other siblings, 48 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:49,600 Speaker 1: wrote and produced their own homemade and a handwritten literary 49 00:02:49,639 --> 00:02:52,880 Speaker 1: magazine for a number of years called the Poplar Club Journal, 50 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:55,840 Speaker 1: and some of the works in the surviving examples of 51 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:58,560 Speaker 1: the journal were signed by the authors, but many were not. 52 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 1: So the the most part, it's a little unclear which 53 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 1: of the Levy children wrote which pieces, which included poems, plays, 54 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:09,880 Speaker 1: short stories, and even some art and illustration, and it 55 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:13,120 Speaker 1: seems like at least in some cases, Amy Levy wrote, 56 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,359 Speaker 1: even at this young age, in multiple voices under multiple 57 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:20,280 Speaker 1: noms to plume. It contains also brief critiques of the 58 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:23,880 Speaker 1: included works, and one issue featured a notice that if 59 00:03:23,919 --> 00:03:26,720 Speaker 1: a member of the club did not contribute, they would 60 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:31,800 Speaker 1: be fined us. I find all of this absolutely delightful. 61 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:35,920 Speaker 1: Over the years, these family magazines continued. They seemed like 62 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:38,800 Speaker 1: they may have have expanded to include the work of 63 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:41,560 Speaker 1: friends as well, but they also shifted in tone and 64 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:44,320 Speaker 1: quality as the children aged, and the magazine was given 65 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:47,560 Speaker 1: different names at different points in time. As a teenager 66 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:51,600 Speaker 1: of fifteen, Amy was enrolled at Brighton High School for Girls, 67 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:55,080 Speaker 1: which had its foundations in the women's rights movement. Brighton 68 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:59,280 Speaker 1: also offered primary school education for boys, and Amy's brothers, 69 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:03,320 Speaker 1: Alfred and Really, attended with her. Amy corresponded with her 70 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:06,400 Speaker 1: family regularly during this time because it was a school 71 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:08,720 Speaker 1: far from home, and her letters offer a glimpse in 72 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 1: a very close family and at her enjoyment of boarding school. 73 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:15,640 Speaker 1: In a brief note to her father, she writes, quote, 74 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:18,480 Speaker 1: dear Papa, I have time before tea to write you 75 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:20,680 Speaker 1: a few lines so that you may not think I 76 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:23,480 Speaker 1: have forgotten you. I wish you would come down with 77 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:26,080 Speaker 1: Mama to see us. It is so very nice here. 78 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:28,720 Speaker 1: You would like to see St. Peter's old church. It 79 00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:33,760 Speaker 1: is so curious and antique, But hints of depression also appear, 80 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:37,520 Speaker 1: which is something that echoes throughout her life. In one 81 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:40,159 Speaker 1: letter during this time, she mentions to her mother, quote, 82 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:43,400 Speaker 1: I have quite recovered from the blues, which was horrid 83 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:46,400 Speaker 1: of me to mention. But it's in her letters to 84 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:50,560 Speaker 1: her sister Katie that Amy is really unrestrained, and she 85 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:54,200 Speaker 1: shares her innermost thoughts with her sister. One aspect of 86 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:57,320 Speaker 1: these letters between sisters is what appears to be Amy 87 00:04:57,440 --> 00:05:01,880 Speaker 1: Levy's casual mention of her romantic feelings for women. She mentions, 88 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 1: in particular the school's headmistress, Ms. Creek, and refers to 89 00:05:05,279 --> 00:05:09,320 Speaker 1: herself as the woman's quote wormy adorer, saying that she 90 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:14,320 Speaker 1: quote bagged a divine passion, inspiring whenever I think of it, 91 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:18,880 Speaker 1: Embraced today at the sanctum door. She continues this discussion 92 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:21,560 Speaker 1: of her crush, writing quote, I am more in love 93 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:24,800 Speaker 1: with her than ever, isn't it grim? I don't believe 94 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:27,000 Speaker 1: it will go for ages, and I can never care 95 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:29,920 Speaker 1: for anyone or anything else while it lasts. I make 96 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:33,479 Speaker 1: such different future pictures to what I used to. You 97 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:36,760 Speaker 1: married maternal with a tendency to laugh at the Plain 98 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:40,640 Speaker 1: High school mistress sister who grinds and lodges with chums 99 00:05:40,640 --> 00:05:45,040 Speaker 1: and adores without return. These writings and others from her 100 00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:47,320 Speaker 1: time at Brighton offer an image of a young woman 101 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:51,240 Speaker 1: who's really full of wit and opinions and creativity. In 102 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:55,479 Speaker 1: some she writes documents of imagined scenarios, sort of like forgeries, 103 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:58,360 Speaker 1: but she's not actually passing them off to anyone, such 104 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:01,680 Speaker 1: as letters between two people, neither of which are herself. 105 00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:05,200 Speaker 1: She also was writing verse at this time, including a 106 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:07,720 Speaker 1: poem which was titled run to Death, and she wrote 107 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:11,000 Speaker 1: that when she was only fifteen. As this title suggests, 108 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:14,400 Speaker 1: run to Death is a grim story, all the more 109 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:18,520 Speaker 1: so for having been written by a teenager. It's subtitled 110 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:22,480 Speaker 1: a true Incident of pre Revolutionary French History, and features 111 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:26,039 Speaker 1: a hunting party of nobles who discover a surprising prey 112 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:28,800 Speaker 1: in the forest. When they look out at what's in 113 00:06:28,839 --> 00:06:31,840 Speaker 1: the brush, they find that they're gazing quote at a 114 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:35,880 Speaker 1: something which is crawling with slow step from tree to tree. 115 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:40,520 Speaker 1: Is it some shadow phantom? Ghastly? No? A woman and child, 116 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:44,279 Speaker 1: swarthy woman with the gypsy written clear upon her face, 117 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:49,400 Speaker 1: gazing around her with wide eyes, dark and shadow fringed 118 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:54,239 Speaker 1: and wild, with the cowed suspicious glances of a persecuted race. 119 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: Then they all, with unasked question in each other's faces, peer, 120 00:06:58,839 --> 00:07:02,440 