1 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:05,600 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. This week on the show, we talked about 2 00:00:05,680 --> 00:00:09,319 Speaker 1: Amy Levy and her association with Violet Paget, who was 3 00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:13,160 Speaker 1: also known as Vernon Lee. I said in that episode 4 00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:16,000 Speaker 1: that we were thinking about bringing our Vernon Lee episode back. 5 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:19,160 Speaker 1: Is a Saturday classic that did indeed work out here 6 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:26,720 Speaker 1: it is. This originally came out on October Welcome to 7 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:29,479 Speaker 1: Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production of I 8 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:40,199 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson, 9 00:00:40,479 --> 00:00:44,640 Speaker 1: and I'm Holly Fry. Violet Paget, who was more often 10 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:47,480 Speaker 1: known by her pen name Vernon Lee, was a historian 11 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:50,240 Speaker 1: and an art and literary critic, and she wrote across 12 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:53,880 Speaker 1: all kinds of subjects, including music and travel, and esthetics 13 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:58,480 Speaker 1: and psychology and economics. And the reason that we were 14 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:02,040 Speaker 1: talking about her in October ghost stories. There maybe aren't 15 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:04,000 Speaker 1: quite as many ghost stories as I was hoping when 16 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:08,640 Speaker 1: I embarked on this, but there are some. Yeah, I'll 17 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:12,600 Speaker 1: take it. Violet Paget was born on October fourteenth, the 18 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty six, in Boulogne, surmer France. Her parents were 19 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:21,160 Speaker 1: Henry Ferguson and Matilda Paget. Matilda had been married once before, 20 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:24,400 Speaker 1: to a Captain, James Lee Hamilton's, who died in eighteen 21 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:27,720 Speaker 1: fifty two. She had one son from that first marriage, 22 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:31,400 Speaker 1: Eugene Lee Hamilton's, who was eleven years older than Violet. 23 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:35,320 Speaker 1: Violet's father had been Eugene's tutor, and since he had 24 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:38,520 Speaker 1: no money or background to speak of, Matilda's family had 25 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:41,520 Speaker 1: been kind of shocked when she chose to marry him. Yeah, 26 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:44,360 Speaker 1: Matilda was owed an inheritance, but it was tied up 27 00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:47,480 Speaker 1: in a very complicated legal dispute. So even though they 28 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:50,600 Speaker 1: were British citizens, the Pagets couldn't afford to keep up 29 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:54,120 Speaker 1: a genteel lifestyle in England, especially not one that would 30 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:57,040 Speaker 1: require them to maintain a home to keep up with 31 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 1: their neighbors in that home. They could, how her, afford 32 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:04,480 Speaker 1: that same basic level of comfort abroad. So Violent and 33 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:08,919 Speaker 1: Eugene grew up in a somewhat eccentric, very wandering existence 34 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:12,360 Speaker 1: in continental Europe. They moved from place to place, and 35 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:15,680 Speaker 1: they lived off what little income Matilda did have, staying 36 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:20,280 Speaker 1: in inns and rented rooms. But they weren't tourists. Matilda 37 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:24,480 Speaker 1: was adamant that they were not tourists. Later in her life. 38 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:28,200 Speaker 1: Here's how Violet described it, quote, we shifted our quarters 39 00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:32,120 Speaker 1: invariably every six months, and by dint of shifting, crossed 40 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:36,160 Speaker 1: Europe's length and breadth in several directions. But this was moving, 41 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:41,680 Speaker 1: not traveling, and we contemned all travelers. Violet's mother really 42 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:44,880 Speaker 1: doated on Eugene, and she focused most of her attention 43 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:49,320 Speaker 1: on Eugene's upbringing in education. Even after Eugene went off 44 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:53,119 Speaker 1: to Oxford, Matilda was still way more attentive to how 45 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:57,080 Speaker 1: he was doing than she was to violets studies. Violet 46 00:02:57,080 --> 00:02:59,480 Speaker 1: did have a series of governesses, but a lot of 47 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:02,040 Speaker 1: times she was just left on her own and to 48 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:05,000 Speaker 1: her own devices when it came to study. But she 49 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:08,640 Speaker 1: was extremely bright, and she was very precocious, and they 50 00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:13,720 Speaker 1: were living all over Europe, so she became fluent in English, French, Italian, 51 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:17,240 Speaker 1: and German, and she taught herself a wide range of subjects. 52 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:20,960 Speaker 1: While Violet's mother hated the idea of being a tourist, 53 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:23,440 Speaker 1: that often wasn't the case when it came to their 54 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:26,760 Speaker 1: various neighbors. When Violet was ten, the family was in 55 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:31,000 Speaker 1: Nice and their neighbors included the Sergeant family. That's including 56 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: John Singer, Sergeant, also aged ten, and his sister Emily, 57 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:37,920 Speaker 1: who was about a year younger, and John's mother had 58 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:40,560 Speaker 1: taken the family to Niece for the sake of her health, 59 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:44,120 Speaker 1: and she loved being a tourist. She filled their days 60 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:47,960 Speaker 1: with all kinds of outings, including to libraries and museums 61 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:50,840 Speaker 1: and historical points of interest, and she made it a 62 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:54,720 Speaker 1: point to invite Violet along as well. That same year 63 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 1: that the Pagets met, the Sergeant's Eugene dropped out of Oxford. 