Rebecca West
Rebecca West was the pseudonym of Cecily (or Cicily) Isabel Fairfield (December 25, 1892- March 15, 1983), a British-Irish feminist and writer famous for her novels and for her relationship with H. G. Wells.
She was born in County Kerry, Ireland. Her Irish journalist father deserted her Scottish mother -- and then died -- while Cecily was still a child. The rest of the family moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, where she was educated. She trained as an actress, taking the name "Rebecca West" from one of Ibsen's plays. She became involved in the women's suffrage movement before the First World War, and worked as a journalist on Freewoman and the Clarion. She met Wells in 1913, and their affair lasted ten years. They had a son, Anthony, but Wells was already married (for the second time). West is also said to have had affairs with Charlie Chaplin and newspaper magnate Max Beaverbrook.
In 1930, she married a banker, Henry Maxwell Andrews, and they remained together until his death in 1968. Before and during the Second World War, West travelled widely, collecting material for books on travel and politics. She was present at the Nuremberg trials. Her later work as a writer and broadcaster reflected these experiences.
Works
Rebecca West was created a DBE ("Dame") in 1959 for her services to literature.
Referenced By
15 March | 15th March | 1942 in literature | 1983 | 21 December | 21st December | Battle fatigue | Beinecke Library | Beinecke Rare Book Library | Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library | December 21 | December 21st | Essayist | Essayists | Ezra Pound | Fighter (character class) | Heroines in literature | List of English-language first and second generation Modernist writers | List of people by name: We | List of people by name: We-Wg | List of people by name: Wf | List of people by name: Wg | March 15 | March 15th | PTSD | Post-traumatic Stress Disorder | Pound, Ezra | Regeneration (book) | Shell-shock | Shell Shock | Soldier | Warrior | Warriors
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