Speaker 1: for a common thought has struck them one their lips, 121 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 1: dare scarcely say to Lord Gaston, cries impatient, Why regret 122 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:11,920 Speaker 1: the stately dear when such sport as Yonder offers quick 123 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:16,760 Speaker 1: unleashed the dogs away. The last lines of this poem 124 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:21,280 Speaker 1: described the huntsman having finished their cruel chase and killed 125 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:24,880 Speaker 1: the mother and her child, writing in silent shame back 126 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:27,280 Speaker 1: to the manor house, where they then tell the ladies 127 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:30,440 Speaker 1: there what a quote famous hunt they have had that day, 128 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:34,200 Speaker 1: without mention of what they'd actually done. This poem wasn't 129 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:37,280 Speaker 1: published until three years after it was written, when Victoria 130 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:40,560 Speaker 1: magazine picked it up. Amy continued to be a very 131 00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:44,360 Speaker 1: productive writer as a teenager. When she was seventeen, she 132 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:46,880 Speaker 1: wrote a letter that was published in the Jewish Chronicle 133 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:51,040 Speaker 1: titled Jewish Women and Women's Rights. In it, themes that 134 00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:54,320 Speaker 1: would continue into her professional career are apparent, as she 135 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 1: advocated for professional opportunities for women. Coming up, we're going 136 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:01,400 Speaker 1: to talk about. The poem became one of Levy's most 137 00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:04,000 Speaker 1: famous works, even though it was written when she was 138 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:06,920 Speaker 1: still a teenager. But before we get into that, we 139 00:08:06,960 --> 00:08:19,120 Speaker 1: will pause for a sponsor break. Amy wrote a poem 140 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:21,520 Speaker 1: while she was still a student at Brighton, right around 141 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:23,920 Speaker 1: the time that Run to Death came out, and this 142 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:27,880 Speaker 1: one conveyed the frustration of Victorian women by relaying the 143 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:31,640 Speaker 1: story of socrates marriage from the perspective of his wife, 144 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:35,520 Speaker 1: zan Tippi. Her name is also the title of the poem, 145 00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:37,880 Speaker 1: and in this particular work, which was written as a 146 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:42,199 Speaker 1: dramatic monologue, Xantippi reflects on her life from her deathbed, 147 00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:45,920 Speaker 1: and particularly mourns the promise of her youth, when she 148 00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:50,120 Speaker 1: was so enthralled with intellectual pursuits, only to have that 149 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:54,600 Speaker 1: part of herself unwelcomed in the marriage. She wrote, yet 150 00:08:54,679 --> 00:08:57,760 Speaker 1: maiden's mark. I would not that he thought I blame 151 00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:00,439 Speaker 1: my Lord departed, for he meant no evil. So I 152 00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:04,239 Speaker 1: take it to his wife. Twas only that the high philosopher, 153 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:07,920 Speaker 1: pregnant with noble theories and great thoughts, deigned not to 154 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:10,839 Speaker 1: stoop to touch so slight a thing as the fine 155 00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:14,559 Speaker 1: fabric of a woman's brain, so subtle as a passionate 156 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:17,640 Speaker 1: woman's soul. I think if he had stooped a little 157 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:20,360 Speaker 1: and cared I might have risen nearer to his height, 158 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 1: and not Lane shattered, neither fit for use as goodly 159 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:27,600 Speaker 1: household vessel, nor for that far finer thing which I 160 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:30,880 Speaker 1: had hoped to be. But like run to death, zan 161 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:34,760 Speaker 1: Tippi was not immediately published. The monologue was finished in 162 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:38,200 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy nine, not long before the eighteen year old 163 00:09:38,280 --> 00:09:43,319 Speaker 1: Levy enrolled at Newnham College, a women's college at Cambridge University. 164 00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:46,800 Speaker 1: This made her the first Jewish woman to attend Newnham 165 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:50,800 Speaker 1: and the second Jewish woman to attend Cambridge. It seems, 166 00:09:50,840 --> 00:09:52,880 Speaker 1: based on some of her writing while she was there, 167 00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:56,320 Speaker 1: that while she was feeling really elated it once seemed 168 00:09:56,360 --> 00:09:59,480 Speaker 1: like a career opening up for her, she may not 169 00:09:59,559 --> 00:10:02,720 Speaker 1: have exact really enjoyed her time at Cambridge, or at 170 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:06,240 Speaker 1: least the people who she encountered there. She wrote a 171 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:09,480 Speaker 1: verse play during this time, titled Reading that's set in 172 00:10:09,559 --> 00:10:13,960 Speaker 1: sort of a fictionalized Cambridge and features characters named Professor 173 00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:17,320 Speaker 1: Ego and Bob Bumptious, who seemed flum mixed by the 174 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:20,240 Speaker 1: women around them. But the men are not the only 175 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:23,880 Speaker 1: targets of her satire. She also has characters named Cornelia 176 00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 1: Connex and Janet Garend who ached to be intellectuals, and 177 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:32,120 Speaker 1: while everyone gets a dose of Levy sharp though comedic critique, 178 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:35,320 Speaker 1: it is ultimately men who get the harshest words for 179 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:39,920 Speaker 1: their quote, shallow sentiment, and their treatment of women. Her story, 180 00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:44,679 Speaker 1: Leopold Lineager a study, features a main character really grappling 181 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:48,880 Speaker 1: with his Jewish identity, anti Semitism, and self loathing, and 182 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:53,640 Speaker 1: includes this line about his personal revelation quote. What stuns 183 00:10:53,800 --> 00:10:57,400 Speaker 1: Leopold into despair is the recognition that one cannot stop 184 00:10:57,440 --> 00:11:02,920 Speaker 1: being a Jew, that self transfer, nation, self reinvention is impossible. 185 00:11:03,720 --> 00:11:07,440 Speaker 1: Another piece of writing from this time expresses frustration being 186 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:10,719 Speaker 1: a woman who was also a novelty at the university. 187 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:15,240 Speaker 1: Titled Lolly a Cambridge Sketch, The story is told through 188 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:18,920 Speaker 1: two characters. Lolly a daughter of a professor and wrote 189 00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:22,480 Speaker 1: to a student, and together these two represent two very 190 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:26,880 Speaker 1: different modes of womanhood. Lolly is a traditional young woman 191 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:30,199 Speaker 1: and Rhota a scholar. Neither of them gets what they want. 192 00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:34,320 Speaker 1: Lolly wants a marriage and love, but the object of 193 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:38,559 Speaker 1: her affection chooses Rhoda, and choosing to marry Rhoda has 194 00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:41,760 Speaker 1: to give up her studies and access to intellectual fulfillment. 