64 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 1: This was a huge, huge disappointment to their mother, but 65 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:04,800 Speaker 1: it meant that Violet finally had an adult to give 66 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:08,680 Speaker 1: her self education some more direction. Over the next few years, 67 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:11,360 Speaker 1: Eugene played a big part in Violet's course of study, 68 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:14,080 Speaker 1: and he also started to give her feedback on her writing. 69 00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:18,239 Speaker 1: The Pagets and the Sergeant's crossed Paths repeatedly after meeting 70 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:21,719 Speaker 1: in Nice, and Mrs Sergeant encouraged all of the children 71 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:25,760 Speaker 1: to play right and draw together. Violet and John weren't 72 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:29,120 Speaker 1: particularly close after they grew up, although he did draw 73 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:32,880 Speaker 1: and paint her, but Violet and Emily Sergeant remained close 74 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:36,640 Speaker 1: friends for the rest of their lives. John Singer Sergeant. 75 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:41,200 Speaker 1: Portrait of Vernon Lee's is the art for this episode 76 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:45,240 Speaker 1: on our website. I love it, yet she reminds me 77 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:47,919 Speaker 1: of Chummy on Call the Midwife, which I know is 78 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:50,599 Speaker 1: not a show that you were particularly into. You. I 79 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:54,559 Speaker 1: don't watch it because of all the baby halvings. Yes, 80 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:58,400 Speaker 1: that is not your thing. It is my thing. So 81 00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:01,520 Speaker 1: it was through all these are things with the sergeants 82 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:03,920 Speaker 1: that Violet started to become a lot more interested in 83 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:08,040 Speaker 1: history and architecture and art. And this was particularly true 84 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:11,200 Speaker 1: when both families were living in Rome. When Violet and 85 00:05:11,279 --> 00:05:14,600 Speaker 1: John were twelve, after walking through the streets and the 86 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:18,200 Speaker 1: historical sites of Rome and becoming really immersed in its 87 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:21,840 Speaker 1: sense of centuries of history, she really threw herself into 88 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:25,320 Speaker 1: studying it. She also started writing more and more and 89 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:30,279 Speaker 1: developing her own imaginative side, both through writing and through play. 90 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:33,159 Speaker 1: For example, she and John Singer Sergeant would read about 91 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:36,680 Speaker 1: things like historical executions, and then they would act those out, 92 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:39,680 Speaker 1: like what kid didn't do that? I'd love that story. 93 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:45,040 Speaker 1: Violet's first published work came out when she was fourteen, 94 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:47,480 Speaker 1: and it drew from her time in Rome and her 95 00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:50,479 Speaker 1: study of history and art there. It was written in 96 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:54,880 Speaker 1: French and titled liz Aventures dun pas de monet or 97 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:58,160 Speaker 1: The Adventures of a Coin, and as that title suggests, 98 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:00,520 Speaker 1: it's a story told through the life of a coin. 99 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:03,480 Speaker 1: It starts out in ancient Rome, and then the coin 100 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 1: passes from person to person through the centuries until it 101 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:10,240 Speaker 1: ends up with a coin collector. This is obviously a 102 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:14,839 Speaker 1: fictional story, but it's also deeply grounded in history, complete 103 00:06:14,839 --> 00:06:18,479 Speaker 1: with footnotes. The Adventures of a Coin came out serially 104 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:21,640 Speaker 1: in three issues of the journal La Famia and May, 105 00:06:21,839 --> 00:06:26,320 Speaker 1: June and July of eighteen seventy. Throughout her teens, Violet 106 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:31,120 Speaker 1: was ambitious, precocious, and very focused. She kept on writing 107 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:34,159 Speaker 1: and getting her work published, and in eighteen seventy three, 108 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:37,760 Speaker 1: when she was seventeen, her family finally settled down into 109 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:41,200 Speaker 1: a permanent home, and that home was in Florence, Italy. 110 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:44,400 Speaker 1: They moved into a different house in Florence, known as 111 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 1: Il Palmerino in eighty two that is, weirdly lived for 112 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:51,840 Speaker 1: the rest of her life. A big part in this 113 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:55,960 Speaker 1: shift from their perpetual wandering to staying put was that 114 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:59,000 Speaker 1: Violet's mother had finally gotten that inheritance. She was owned, 115 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:01,800 Speaker 1: so now they could have ward all the associated costs 116 00:07:01,839 --> 00:07:05,280 Speaker 1: that came along with maintaining a household. They still didn't 117 00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:07,520 Speaker 1: have a ton of money though. One of the reasons 118 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:10,000 Speaker 1: that they were in Florence was because Italy was considered 119 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:13,280 Speaker 1: to be the cheapest place to live. But another big 120 00:07:13,280 --> 00:07:15,960 Speaker 1: part of it was that Eugene had become seriously ill. 121 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:19,960 Speaker 1: He had started to experience an unexplained paralysis, and so 122 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:22,880 Speaker 1: the family put down roots and he moved home to 123 00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:26,560 Speaker 1: be cared for by his mother and his sister. Violet 124 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:29,280 Speaker 1: had enjoyed many of the places that they had lived 125 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:32,560 Speaker 1: over all those years, but she really really loved Italy, 126 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:36,000 Speaker 1: and to her it was just home. Violet adopted the 127 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:38,920 Speaker 1: pseudonym Vernon Lee in eighteen seventy five, at the age 128 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:41,880 Speaker 1: of nineteen, after her family had been living in Florence 129 00:07:41,880 --> 00:07:44,280 Speaker 1: for about two years, and we'll get to that after 130 00:07:44,440 --> 00:07:56,480 Speaker 1: a quick sponsor break. By the time Violet Paget started 131 00:07:56,560 --> 00:07:59,640 Speaker 1: using the pseudonym Vernon Lee in eighteen seventy five, it 132 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:02,600 Speaker 1: was coming a lot more common for women to publish 133 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:06,040 Speaker 1: their work under their own names. Her peers and the 134 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:09,320 Speaker 1: women who were acting as her literary mentors were publishing 135 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:14,280 Speaker 1: as themselves, and while it wasn't necessarily completely acceptable socially 136 00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:17,200 Speaker 1: for a woman to be publishing her work, it also 137 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:20,360 Speaker 1: wasn't practically mandatory for a woman to take on a 138 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:23,080 Speaker 1: man's name in order to get published at all. But 139 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:26,040 Speaker 1: Paget had moved on from writing things like The Adventures 140 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:28,720 Speaker 1: of a Coin, and she was embarking in the world 141 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:31,520 Speaker 1: of art criticism and aesthetics, which is the branch of 142 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:36,200 Speaker 1: philosophy devoted to beauty, the nature of art, and artistic appreciation. 143 00:08:36,920 --> 00:08:40,680 Speaker 1: She was writing very dense technical work on academic subjects. 144 00:08:41,400 --> 00:08:44,360 Speaker 1: She had no formal education, she was still quite young, 145 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:47,560 Speaker 1: and she hadn't developed any kind of name or reputation 146 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:52,560 Speaker 1: for herself. In her words, written to novelist Henrietta Jenkin, quote, 147 00:08:52,880 --> 00:08:55,280 Speaker 1: no one reads a woman's writing on art history or 148 00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:59,680 Speaker 1: aesthetics with anything but unmitigated contempt. This pen name she 149 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:02,600 Speaker 1: had tofted was the combination of Vernon because it started 150 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:05,600 Speaker 1: with a V like Violet, and Lee from her half 151 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:09,920 Speaker 1: brother's surname. For a time she also used her father's initials, 152 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:13,320 Speaker 1: so it was HP Vernon Lee. The first time she 153 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:16,120 Speaker 1: used the pseudonym was in a series of articles, and 154 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:20,559 Speaker 1: the Italian journal Law revised to Europea or the European Magazine. 155 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:24,440 Speaker 1: After those first articles as Vernon Lee, she never published 156 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:27,880 Speaker 1: as Violet Paget again, even after people made the connection 157 00:09:27,920 --> 00:09:30,559 Speaker 1: that Vernon Lee and Violet Paget were one and the same. 158 00:09:31,559 --> 00:09:34,760 Speaker 1: She did, however, use both names in her personal life, 159 00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:38,040 Speaker 1: including signing some letters with one name and others with 160 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:42,400 Speaker 1: the other. The name Vernon Lee became increasingly recognized, though, 161 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:45,080 Speaker 1: so going forward, we're going to use that name for 162 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:48,880 Speaker 1: the rest of the podcast. Yeah, people handle her name differently. 163 00:09:49,400 --> 00:09:52,239 Speaker 1: Some people say Vernon Lee throughout one of the biographies 164 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:54,600 Speaker 1: that I read, switched back and forth between whether they 165 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:57,160 Speaker 1: were talking about her formal work or her social life. 166 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:01,640 Speaker 1: Very interesting. I understand the eye dia, But yeah, it 167 00:10:01,679 --> 00:10:05,199 Speaker 1: seems like she was very fluid with both names. Yeah, 168 00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:08,240 Speaker 1: but for the interest of clarity, it's probably easiest to 169 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:11,079 Speaker 1: just pick one and run with. Flipping back and forth 170 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:13,600 Speaker 1: in an audio podcast seemed like it would be more 171 00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:18,120 Speaker 1: confusing than not. Regardless, though, eighteen eighty was a busy 172 00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:21,240 Speaker 1: year for Vernon Lee. She was twenty four and she 173 00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:24,840 Speaker 1: published a work called Studies of the eighteenth century in Italy. 174 00:10:25,559 --> 00:10:29,040 Speaker 1: Some of this book had been previously published as standalone essays, 175 00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:33,360 Speaker 1: and it was an exploration of eighteenth century Italian literature, theater, 176 00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:37,960 Speaker 1: and music, including opera and Comedia dell arte. It was 177 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:43,359 Speaker 1: deeply informed by years of trawling through bookstalls and libraries 178 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:47,480 Speaker 1: looking for old copies of eighteenth century material. It was 179 00:10:47,559 --> 00:10:52,920 Speaker 1: also informed by Lee's study of and thoughts on esthetics, 180 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:55,680 Speaker 1: and by her study of music. She had actually given 181 00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:58,160 Speaker 1: up music lessons when she was younger because she just 182 00:10:58,280 --> 00:11:00,800 Speaker 1: wasn't very good at it, and then she started them 183 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:03,200 Speaker 1: again while working on this book so that she could 184 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:06,920 Speaker 1: appreciate the technical elements of what she was writing about. 185 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:10,680 Speaker 1: This book took English readers on a tour of eighteenth 186 00:11:10,679 --> 00:11:14,680 Speaker 1: century Italy, and it was very popular and generally well reviewed. 