195 00:11:42,679 --> 00:11:45,360 Speaker 1: Neither of these writings were published, and a lot of 196 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:49,000 Speaker 1: her writing during her years at Newnham similarly went unpublished. 197 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:52,800 Speaker 1: Much of it was discovered years and years and years later, 198 00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:57,640 Speaker 1: written in notebooks, probably never intended for reviewer publication. A 199 00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:00,400 Speaker 1: lot of her work, both published and unpublish, is from 200 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:03,080 Speaker 1: this time in her life reflects an artist kind of 201 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:05,760 Speaker 1: working through issues of identity and the ways in which 202 00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:08,640 Speaker 1: choices to go down a certain direction in life mean 203 00:12:08,720 --> 00:12:12,120 Speaker 1: that other options become unavailable. Similar to those themes in 204 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:15,600 Speaker 1: Lally at Cambridge Sketch, she sometimes wrote from the point 205 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:19,440 Speaker 1: of view of male protagonists, characters which, like Leopold, are 206 00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:24,600 Speaker 1: usually filled with self loathing. In one Levy's first book, 207 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:28,520 Speaker 1: Zantippi and Other Verse, was published, and so at nineteen 208 00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:31,760 Speaker 1: she was suddenly a well reviewed poet, lauded for her 209 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:35,480 Speaker 1: deft and nimble use of words. She also decided to 210 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:39,080 Speaker 1: leave school that year rather than complete her final year 211 00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:42,959 Speaker 1: at Noonham. The reason for this decision is not known. 212 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:47,200 Speaker 1: Biographer Linda Hunt Beckman notes that a surviving fragment of 213 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:50,600 Speaker 1: a letter from earlier in the year mentions that Amy's 214 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:54,480 Speaker 1: recovering from something. It's not clear what, but it may 215 00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:57,960 Speaker 1: have been some sort of breakdown or an intense depressive episode. 216 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:02,440 Speaker 1: That letter, though, indicates a plan to return to school 217 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:04,640 Speaker 1: for the summer term, and that's something that she did. 218 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:08,679 Speaker 1: In eight one. The women of Newnham College had also 219 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:11,960 Speaker 1: just been granted the chance to take the exams that 220 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:16,520 Speaker 1: were used to qualify students for a bachelor's degree at Cambridge. 221 00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:19,760 Speaker 1: While this was a huge step forward, it also meant 222 00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:22,640 Speaker 1: that attendees of Newnham had to take courses that were 223 00:13:22,679 --> 00:13:27,320 Speaker 1: prescribed by the school, including ones that Amy was likely 224 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:31,040 Speaker 1: not very interested in. Levy wrote a news article about 225 00:13:31,040 --> 00:13:36,160 Speaker 1: this transition and mentioned specifically the quote mathematical classes organized 226 00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:40,240 Speaker 1: for unhappy people whose souls are yearning for Plato or mill. 227 00:13:41,280 --> 00:13:44,040 Speaker 1: But she also released a book of poetry that had 228 00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:47,319 Speaker 1: been very well received, so it's possible that she felt 229 00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:49,720 Speaker 1: it was just time for her career as a writer 230 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:53,440 Speaker 1: to start in earnest. Yeah, apparently prior to that they 231 00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:56,280 Speaker 1: could have kind of an unstructured, take what you want 232 00:13:56,440 --> 00:13:59,559 Speaker 1: approach to their course load. And then when it was like, wait, 233 00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:04,440 Speaker 1: I have required courses now, I could see hopping out 234 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:06,440 Speaker 1: at that point, But like I said, we don't know, 235 00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:10,920 Speaker 1: but after Cambridge, Levy traveled around Europe, visiting Switzerland and 236 00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:14,520 Speaker 1: Germany in particular, several times maintaining a home base of 237 00:14:14,559 --> 00:14:17,640 Speaker 1: sorts in London with her parents. She did this for 238 00:14:17,679 --> 00:14:20,920 Speaker 1: four years after leaving college, but she was still continuing 239 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:25,000 Speaker 1: her education in her own way, taking courses or lessons 240 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:29,720 Speaker 1: in various cities as opportunities and her interest intersected. She 241 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:33,280 Speaker 1: found work teaching German schoolboys English, but that job was 242 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:37,119 Speaker 1: really over before it started. Her mother forbade it as improper. 243 00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:41,280 Speaker 1: She was, however, intent on making her own way financially, 244 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:43,520 Speaker 1: and it seems like there may have been a drop 245 00:14:43,560 --> 00:14:47,920 Speaker 1: in the family's fortunes that magnified that desire. Throughout this time, 246 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:51,560 Speaker 1: she wrote to her family regularly, sharing her various experiences 247 00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:54,520 Speaker 1: with them, often with the same biting which she used 248 00:14:54,520 --> 00:14:58,280 Speaker 1: in her satirical writing. She was back home in London 249 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:01,200 Speaker 1: for most of eighteen eighty three, and although she lived 250 00:15:01,200 --> 00:15:04,120 Speaker 1: with her parents during her time there, she was living 251 00:15:04,120 --> 00:15:08,720 Speaker 1: an independent life. Most likely because of financial strain. Louis 252 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:11,920 Speaker 1: and Isabelle Levy moved from their home at Sussex Place, 253 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:16,000 Speaker 1: Regent's Park to Ulster Place, Regent's Park and then soon 254 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:20,680 Speaker 1: thereafter to a house in Bloomsbury. While this evidenced a 255 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:24,240 Speaker 1: downgrade in their lifestyle, it also put their residence in 256 00:15:24,360 --> 00:15:28,600 Speaker 1: close proximity to the British Museum. Even before the family 257 00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:31,200 Speaker 1: had moved so close to it, Amy was a frequent 258 00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:34,360 Speaker 1: visitor at the British Museum's reading room and its lunch 259 00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:37,640 Speaker 1: room for women. She met a variety of women who 260 00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:42,080 Speaker 1: were tied to various progressive movements and social reforms, including 261 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:45,880 Speaker 1: the daughter of Karl Marx who was named Eleanor. Although 262 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:48,400 Speaker 1: she became friends with these women, it doesn't appear that 263 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:52,280 Speaker 1: she was ever drawn into their political efforts. Levy wrote 264 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:55,720 Speaker 1: about the reading room and an essay for Atlanta several 265 00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:58,440 Speaker 1: years after this period of her life. That was in 266 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:02,800 Speaker 1: eighty nine, and it was titled Readers at the British Museum. 