187 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:18,600 Speaker 1: Its content and its reception also gave her access to 188 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:22,520 Speaker 1: some prestigious artistic and literary circles. It was one of 189 00:11:22,559 --> 00:11:25,360 Speaker 1: the things that helped her develop an extensive network among 190 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:30,080 Speaker 1: some of the foremost Victorian writers, artists, and philosophers. Yeah, 191 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:32,480 Speaker 1: one of the things that people comment on about Vernon 192 00:11:32,559 --> 00:11:36,400 Speaker 1: Lee a lot, besides her writing is this extensive network 193 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:40,480 Speaker 1: of basically everybody that was a prominent person in the 194 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:44,600 Speaker 1: whole literary, artistic, and philosophical world at the time. She 195 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:48,960 Speaker 1: she knew practically everyone. She also started a relationship with 196 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:53,000 Speaker 1: another young writer named Mary Robinson. In eighteen eighty. Robinson 197 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:55,400 Speaker 1: was invited to stay with the Padgets in Florence, and 198 00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:58,880 Speaker 1: soon she was spending every autumn in Florence with Lee, 199 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:01,600 Speaker 1: and Lee was spending every summer in London with her. 200 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:05,040 Speaker 1: Robinson and Lee spent a lot of their time together, 201 00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:09,760 Speaker 1: working side by side, but Robinson's family was not particularly 202 00:12:09,880 --> 00:12:14,080 Speaker 1: enthusiastic about this relationship. This was a time when romantic 203 00:12:14,120 --> 00:12:18,440 Speaker 1: friendships were common and not particularly stigmatized, and at least 204 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:22,240 Speaker 1: at first, nothing more was suspected. But Lee could be 205 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:26,199 Speaker 1: cattie and tactless, which the Robinson's simply did not approve of, 206 00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:29,400 Speaker 1: and they also felt somewhat taken advantage of, since it 207 00:12:29,480 --> 00:12:31,800 Speaker 1: was through them that Lee was meeting a lot of 208 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:36,040 Speaker 1: publishers for her work. In one Lee published a work 209 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:40,840 Speaker 1: called Belcaro being Essays on Sundry Aesthetical Questions, which she 210 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:44,840 Speaker 1: dedicated to Mary Robinson. The set of essays was very 211 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:48,640 Speaker 1: heavily influenced by the esthetic philosophy of Walter Pater, who 212 00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:52,600 Speaker 1: Lee met that same year. Peter became one of Lee's 213 00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:56,360 Speaker 1: very few close male friends. In general, she had several 214 00:12:56,520 --> 00:12:59,920 Speaker 1: close women friends, almost no close male friends. He was 215 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:04,160 Speaker 1: also a huge influence on her work. Leah was also 216 00:13:04,400 --> 00:13:08,280 Speaker 1: for a time friends with novelist Henry James. There's some 217 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:11,640 Speaker 1: speculation that James wrote her into his novel Roderick Hudson, 218 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:14,400 Speaker 1: but she was only nineteen when that book came out, 219 00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:17,280 Speaker 1: so the timing doesn't quite add up with when she 220 00:13:17,640 --> 00:13:20,280 Speaker 1: then had access to all of these people, but they 221 00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:25,600 Speaker 1: were friends and correspondence by the eighteen eighties. On September four, 222 00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:28,760 Speaker 1: James wrote a letter in which he said, quote, I 223 00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:32,400 Speaker 1: don't think I think Violet Paget great, but I think 224 00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:36,679 Speaker 1: her a most astounding young female and Euphorian, most fascinating 225 00:13:36,679 --> 00:13:41,839 Speaker 1: and suggestive, as well as monstrous clever. She has prodigious cerebration. 226 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:47,239 Speaker 1: Euphorian's full title was Euphorian being Studies of the Antique 227 00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:51,520 Speaker 1: and Medieval in the Renaissance. It was similar to the 228 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:56,160 Speaker 1: eighteenth century Italy Book, but about the Medieval and Renaissance periods. 229 00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:05,360 Speaker 1: I love she has prodigious cerebration, but that same year. 230 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:08,920 Speaker 1: Also in four Lee published her first novel, which was 231 00:14:08,920 --> 00:14:13,000 Speaker 1: called Miss Brown. She and Henry James had been corresponding 232 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:15,160 Speaker 1: while she was working on it, and James knew that 233 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:18,839 Speaker 1: Lee was planning to dedicate it to him, But when 234 00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:23,240 Speaker 1: it came out, he didn't like it. That's awkward. Uh. 235 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:26,320 Speaker 1: He never relate told Lee what he thought about it. 236 00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:30,239 Speaker 1: He sort of danced around his criticisms once. He eventually 237 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:33,080 Speaker 1: wrote her a letter, but before he did that, he 238 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:36,000 Speaker 1: told basically everyone else how bad he thought it was. 239 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:39,360 Speaker 1: In one letter, he wrote, quote, as I told you, 240 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:42,760 Speaker 1: my modest name is on the dedication page, and my 241 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:46,280 Speaker 1: tongue is therefore tied in speaking of it, at least generally. 242 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:49,000 Speaker 1: But I may whisper in your ear that as it 243 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:51,600 Speaker 1: is her first attempt at a novel, so it is 244 00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:54,040 Speaker 1: to be hoped it may be her last. It is 245 00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:58,400 Speaker 1: very bad, strangely inferior to her other writing, and to 246 00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:02,960 Speaker 1: me at least pay fully disagreeable in tone. Henry James 247 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:06,480 Speaker 1: was not alone in this opinion. Overall, Miss Brown was 248 00:15:06,640 --> 00:15:10,680 Speaker 1: very widely panned. It was basically a Pygmalion story about 249 00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:13,800 Speaker 1: a poet and painter who finds the eponymous Anne Brown, 250 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:16,760 Speaker 1: who was a servant girl, and he educates her with 251 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:19,280 Speaker 1: the intention of marrying her, and so a lot of 252 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:23,840 Speaker 1: the novel hinges on her decision and her deliberation of 253 00:15:23,880 --> 00:15:26,640 Speaker 1: whether she wants to marry him or not. Lee just 254 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:30,160 Speaker 1: didn't put much separation between the real world inspirations for 255 00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:35,200 Speaker 1: her characters and the characters themselves. It satirized the aesthetic 256 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:37,720 Speaker 1: movement that was playing out in London, and there were 257 00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:40,680 Speaker 1: a lot of unflattering characters in the novel who had 258 00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:44,760 Speaker 1: real life counterparts, including Oscar Wilde that is a person 259 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:47,720 Speaker 1: I would not want to make an enemy of. Frankly Uh. 260 00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:52,520 Speaker 1: These counterparts were so obvious that people also interpreted similarities 261 00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:56,720 Speaker 1: that weren't intentional as being about them. People were particularly 262 00:15:56,720 --> 00:16:00,320 Speaker 1: annoyed because Lee was a relative newcomer to the London see, 263 00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:03,000 Speaker 1: so they didn't think she had enough experience with it 264 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:07,480 Speaker 1: to be justified in her criticisms. Lee also saw still 265 00:16:07,640 --> 00:16:11,120 Speaker 1: more controversy in eighteen eighty four with her publication of 266 00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:14,640 Speaker 1: the Countess of Albany, which was a biography of Charles 267 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:19,400 Speaker 1: Edwards Stewart's wife Louise. People were outraged over this biography 268 00:16:19,480 --> 00:16:23,080 Speaker 1: because Lee wrote about the Countess sympathetically, and she spelled 269 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:25,040 Speaker 1: out how she was living at a time and in 270 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:27,520 Speaker 1: a place where it was normal and expected for a 271 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:31,000 Speaker 1: woman to have a lover. But to her English audience, 272 00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:34,400 Speaker 1: the Countess was just an adulteress who deserved neither sympathy 273 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:38,240 Speaker 1: nor respect. Lee was still reeling from all this criticism 274 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:43,080 Speaker 1: when Mary Robinson married James Darmstadtor in eighteen eighty seven, 275 00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:48,240 Speaker 1: ending their seven year relationship. Darmastator had read and appreciated 276 00:16:48,280 --> 00:16:51,520 Speaker 1: some of Robinson's work, and they had gotten engaged after 277 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:56,040 Speaker 1: corresponding for just a few months. No one except the 278 00:16:56,080 --> 00:16:59,680 Speaker 1: couple was in favor of this match. The pagets had 279 00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:03,040 Speaker 1: really taken for granted that Robinson would never marry and 280 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:05,719 Speaker 1: that her relationship with Lee would just go on indefinitely. 281 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:11,240 Speaker 1: The Robinson's disapproved because Dharmasteader was Jewish, from a poor family, 282 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:14,080 Speaker 1: and disabled due to a spinal disease he had had 283 00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:17,000 Speaker 1: as a child. Also, a whole lot of people pointed 284 00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:19,399 Speaker 1: out that they had only met in person like three 285 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:22,439 Speaker 1: times before they got engaged. I am not in a 286 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:28,360 Speaker 1: position to judge that. Uh Lee was absolutely heartbroken when 287 00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:32,560 Speaker 1: Robinson married, but Almost immediately she began a new relationship 288 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:36,679 Speaker 1: with Clementina and Struther Thompson, who was known as Kit. 289 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:41,960 Speaker 1: It is not clear whether she pronounced this Ainster and 290 00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:46,119 Speaker 1: Strucor or some other variation. She was from Scotland, and 291 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:48,720 Speaker 1: there is a town in Scotland where locals say Ainster 292 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:52,240 Speaker 1: but everyone else does not. So apologies if I have 293 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:56,600 Speaker 1: offended anyone's ear. We don't mean to make your ears 294 00:17:56,640 --> 00:18:00,480 Speaker 1: bleed when we say this name and st the Thompson 295 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:04,600 Speaker 1: basically waited out the end of Lee's relationship with Mary Robinson. 296 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:08,800 Speaker 1: Lee had asked her mother to invite Anstruther Thompson to 297 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:11,679 Speaker 1: stay with them in Florence. Once she heard about this engagement. 298 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:15,600 Speaker 1: Once the rest of the padgets also knew about the engagement, 299 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:20,320 Speaker 1: she asked again, saying quote, you will understand now why 300 00:18:20,359 --> 00:18:23,000 Speaker 1: it would make me utterly miserable if I were not 301 00:18:23,119 --> 00:18:26,800 Speaker 1: permitted to have this woman in Florence and answer there. 302 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:32,080 Speaker 1: Thompson patiently tended Lee through her heartbreak. Robinson's wedding was 303 00:18:32,119 --> 00:18:36,000 Speaker 1: in March, and by about June, ansterer there Thompson had 304 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:39,199 Speaker 1: taken her place in Vernon Lee's life. This was a 305 00:18:39,240 --> 00:18:41,760 Speaker 1: turning point in Lee's life, and we're going to get 306 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:44,520 Speaker 1: to the next phase and those ghost stories we promised 307 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:46,720 Speaker 1: you after we first have a little bit of a 308 00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:58,960 Speaker 1: sponsor break. Even though she was bolstered through her relationship 309 00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:03,359 Speaker 1: with Kit Answer their Thompson Vernon, Lee's output really dipped 310 00:19:03,359 --> 00:19:06,119 Speaker 1: for a while after Mary Robinson announced her engagement in 311 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:11,040 Speaker 1: eight seven. Lee had always been prone to anxiety and illnesses, 312 00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:13,520 Speaker 1: and over the years she had also had a series 313 00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:18,040 Speaker 1: of mental breakdowns, but those years after Robinson got engaged 314 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:22,040 Speaker 1: and married were particularly hard. For almost ten years, a 315 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:25,040 Speaker 1: lot of her publications, especially the more academic ones, were 316 00:19:25,119 --> 00:19:29,680 Speaker 1: previously published essays. This was, however, when she wrote most 317 00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:34,320 Speaker 1: of her supernatural stories. This wasn't totally new territory for her. 318 00:19:35,119 --> 00:19:37,679 Speaker 1: Earlier in the show, we mentioned her collection of essays 319 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:41,720 Speaker 1: bel carro being essays on Sundry Aesthetical Questions from back 320 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:45,480 Speaker 1: in eighty one, and one of the essays was Faustus 321 00:19:45,560 --> 00:19:49,200 Speaker 1: and Helena Notes on the Supernatural in art. Here's a 322 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:52,119 Speaker 1: quote from that quote. We none of us believe in 323 00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:56,480 Speaker 1: ghosts as logical possibilities, but we most of us conceived 324 00:19:56,520 --> 00:20:00,520 Speaker 1: them as imaginative probabilities. We can still feel a ghostly, 325 00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:03,080 Speaker 1: and thence it is that a ghost is the only 326 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:06,240 Speaker 1: thing which can, in any respect replace for us the 327 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:09,880 Speaker 1: divinities of old, and enable us to understand, if only 328 00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:13,719 Speaker 1: for a minute, the imaginative power which they possessed, and 329 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:17,119 Speaker 1: of which they were despoiled, not only by logic but 330 00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:20,960 Speaker 1: by art. By ghost, we do not mean the vulgar 331 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:25,080 Speaker 1: apparition which is seen or heard in told or written tales. 