267 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:06,480 Speaker 1: Levy was also part of an intellectual social club in London, 268 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:09,680 Speaker 1: and members of her family sometimes attended the meetings where 269 00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:13,400 Speaker 1: all manner of topics were discussed. The Levy sometimes even 270 00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:16,040 Speaker 1: hosted the group in their own home, so it seems 271 00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:18,560 Speaker 1: like she had a fairly stable system of friends and 272 00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:22,720 Speaker 1: family at this point. She continued her impressive writing pace 273 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:26,760 Speaker 1: after zen Tippie's positive reception, and in eighteen eighty three 274 00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:30,280 Speaker 1: she published Between Two Stools. In eighteen eighty four, there 275 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:34,400 Speaker 1: was Socratics in the Strand. Her melancholic work A Minor 276 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:37,640 Speaker 1: Poet and Other Verse was also published in eighteen eighty four. 277 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:41,120 Speaker 1: The contents of this book are really morose in tone. 278 00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:44,080 Speaker 1: A lot of them were written while she was visiting Dresden, 279 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:48,320 Speaker 1: and zen Tippi is reprinted in this volume. In eighteen 280 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:51,200 Speaker 1: eighty six, Levy lived abroad for the winter in Florence, 281 00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:54,160 Speaker 1: specifically where she traveled with one of her closest friends, 282 00:16:54,480 --> 00:16:58,760 Speaker 1: feminist writer Clementina Black. Black wrote in letters during this 283 00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:02,200 Speaker 1: time that Amy was getting well, which suggests she was 284 00:17:02,280 --> 00:17:04,520 Speaker 1: once again in the midst of a decline in either 285 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:08,920 Speaker 1: her mental or physical health, or both. While in Florence, 286 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:11,960 Speaker 1: Amy worked as a correspondent for the Jewish Chronicle, covering 287 00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:15,800 Speaker 1: Jewish life in Italy. In this position, which is usually 288 00:17:16,080 --> 00:17:18,399 Speaker 1: discussed as a job that her father had used his 289 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:21,600 Speaker 1: connections to get for her, she wrote articles that were 290 00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:26,080 Speaker 1: largely about Jewish identity from a cultural rather than religious standpoint, 291 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:28,959 Speaker 1: and this seems to have been as much an exploration 292 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:31,720 Speaker 1: of her own Jewish identity, as it was the identity 293 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:35,040 Speaker 1: of Italy's Jewish communities. One of the things that she 294 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:37,760 Speaker 1: felt tethered her to the Jewish community was a shared 295 00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:40,600 Speaker 1: sense of humor, something she wrote about in an essay 296 00:17:40,600 --> 00:17:44,639 Speaker 1: titled Jewish Humor for The Jewish Chronicle. While in Florence, 297 00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:49,439 Speaker 1: Levy met Vernon Lee, also known as Violet Paget. We 298 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:52,840 Speaker 1: have an episode on her that as of when we're 299 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:55,880 Speaker 1: recording this, I'm planning to use as a Saturday Classic, 300 00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:59,159 Speaker 1: but that's also some weeks from now, so if something 301 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:05,000 Speaker 1: happens Bump Bump, I'll see. Paget had started going by 302 00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:07,680 Speaker 1: the name Vernon Lee as a team at that point, 303 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:10,359 Speaker 1: using a man's name and her writings in order to 304 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:14,720 Speaker 1: be taken more seriously. And there has been some speculation 305 00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:18,480 Speaker 1: that maybe Lee and Amy Levy were in a relationship. 306 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:22,040 Speaker 1: While Vernon Lee resisted the label of lesbian in her 307 00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:25,639 Speaker 1: life despite relationships with women, the nature of the relationship 308 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:29,120 Speaker 1: between Levy and Lee or Paget, which is what Levy 309 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:32,960 Speaker 1: called her, is not entirely certain. There was clearly a 310 00:18:33,080 --> 00:18:37,160 Speaker 1: very deep emotional attachment on Levy's part. She wrote love 311 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:40,879 Speaker 1: poems titled to Vernon Lee and New Love, New Life, 312 00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:43,760 Speaker 1: and she sent them to Paget, as well as correspondence 313 00:18:44,119 --> 00:18:48,520 Speaker 1: that obviously conveys a very intense affection. She addresses all 314 00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:51,840 Speaker 1: of her letters to my dear miss Paget and calls 315 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:55,639 Speaker 1: her quote an electric battery to me, suggesting that being 316 00:18:55,680 --> 00:18:59,600 Speaker 1: with Paget is where her best creative energy comes from. 317 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:02,520 Speaker 1: When Leavy, after her return to London, wrote that she 318 00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:04,919 Speaker 1: couldn't make it back to Florence as planned due to 319 00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:08,439 Speaker 1: circumstances of others, most likely a family matter, as her 320 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:11,920 Speaker 1: brother Alfred was ill and passed around this time, Paget 321 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:14,280 Speaker 1: sent her a bouquet of flowers, which she then wrote 322 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:17,440 Speaker 1: about she was so touched by it. New Love, New 323 00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:20,119 Speaker 1: Life is a relatively short poem, so we'll read the 324 00:19:20,119 --> 00:19:22,199 Speaker 1: whole thing to give a sense of the verse that 325 00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:26,880 Speaker 1: Amy was sending to Violet Paget. One she who so 326 00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:30,480 Speaker 1: long has lain stone stiff with folded wings within my 327 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:35,960 Speaker 1: heart Again the brown bird wakes and sings, brown nightingale, 328 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:39,399 Speaker 1: whose strain is heard by day by night. She sings 329 00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:44,639 Speaker 1: of joy and pain, of sorrow and delight. Two tis true, 330 00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:48,440 Speaker 1: and other days have I unbarred the door. He knows 331 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:52,480 Speaker 1: the walks and ways. Love has been here before, Love 332 00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:55,959 Speaker 1: blessed and love accursed was here in days long past. 333 00:19:56,640 --> 00:19:59,439 Speaker 1: This time is not the first, but this time is 334 00:19:59,480 --> 00:20:04,000 Speaker 1: the last. To Vernon Lee is similarly intimate. Although it's ending, 335 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:08,480 Speaker 1: Stanza suggests that perhaps Levy's feelings were