332 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:28,480 Speaker 1: We mean the ghost which slowly rises up in our mind, 333 00:20:29,080 --> 00:20:33,199 Speaker 1: the haunter not of corridors and staircases, but of our fancies. 334 00:20:34,119 --> 00:20:38,640 Speaker 1: And ten nine published a collection of four supernatural stories 335 00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:42,639 Speaker 1: called Hauntings, and the preface runs along a very similar 336 00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:45,919 Speaker 1: theme to that earlier essay. She writes about the trope 337 00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:49,600 Speaker 1: of the horrible family secret that's revealed to every member 338 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:53,000 Speaker 1: of the family on their twenty one birthday, quote so 339 00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:57,960 Speaker 1: terrible as to overshadow his subsequent life. She writes about 340 00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:01,480 Speaker 1: how the dread of this terror secret is so much 341 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:05,360 Speaker 1: worse than whatever the reality can be. She goes on 342 00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:08,480 Speaker 1: to say that quote, it seems to me that the supernatural, 343 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:13,280 Speaker 1: in order to call forth these sensations terrible to our ancestors, 344 00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:19,200 Speaker 1: and terrible, but delicious to ourselves. Skeptical posterity must necessarily, 345 00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:24,239 Speaker 1: and with few exceptions, remain in wrapped in mystery, She 346 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:28,040 Speaker 1: ends the preface. Hence, my four little tales are of 347 00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:31,639 Speaker 1: no genuine ghosts in the scientific sense. They tell of 348 00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:34,840 Speaker 1: no hauntings such as could be contributed by the Society 349 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:38,480 Speaker 1: of Psychical Research. Of no specters that can be caught 350 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:42,760 Speaker 1: in definite places and made to dictate judicial evidence. My 351 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:46,480 Speaker 1: ghosts are what you call spurious ghosts, according to me, 352 00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:50,000 Speaker 1: the only genuine ones of whom I can affirm only 353 00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:54,040 Speaker 1: one thing, that they haunted certain brains, and have haunted, 354 00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:57,919 Speaker 1: among others, my own and my friends. The stories in 355 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:01,360 Speaker 1: her collection, along with most of her other supernatural stories, 356 00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:05,639 Speaker 1: piece together events that are increasingly odd and eerie and 357 00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:10,199 Speaker 1: foreboding and oppressive, and they're also really deeply connected to 358 00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:13,040 Speaker 1: the place where the story is set. Oak of oak 359 00:22:13,119 --> 00:22:16,320 Speaker 1: Hurst or the Phantom Lover, which was originally published as 360 00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:19,439 Speaker 1: a Phantom Lover of Fantastic Story, is the only one 361 00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:21,640 Speaker 1: of these stories that said in England, and it's set 362 00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:24,000 Speaker 1: in a creepy old manor house. It draws off from 363 00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:26,560 Speaker 1: a lot of the tropes of an English story set 364 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:29,000 Speaker 1: in a creepy old manor house. But the rest are 365 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:32,560 Speaker 1: set in Italy, Spain or Germany, and they draw extensively 366 00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:36,280 Speaker 1: from history and myth and folklore, and often there's an 367 00:22:36,359 --> 00:22:40,720 Speaker 1: underpinning of some fictional historical facts that are pointed out 368 00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:43,959 Speaker 1: as facts and they make it seem more real. A 369 00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:47,119 Speaker 1: few examples of these stories, which were mostly written between 370 00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:51,560 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty nine and nine. Two uh amor Dure is 371 00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:53,840 Speaker 1: written in the form of a diary. It is about 372 00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:57,879 Speaker 1: a historian who becomes increasingly fixated on and enamored with 373 00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:03,359 Speaker 1: a historical woman he is researching named Medeia Decarpi. Dianea 374 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:06,560 Speaker 1: is a series of letters detailing these strange and violent 375 00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:09,840 Speaker 1: events surrounding a young girl who was the only survivor 376 00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:13,320 Speaker 1: of a shipwreck. Prince Alberic and the Snake Lady features 377 00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:16,119 Speaker 1: a young boy who becomes more and more preoccupied with 378 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:19,920 Speaker 1: a story about how his namesake ancestor rescued a woman 379 00:23:20,040 --> 00:23:23,520 Speaker 1: from being enchanted as a snake, which was also depicted 380 00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:26,960 Speaker 1: on a tapestry in his grandfather's home. Just as a 381 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:30,560 Speaker 1: side note of Vernon Lee's half brother, Eugene Lee Hamilton 382 00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:33,639 Speaker 1: was a writer as well. He also wrote gothic and 383 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:36,840 Speaker 1: supernatural stories. Others his tended to be a lot more 384 00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:40,960 Speaker 1: lurid and a lot less psychological than his sisters. I 385 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:42,840 Speaker 1: read a couple of these stories while I was working 386 00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:45,679 Speaker 1: on this. I feel like they hold up pretty well, 387 00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:48,880 Speaker 1: hers or his, or both hers. I did not read 388 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:52,320 Speaker 1: any of his gotcha. I just read there the description 389 00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:54,600 Speaker 1: that in general, they tended to be a lot more, 390 