unrequited, and that 336 00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:11,760 Speaker 1: she knew that, or that she hoped that Paget would 337 00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:15,280 Speaker 1: reassure her of some sort of reciprocation, writing quote, A 338 00:20:15,359 --> 00:20:19,359 Speaker 1: snowy blackthorn flowered beyond my reach. You broke a branch 339 00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:21,719 Speaker 1: and gave it to me. There I found for you 340 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:26,399 Speaker 1: a scarlet blossom rare thereby ran on of art and life, 341 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:29,280 Speaker 1: our speech, and of the gifts the gods had given 342 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:34,399 Speaker 1: each hope. Unto you and unto me despair. Regardless of 343 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:38,560 Speaker 1: whether Vernon Lee and Amy Levy were romantically connected, their 344 00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:42,679 Speaker 1: friendship was pivotal to Levy because she, in turn became 345 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:47,000 Speaker 1: acquainted with a new group of creative intellectuals, though there 346 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:50,159 Speaker 1: were some that she had known before becoming friends with 347 00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:54,000 Speaker 1: Violet Paget, and perhaps because of this new social set, 348 00:20:54,040 --> 00:20:58,280 Speaker 1: the mid to late eighteen eighties were incredibly prolific for Levy, 349 00:20:58,440 --> 00:21:02,960 Speaker 1: she wrote all lot. She wrote essays like Women in 350 00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:07,919 Speaker 1: club Life and the Poetry of Christina Rosetti, and short stories, 351 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:12,280 Speaker 1: including at Prato and the recent Telepathic Occurrence at the 352 00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:16,280 Speaker 1: British Museum. That last title served as a way to 353 00:21:16,359 --> 00:21:20,720 Speaker 1: critique the many men who frequented the British Museum reading room, 354 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:24,920 Speaker 1: and we're openly hostile about women being there. And that 355 00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:28,199 Speaker 1: male character is so engrossed in his work that he 356 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:33,040 Speaker 1: fails to witness an astonishing appearance of a specter near 357 00:21:33,080 --> 00:21:36,040 Speaker 1: the card catalog, which is just right there in plain view. 358 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:40,000 Speaker 1: I sort of love that whole setup so much. Um. 359 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:43,919 Speaker 1: Up to this point, Amy Levy had not published any novels, 360 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:46,080 Speaker 1: although she had worked on at least one that she 361 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:50,359 Speaker 1: eventually abandoned. But her work as a novelist was significant 362 00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:53,239 Speaker 1: and ultimately difficult in a variety of ways. And we're 363 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:55,399 Speaker 1: going to talk about that after we hear from the 364 00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:58,080 Speaker 1: sponsors that keep stuff you missed in history class going. 365 00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:10,720 Speaker 1: Though Levi's Poems and Tippy remains probably her most well 366 00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:14,040 Speaker 1: known work, two novels written during this period of her 367 00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:18,240 Speaker 1: life largely define her legacy. The first was titled Romance 368 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:21,160 Speaker 1: of a Shop and it is about women choosing unexpected 369 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:24,800 Speaker 1: life paths. Specifically, it tells the story of four sisters 370 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:29,240 Speaker 1: whose father dies, and the story opens just after the father, Mr. Lorimer, 371 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:33,040 Speaker 1: has passed and the four sisters, Fanny, Gertrude, Lucy and 372 00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:36,280 Speaker 1: Phyllis are figuring out how they will survive as they 373 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:39,880 Speaker 1: have been left with nothing. The sisters decided to open 374 00:22:39,920 --> 00:22:42,439 Speaker 1: a photography studio as a means to take care of 375 00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:46,400 Speaker 1: themselves financially, and the plot involves a number of steps 376 00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:50,560 Speaker 1: along the path to success for them, including taking post 377 00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:54,800 Speaker 1: mortem photographs and photographing works of art. But the story 378 00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:57,560 Speaker 1: is really about the lives of the women involved, the 379 00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:00,639 Speaker 1: choices they make, and their relationship with the men that 380 00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:04,440 Speaker 1: they love. This was well reviewed and it established Levy 381 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:08,720 Speaker 1: as a novelist. After the publication of Romance of a Shop, 382 00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:12,080 Speaker 1: Levy visited Florence once again, and she wrote during this 383 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:15,720 Speaker 1: time about a personal melancholy, a heartache over a breakup, 384 00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:19,760 Speaker 1: which is considered to have likely been the writer Dorothy Blomfield, 385 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:23,639 Speaker 1: who was another member of Vernon Lee's circle. In January 386 00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:28,800 Speaker 1: eight nine, Levy's novel Reuben Sacks was published. This book 387 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:32,920 Speaker 1: quickly became a problem in its reception. The plot revolves 388 00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:36,679 Speaker 1: around the titular character that's a lawyer who experienced a 389 00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:41,080 Speaker 1: nervous collapse, went away to recuperate, and then returns to 390 00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:44,640 Speaker 1: London as the book opens. Although he falls in love 391 00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:48,000 Speaker 1: with his cousin Judith, he ultimately rejects her in favor 392 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:52,399 Speaker 1: of a more lucrative match. Judith makes a socially smart 393 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:56,399 Speaker 1: match after losing Reuben, and the novel examines themes of 394 00:23:56,480 --> 00:24:00,480 Speaker 1: love and expectation, of Jewish families working to fit into 395 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:03,520 Speaker 1: English society, and of a woman's place and her barriers 396 00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:07,240 Speaker 1: to fulfillment. Jewish critics really felt that Levy's work of 397 00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:10,199 Speaker 1: prose was a harsh criticism of Jewish life and that 398 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:14,320 Speaker 1: it was riddled with stereotypes. Gentile readers seemed to feel 399 00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:17,960 Speaker 1: that it validated every negative stereotype about Jews and saw 400 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:21,640 Speaker 1: it as a sort of expose a from within the community, 401 00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:24,639 Speaker 1: and others seemed to just wonder why Amy Levy was 402 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:28,439 Speaker 1: so unkind to the Jewish community. A review in The 403 00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:34,119 Speaker 1: Guardian from January eight nine questioned whether Levy's characterization of 404 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:38,720 Speaker 1: Jewish culture wasn't too harsh, opening with quote Jewish writers 405 00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:42,399 Speaker 1: cannot be charged with blind partiality to their race. We 