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:56,879 Speaker 1: a lot more along the lines of here is the 391 00:23:56,880 --> 00:24:00,919 Speaker 1: creepy ghost obviously supernatural happening, while Leaves tended to be 392 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:04,879 Speaker 1: more like, there's some unexplained elements here, but this person 393 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:08,520 Speaker 1: is also being tormented by their own mind. Right and 394 00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:10,600 Speaker 1: ghost stories were not the only thing that Lee was 395 00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:14,280 Speaker 1: writing at the end of the nineteenth century. In two 396 00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:16,760 Speaker 1: she wrote the story that finally put the nail in 397 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:19,800 Speaker 1: the coffin of her friendship with Henry James, who was 398 00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:22,600 Speaker 1: called Lady Tal, and it came out in a collection 399 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:27,840 Speaker 1: called Vanitas Polite Stories. Lady Tal included a transparent and 400 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:32,320 Speaker 1: unflattering fictionalization of Henry James, and this time James did 401 00:24:32,359 --> 00:24:35,400 Speaker 1: not read it. He heard about it, decided he would 402 00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:38,760 Speaker 1: rather not know, and that he was done. He later 403 00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:40,960 Speaker 1: wrote his brother in a letter in which he said 404 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:44,600 Speaker 1: it was quote particularly impudent and blaggardly sort of thing 405 00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:47,080 Speaker 1: to do to a friend, and one who has treated 406 00:24:47,119 --> 00:24:50,840 Speaker 1: her with such particular consideration as I have. She's a 407 00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:53,880 Speaker 1: tiger cat, which to me is like a great compliment. 408 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:57,959 Speaker 1: But that's maybe not what he intended. Vernon Lee and 409 00:24:58,119 --> 00:25:01,560 Speaker 1: Kit Anster there Thompson all worked together on a theory 410 00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:04,280 Speaker 1: of aesthetics at the end of the nineteenth century. It 411 00:25:04,359 --> 00:25:07,920 Speaker 1: was drawn from Kit's own awareness of her body's physical 412 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:11,439 Speaker 1: responses while looking at art. This was connected to the 413 00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:15,439 Speaker 1: German concept of infulung or feeling into It's one of 414 00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:20,000 Speaker 1: the first English language explorations of the idea of empathy 415 00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:23,360 Speaker 1: and the context of aesthetics. They published an essay on 416 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:26,760 Speaker 1: this work that was called Beauty and Ugliness. In even 417 00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:31,120 Speaker 1: was rooted in the idea that these physical responses are 418 00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:35,480 Speaker 1: the work of a person's body subconsciously mimicking or living 419 00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:40,440 Speaker 1: through what you're seeing in the art. This was unfortunately 420 00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:44,879 Speaker 1: the end of their relationship as well. Art historian and 421 00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:48,240 Speaker 1: critic Bernard Berenson had been working on some similar ideas, 422 00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:52,440 Speaker 1: and he accused both women of plagiarism. He later admitted 423 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:55,919 Speaker 1: that his accusations had been baseless, but the stress of 424 00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:59,760 Speaker 1: the accusation took such a tool on anstruthor Thompson that 425 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:02,920 Speaker 1: she had a mental breakdown. She went back to Scotland 426 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:07,080 Speaker 1: shortly before Beauty and Ugliness was published, Although this wasn't 427 00:26:07,119 --> 00:26:09,679 Speaker 1: amicable split, and the two women stayed in touch for 428 00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:12,760 Speaker 1: the rest of Kid's life. This was the third in 429 00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:16,280 Speaker 1: a series of upsets for Lee that came pretty closely together. 430 00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:21,320 Speaker 1: Her friend and mentor, Walter Pater, died in her mother 431 00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:24,560 Speaker 1: died in eighteen ninety six, and with her mother's death, 432 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:27,479 Speaker 1: Lee took on the primary responsibility for caring for her 433 00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:30,600 Speaker 1: brother Eugene, who was still very ill. This was something 434 00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:33,080 Speaker 1: that she continued to do until he got married in 435 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:38,240 Speaker 1: eight He just noted died in nineteen o seven. To 436 00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:41,800 Speaker 1: console herself through all of this, Lee also turned to 437 00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:46,320 Speaker 1: travel writing. She traveled extensively around Europe, although mostly took 438 00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:49,760 Speaker 1: conventional places, and she seemed to find some comfort in 439 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:53,119 Speaker 1: writing about it, and she bought Ill pal Marino in 440 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:56,960 Speaker 1: nineteen o six. By the nineteen teens, Lee had worked 441 00:26:56,960 --> 00:26:59,680 Speaker 1: in so many fields and across so many genres. There 442 00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:04,399 Speaker 1: was history, art criticism, history, philosophy, fiction, and on, and 443 00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:07,120 Speaker 1: and on and on. Both she and her mother had 444 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:11,080 Speaker 1: also been ardent anti vivisectionists and campaigners for animal rights. 