406 00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:46,639 Speaker 1: have lately had some very pungent description of Jewish foibles, 407 00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:50,520 Speaker 1: and here is another picture which gentiles may be permitted 408 00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:55,280 Speaker 1: to hope is too cruel for truthfulness, too highly colored 409 00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:58,520 Speaker 1: to be just. After all, many of the failings which 410 00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:01,639 Speaker 1: miss Levy attributes to her people are common to a 411 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:05,120 Speaker 1: rich and vulgar middle class, who have a certain jealousy 412 00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:07,919 Speaker 1: of the class above them because they admire it and 413 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:12,280 Speaker 1: despair of reaching it. Yeah. Yeah, this is kind of 414 00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:15,400 Speaker 1: one of those everybody's kind of a jerk in some way. 415 00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:19,119 Speaker 1: It's not this shouldn't be about Jewish people. Um. Another 416 00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:21,560 Speaker 1: review that was in the Morning Post read quote, there 417 00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:24,360 Speaker 1: are a few things more disappointing than to feel as 418 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:28,040 Speaker 1: with the smallest critical faculty, one must that the author 419 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:31,520 Speaker 1: of Reuben Sachs has just missed producing a really clever work. 420 00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:35,320 Speaker 1: Ms Levy breaks comparatively new ground in this book, the 421 00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:39,040 Speaker 1: personages of which are almost without exception, taken from the 422 00:25:39,119 --> 00:25:42,760 Speaker 1: Jewish community in London, which, by the way, can scarcely 423 00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:46,399 Speaker 1: be flattered by the rather two somber glasses through which 424 00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:50,080 Speaker 1: she elects to view it. Levy's novel was a response 425 00:25:50,119 --> 00:25:54,320 Speaker 1: to George Eliot's eighteen seventies six novel Daniel Deronda, which 426 00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:58,560 Speaker 1: she felt had romanticized Jews in a deeply unrealistic way. 427 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:01,720 Speaker 1: So she had set out to write a novel which 428 00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:06,280 Speaker 1: showed that Jews, like all other humans, are complex, with 429 00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:10,080 Speaker 1: both strong and weak points of character. But few readers, 430 00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:13,560 Speaker 1: at least initially received it that way, and many Jewish 431 00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:17,080 Speaker 1: publications were frank in their assessment that, regardless of what 432 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:20,359 Speaker 1: she intended, her work had the potential to be damaging 433 00:26:20,400 --> 00:26:24,520 Speaker 1: to their culture within the larger field of London. When 434 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:27,760 Speaker 1: Ruben Sacks came out, Levy was in Paris. She soon 435 00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:30,200 Speaker 1: returned to her parents home in London a few days 436 00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:33,080 Speaker 1: after the first bad reviews came out, and it may 437 00:26:33,119 --> 00:26:35,359 Speaker 1: seem as though she was hiding out, But while she 438 00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:37,679 Speaker 1: may have sought some comfort in the family home, she 439 00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:40,920 Speaker 1: was also working on another novel titled Miss Meredith, which 440 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:44,560 Speaker 1: she completed in just six weeks. Ms Meredith was not 441 00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:47,159 Speaker 1: so ambitious as Ruben Sacks, and it was written to 442 00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:50,439 Speaker 1: appeal to a wider audience. It tells the story of 443 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:53,280 Speaker 1: a young english woman named Elsie Meredith, who moves to 444 00:26:53,359 --> 00:26:56,200 Speaker 1: Italy for a governess job, and there is a fairly 445 00:26:56,240 --> 00:27:00,119 Speaker 1: predictable romance plot with the family's adult son. Le v 446 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:03,719 Speaker 1: had a lot of social engagements in eighteen eighty nine. 447 00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:06,919 Speaker 1: She visited with her siblings and their children regularly, and 448 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:11,359 Speaker 1: she met up with Vernon Lee Ruben Sacks was controversial initially, 449 00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:14,000 Speaker 1: but it also made her famous and she made a 450 00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:18,240 Speaker 1: lot of new, high profile friends. The short story Cohen 451 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:21,240 Speaker 1: of Trinity came out in May of eighteen eighty nine, 452 00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:23,439 Speaker 1: and it kind of reads as a reflection of the 453 00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:27,000 Speaker 1: turmoil in Levy's own professional life with the fallout from 454 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:29,920 Speaker 1: Reuben Sacks. It is told from the point of view 455 00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:33,920 Speaker 1: of a gentile narrator, describing the character Cohen in very 456 00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:39,399 Speaker 1: stereotypical and anti Semitic terms. In this exaggerated lens, Levy 457 00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:43,359 Speaker 1: offers an insight into the impossibility of representing Jewish life 458 00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:46,720 Speaker 1: and culture. Here, the narrator is doing what she was 459 00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:51,080 Speaker 1: accused of doing in Reuben Sacks, and the contrast is obvious. 460 00:27:51,119 --> 00:27:53,920 Speaker 1: She also includes the character of Leopold Lineager from her 461 00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:57,280 Speaker 1: early work as an example of an anglicized Jew who 462 00:27:57,320 --> 00:28:02,360 Speaker 1: finds Cohen as alien. As the gentile Rader does like Levy, 463 00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:04,960 Speaker 1: Cohen in this story has written a book that made 464 00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:09,720 Speaker 1: him famous, but that is deeply misunderstood. Levy also assembled 465 00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:13,160 Speaker 1: another book of poetry in eighty nine that was A 466 00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:16,760 Speaker 1: London Plane, Tree and Other Verse. It was dedicated to 467 00:28:16,800 --> 00:28:20,480 Speaker 1: her friend Clementina Black. Three of the poems were definitely 468 00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:23,600 Speaker 1: written in April and May of that year, as reflected 469 00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:26,439 Speaker 1: in her calendar, but it's unclear when she wrote the 470 00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:30,960 Speaker 1: other poems. These works reflect a writer who feels somewhat lost, 471 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:35,920 Speaker 1: perhaps and definitely exhausted. The poem End of Day ends 472 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:39,600 Speaker 1: with the lines, oh, sweeter far than strain and stress 473 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:44,160 Speaker 1: is the slow creeping weariness, and better far than thought. 474 00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:48,320 Speaker 1: I find the drowsy blankness of the mind more than 475 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:52,640 Speaker 1: all joys of soul or sense. Is this divine indifference, 476 00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:57,200 Speaker 1: where grief a shadow grows to be, and peace a possibility. 477 00:28:57,600 --> 00:29:02,240 Speaker 1: On September nine, Levy died by suicide. Her cause of 478 00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:06,400 Speaker 1: death was recorded as asphyxia from the inhalation of carbonic 479 00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:10,080 Speaker 1: oxide gas from the burning of charcoal. She had seen 480 00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:12,680 Speaker 1: her sister, Katie and Katie's family just a few days 481 00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:14,920 Speaker 1: before her death, and then it spent the next several 482 00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:19,400 Speaker 1: days alone before ending her life. Her body was cremated 483 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:23,280 Speaker 1: and interred at Balls Pond Cemetery, a London plane tree 484 00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:25,880 Speaker 1: and other verse. Although it was completed had not yet 485 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:29,480 Speaker 1: been published when she died, it was released shortly after that. 486 00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:33,760 Speaker 1: It's sometimes tempting to point to the negative reviews of 487 00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:37,200 Speaker 1: Ruben Sacks as the catalyst for this tragedy, but really, 488 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:40,640 Speaker 1: like anyone, Levy was dealing with a lot more than that. 489 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:44,840 Speaker 1: She had struggled with her personal life, harboring a belief 490 00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:49,000 Speaker 1: that she was unattractive and couldn't find a lasting, fulfilling relationship. 491 00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:52,239 Speaker 1: She also had hearing loss and that had progressed, and 492 00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:55,400 Speaker 1: of course she had depression throughout her life. That's come 493 00:29:55,480 --> 00:29:58,800 Speaker 1: up several times during the episode. Yeah. One of the 494 00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:01,719 Speaker 1: most telling pieces of writing about Amy Levy from her 495 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:05,720 Speaker 1: contemporaries is a sort of memorial obituary penned by Oscar 496 00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:09,640 Speaker 1: Wilde for Women's World volume three, which wild edited and 497 00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:13,360 Speaker 1: which Amy had written for. He wrote very honestly of 498 00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:15,600 Speaker 1: her work that he felt might be lacking, but also 499 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:19,560 Speaker 1: praised her deeply, writing especially glowing words about her fiction. 500 00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:23,160 Speaker 1: Quote MS. Levies two novels, The Romance of a Shop 501 00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:26,600 Speaker 1: and Reuben Sacks were both published last year. The first 502 00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:29,880 Speaker 1: is a bright and clever story full of sparkling touches. 503 00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:33,440 Speaker 1: The second is a novel that probably no other writer 504 00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:38,720 Speaker 1: could have produced. Its directness, it's uncompromising truth, its depth 505 00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:41,880 Speaker 1: of feeling, and above all its absence of any single 506 00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:46,360 Speaker 1: superfluous word, make it in some sort a classic. Like 507 00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:49,080 Speaker 1: all her best work, it is sad, but the sadness 508 00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:53,000 Speaker 1: is by no means morbid. The strong undertone of moral 509 00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:56,680 Speaker 1: earnestness never preached, gives the stability and force to the 510 00:30:56,760 --> 00:31:00,600 Speaker 1: vivid portraiture, and prevents the satiric touches from the generating 511 00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:05,200 Speaker 1: into mere malice. Truly, the book is an achievement to write. 512 00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:08,040 Speaker 1: Thus at six and twenty is given to very few, 513 00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:11,120 Speaker 1: and from the few thus endowed, their readers may safely 514 00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:14,720 Speaker 1: hope for yet greater things later on. But later on 515 00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:17,280 Speaker 1: has not come for the writer of Reuben Sachs, and 516 00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:20,000 Speaker 1: the world must forego the full fruition of her power. 517 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:24,680 Speaker 1: The loss is the world's, but perhaps not hers. She 518 00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:28,440 Speaker 1: was never robust, not often actually ill, but seldom well 519 00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:31,040 Speaker 1: enough to feel life a joy instead of a burden, 520 00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:34,160 Speaker 1: And her work was not poured out lightly, but drawn 521 00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:36,920 Speaker 1: drop by drop from the very depth of her own feeling. 522 00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:39,640 Speaker 1: We may say of it that it was, in truth 523 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:43,800 Speaker 1: her life's blood. In the weeks following Levy's death, there 524 00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:47,080 Speaker 1: was speculation about what had led her to take her 525 00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:50,120 Speaker 1: own life that circulated in the press. A lot of 526 00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:54,000 Speaker 1: theories were repeated as facts, and finally, her friend Clementine A. 527 00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:56,600 Speaker 1: Black stept in to try to set the records straight. 528 00:31:57,120 --> 00:31:59,440 Speaker 1: She wrote to the athena Um quote, will you spare 529 00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:02,160 Speaker 1: me a few lines? In order to do justice both 530 00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:05,200 Speaker 1: to the dead and the living. I have lately learned 531 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:10,040 Speaker 1: that various reports, some exaggerated and some holly untrue, have 532 00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:14,680 Speaker 1: been made in various papers concerning the late miss Amy Levy, 533 00:32:14,720 --> 00:32:18,200 Speaker 1: and are being largely copied by the provincial press. I 534 00:32:18,280 --> 00:32:20,680 Speaker 1: was a close friend of miss Levy for many years, 535 00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:24,080 Speaker 1: and my testimony is out of personal knowledge. It is 536 00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:27,160 Speaker 1: not true that she never left her father's house otherwise 537 00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:30,640 Speaker 1: than on visits to friends or holiday journeys, nor that 538 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:34,040 Speaker 1: she suffered from failing eyesight, nor from the loss of 539 00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:37,080 Speaker 1: her sense of humor, nor that she devoted herself to 540 00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:40,560 Speaker 1: work in the East End. She did suffer for several 541 00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:44,200 Speaker 1: years from slight deafness and from fits of extreme depression, 542 00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:49,360 Speaker 1: the result not of unhappy circumstances or of unkind treatment, but, 543 00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:52,360 Speaker 1: as those believe who know her best, her lack of 544 00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:56,720 Speaker 1: physical robustness and the exhaustion produced by strenuous rain work 545 00:32:57,480 --> 00:33:01,600 Speaker 1: most emphatically. It is not true that her family or 546 00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:05,280 Speaker 1: her personal friends among the Jewish community treated her coldly 547 00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:08,480 Speaker 1: on account of the publication of Ruben Sacks, and thus 548 00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:12,840 Speaker 