445 00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:15,199 Speaker 1: But as World War One approached, Lee increasingly focused on 446 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:20,639 Speaker 1: advocating pacifism, including writing anti war literature, and this was 447 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:25,240 Speaker 1: of course highly criticized, and even among pacifists, Lee was 448 00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:28,960 Speaker 1: something of a loner. She distanced herself from people whose 449 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:33,719 Speaker 1: pacifism was radical or religiously motivated, and she was isolated 450 00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:36,280 Speaker 1: from her home as well. She was in England when 451 00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:39,200 Speaker 1: the war began in nineteen fourteen, and she wasn't able 452 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:41,440 Speaker 1: to get back to Italy until after it was over. 453 00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:45,600 Speaker 1: During the war, she joined and wrote for the Union 454 00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:49,359 Speaker 1: of Democratic Control or the u d C. The UDC 455 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:53,000 Speaker 1: was a British organization that called for reduced armaments and 456 00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:56,560 Speaker 1: the creation of an organization among European nations designed to 457 00:27:56,600 --> 00:28:00,320 Speaker 1: prevent future warfare, along with a treaty at the end 458 00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:03,080 Speaker 1: of the war that did not redraw all the borders 459 00:28:03,359 --> 00:28:07,520 Speaker 1: or humiliate the defeated nations. Of course, the Treaty of 460 00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:11,280 Speaker 1: Versailles did the opposite, and Lee, having lived in Germany 461 00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:14,000 Speaker 1: at several points in her life was just certain that 462 00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:16,800 Speaker 1: the terms of the Treaty of Versailles that were meant 463 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:20,280 Speaker 1: to punish Germany, we're really going to cause and not prevent, 464 00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:24,480 Speaker 1: future conflict. Because she knew what she was talking about, 465 00:28:24,960 --> 00:28:28,320 Speaker 1: she did. Most of Lee's writing during and after World 466 00:28:28,359 --> 00:28:32,440 Speaker 1: War One was about pacifism. In nineteen fifteen she wrote 467 00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:36,719 Speaker 1: an allegory called the Ballet of Nations of present Day Morality, 468 00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:39,920 Speaker 1: and in nineteen twenty she published Satan the Waiter of 469 00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:43,680 Speaker 1: Philosophic War trilogy. But by this point both she and 470 00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:47,360 Speaker 1: her output were slowing down. She was getting older, and 471 00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:50,640 Speaker 1: although she was still able to travel once the war ended, 472 00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:53,440 Speaker 1: she typically only went to places that she had been before. 473 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:57,000 Speaker 1: In nineteen twenty, Lee realized that the main villa at 474 00:28:57,040 --> 00:29:00,120 Speaker 1: Il Palmrino had become much too big for her, and 475 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:02,760 Speaker 1: rather than sell the whole property, she moved into one 476 00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:05,880 Speaker 1: of the cottages there that a friend had rented from 477 00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:08,200 Speaker 1: her and improved. It was the sort of property that 478 00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:11,000 Speaker 1: had a main villa and then several farm cottages that 479 00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:13,760 Speaker 1: tenant farmers could live in, and she moved into one 480 00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:16,600 Speaker 1: of those that had been fixed up a bit. When 481 00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:20,480 Speaker 1: kit ends to their Thompson died in one Lee became 482 00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:25,320 Speaker 1: her literary executor. Mary Robinson was also widowed, remarried, and 483 00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:28,840 Speaker 1: then widowed again, but she and Lee never really rekindled 484 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:32,880 Speaker 1: their relationship. During her fifty three years writing, Vernon Lee 485 00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:36,400 Speaker 1: wrote more than thirty works of non fiction, four novels, 486 00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:39,680 Speaker 1: four volumes of short stories, and a play, as well 487 00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:43,760 Speaker 1: as essays and letters. This was a massive output, especially 488 00:29:43,760 --> 00:29:46,400 Speaker 1: considering that some of it was very dense and academic 489 00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:50,840 Speaker 1: and she had no formal education. She also had ongoing 490 00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:54,800 Speaker 1: relationships and lengthy correspondences with people like H. G. Wells, 491 00:29:55,280 --> 00:30:01,320 Speaker 1: Edith Wharton, and Mary Cassatt. She died in Italy on February. 492 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:04,240 Speaker 1: She'd become chronically ill, and she had lost most of 493 00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:07,640 Speaker 1: her hearing. Not long before her death, she told her 494 00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:11,040 Speaker 1: own literary executor that she felt like quote an alien, 495 00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:15,840 Speaker 1: having no ties either of nation, blood, class, or profession. 496 00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:17,960 Speaker 1: The older she got, the more she felt like she 497 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:21,440 Speaker 1: had just sort of been born in the slightly wrong era. 498 00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:23,920 Speaker 1: She wished she had been born a little later, and 499 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:26,800 Speaker 1: then she could have been like a modern woman of letters, 500 00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:32,360 Speaker 1: rather than being the sort of odd Victorian outlier. A 501 00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:35,080 Speaker 1: lot of her papers are at Colby College in Maine, 502 00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:37,480 Speaker 1: which is kind of ironic because she never traveled to 503 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:40,760 Speaker 1: the US. Having lived through World War One, she was 504 00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:44,200 Speaker 1: very concerned about the idea of her work being destroyed 505 00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:47,800 Speaker 1: in a war, and her literary executor, Irene Cooper Willis, 506 00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:51,840 Speaker 1: decided Colby would be the safest place. Today, a lot 507 00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:55,720 Speaker 1: of Lee's work and esthetics seems somewhat dated, but a 508 00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:57,920 Speaker 1: lot of her other work, especially her histories and her 509 00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:01,880 Speaker 1: supernatural stories, have held up a lot better. Those supernatural 510 00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:06,360 Speaker 1: stories have variously been reissued and some have been included 511 00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:09,920 Speaker 1: in collections into the twentieth century. You can also find 512 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:13,160 Speaker 1: a ton of this work on the internet for free. 513 00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:18,320 Speaker 1: The stories Hauntings is available I think it Project Guttenberg 514 00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:22,960 Speaker 1: pretty easily um and is a fun collection of ghostly 515 00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:26,760 Speaker 1: short stories to read. Some of the other work is 516 00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:39,280 Speaker 1: again very dense, especially the more philosophical stuff. Thany so 517 00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:42,440 Speaker 1: much for joining us on this Saturday. 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