1: indirectly hastened her death. Her parents were justly proud of her. 549 00:33:13,280 --> 00:33:17,200 Speaker 1: I cannot imagine anything which would have caused more pain 550 00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:21,960 Speaker 1: and indignation to Miss Levy than the circulation of such reports, 551 00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:24,160 Speaker 1: and it is in her name that I make this 552 00:33:24,280 --> 00:33:28,160 Speaker 1: protest against them. After Levy's death, her family and in 553 00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:31,160 Speaker 1: particular her sisters, tried to ensure that her work would 554 00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:34,760 Speaker 1: not be forgotten. As late as nineteen thirty two, her 555 00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:37,680 Speaker 1: sister Katie reached out to publisher McMillan to see if 556 00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:41,080 Speaker 1: there was any interest in Amy's unpublished work. So for 557 00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:43,440 Speaker 1: a long time her work faded from view, but in 558 00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:47,200 Speaker 1: the late nineteen nineties her papers were auctioned and became 559 00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:50,600 Speaker 1: publicly available. Soon after and that really started a new 560 00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:54,000 Speaker 1: wave of interest in her work. I'm so glad that 561 00:33:54,080 --> 00:33:56,800 Speaker 1: I had this random conversation with my friend Bernadette which 562 00:33:56,840 --> 00:33:59,880 Speaker 1: led to this episode. Yeah, I've got things to tack 563 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:05,240 Speaker 1: about on that front and behind menes. Yes, um listen 564 00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:07,040 Speaker 1: is a little bit of a downer since she was 565 00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:09,840 Speaker 1: We didn't mention it specifically, but she was not quite 566 00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:12,480 Speaker 1: twenty eight when she died, so very young. Um and 567 00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:15,400 Speaker 1: so I thought I would do two pretty light listener 568 00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:19,799 Speaker 1: males that are very to me, funny and sweet. One 569 00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:22,680 Speaker 1: is from our listener Mickey, and it is from our 570 00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:27,960 Speaker 1: episode about the Exorcism case which inspired The Exorcist, and 571 00:34:27,960 --> 00:34:30,080 Speaker 1: he said, let me start out by saying, love your show. 572 00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:32,600 Speaker 1: I wanted to share my first experience with the movie 573 00:34:32,640 --> 00:34:35,160 Speaker 1: The Exorcist. At the time the movie came out, I 574 00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:38,200 Speaker 1: was nine years old. My parents wanted to go to 575 00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:40,839 Speaker 1: a drive in movie double feature to see The Exorcist 576 00:34:41,160 --> 00:34:43,720 Speaker 1: and could not find a babysitter, so they took me along. 577 00:34:44,239 --> 00:34:47,440 Speaker 1: They let me watch the first feature, The Abominable Dr Phebes, 578 00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:49,560 Speaker 1: but did not want me to see The Exorcist, so 579 00:34:49,600 --> 00:34:51,840 Speaker 1: they made me lay down in the back seat. I 580 00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:54,400 Speaker 1: can tell you from personal experience that the sound of 581 00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:57,840 Speaker 1: the Exorcist is absolutely terrifying. Thank you for such an 582 00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:02,680 Speaker 1: entertaining and informative podcast. UM. I believe it because that movie, 583 00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:05,560 Speaker 1: I said in the episode, some of the best sound 584 00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:11,640 Speaker 1: design ever, and it is terrifying. So um, but it 585 00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:15,280 Speaker 1: will stick with Mickey forever, I'm sure. Our other email 586 00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:20,160 Speaker 1: UM is from our listener Steve and writes, Hi, Holly 587 00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:22,239 Speaker 1: and Tracy, I really enjoy your show and it keeps 588 00:35:22,239 --> 00:35:24,680 Speaker 1: me company on my drive to and from work. I 589 00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:27,520 Speaker 1: often bring home interesting tidbits from the show to chat 590 00:35:27,560 --> 00:35:30,680 Speaker 1: about during dinner. One of my favorite websites has daily 591 00:35:30,680 --> 00:35:33,440 Speaker 1: posts that bring forward eclectic mixes of art, science, and 592 00:35:33,520 --> 00:35:37,239 Speaker 1: exceptional photography. November one, it posted a video created by 593 00:35:37,239 --> 00:35:40,000 Speaker 1: someone who took out the Tyrannosaurus Rex from Jurassic Park 594 00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:42,399 Speaker 1: and replaced it with a large black cat. It made 595 00:35:42,400 --> 00:35:44,040 Speaker 1: me laugh, and I hope it does the same for you, 596 00:35:44,320 --> 00:35:46,160 Speaker 1: and he sends the link. I have seen it. My 597 00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:49,400 Speaker 1: husband and I watched it about one hundred times, marveling 598 00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:51,760 Speaker 1: at how good it was for just a spoofy video, 599 00:35:52,160 --> 00:35:54,600 Speaker 1: and laughing and laughing and laughing because it's really quite 600 00:35:54,600 --> 00:35:58,040 Speaker 1: good and Uh. Steve mentions if you're worried about hyper lengths, 601 00:35:58,040 --> 00:35:59,839 Speaker 1: don't worry about it, but um and that he has 602 00:35:59,880 --> 00:36:02,520 Speaker 1: no affiliation with them, but small joys is what life 603 00:36:02,560 --> 00:36:05,120 Speaker 1: is all about. And I couldn't agree more. And then 604 00:36:05,719 --> 00:36:08,560 Speaker 1: the real reason I wanted to read this he attest 605 00:36:08,640 --> 00:36:11,320 Speaker 1: a photo of Jackson, our devon rex. He is a 606 00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:14,120 Speaker 1: cuddler who loves to play with paperballs and hair elastics. 607 00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:18,360 Speaker 1: Keep safe, Steve, I, UM, I love a Devon rex. 608 00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:23,520 Speaker 1: I'm not a breed obsessive person, but if if I am, 609 00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:28,120 Speaker 1: that's the breed of cat that I love. Um. All 610 00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:30,239 Speaker 1: the Rexis are cute, but there's nothing like a devon 611 00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:34,759 Speaker 1: and they are usually very cuddly and very hilarious. So 612 00:36:34,880 --> 00:36:37,440 Speaker 1: thank you both to Mickey and Steve for writing us 613 00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:40,719 Speaker 1: those funny emails. I am still gazing at this cat 614 00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:45,719 Speaker 1: and his little broken whiskers, which I adore. Uh. If 615 00:36:45,719 --> 00:36:47,080 Speaker 1: you would like to write to us, you can do 616 00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:49,560 Speaker 1: so at History Podcast at i heeart radio dot com. 617 00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:52,320 Speaker 1: You can also find us as Missed in History Everywhere 618 00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:55,000 Speaker 1: on social media. If you would like to subscribe to 619 00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:56,920 Speaker 1: the show and you haven't done that yet, we've made 620 00:36:56,920 --> 00:36:58,840 Speaker 1: it super easy You can do that on the IHR 621 00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:01,960 Speaker 1: radio app or any where you listen to your favorite podcasts. 622 00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:09,520 Speaker 1: Stuff you Missed in History Class is a production of 623 00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:12,800 Speaker 1: I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, 624 00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:16,000 Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 625 00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:21,520 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows. H