Life Stella Gibbons

1 life

1.1 family background , childhood
1.2 student years
1.3 journalism , writings
1.4 cold comfort farm
1.5 established author

1.5.1 1930s
1.5.2 war years, 1939–45


1.6 postwar years
1.7 late career
1.8 final years

life
family background , childhood

the gibbons family originated in ireland. stella s grandfather, charles preston gibbons, civil engineer spent long periods in south africa building bridges. , wife alice had 6 children, second of whom—the eldest of 4 sons—was born in 1869 , known fourth christian name of telford . gibbons household turbulent one, tensions arising charles gibbons s frequent adulteries. telford gibbons trained doctor, , qualified physician , surgeon @ london hospital in 1897. on 29 september 1900 married maude williams, daughter of stockbroker. couple bought house in malden crescent, kentish town, working-class district of north london, telford established medical practice in continued remainder of life.

plaque honouring frances buss, on wall of camden buildings of north london collegiate

stella, couple s first child, born on 5 january 1902; 2 brothers, gerald , lewis, followed in 1905 , 1909 respectively. atmosphere in kentish town house echoed of elder gibbons s household, , dominated telford s frequent bouts of ill-temper, drinking, womanising , occasional acts of violence. stella later described father bad man, doctor . charitable poorer patients , imaginative in finding cures, made life miserable family. stella favourite, time reached puberty mocked looks , size. fortunately, mother calm , stabilising influence. until stella reached age of 13 educated @ home succession of governesses, never stayed long. family s bookshelves provided reading material, , developed talent storytelling amused young brothers.

in 1915 stella became pupil @ north london collegiate school, situated in camden town. school, founded in 1850 frances buss, among first in england offer girls academic education, , 1915 recognised model girls school. after haphazard teaching methods of governesses, stella had difficulty in adjusting strict discipline of school, , found many of rules , practices oppressive. shared attitude contemporary stevie smith, future queen s gold medal poetry winner, joined school in 1917. although moderate performer in school subjects, stella found outlets talents writing stories fellow-pupils, becoming vice president of senior dramatic club, , featuring prominently in school s debating society of became honorary secretary.

student years

the ucl building in gower street, london

while @ school, gibbons formed ambition writer, , on leaving in 1921 began two-year diploma in journalism @ university college, london (ucl). course had been established ex-servicemen returning first world war, attracted several women, among them future novelist elizabeth bowen. english literature, curriculum covered economics, politics, history, science , languages; practical skills such shorthand , typing not included.

after stifling experience of school, gibbons found university exhilarating , made numerous friendships, particularly ida graves, aspiring poet who, although on different course, attended of same lectures. 2 shared love of literature , taste subversive humour. graves lived until 1999, , recalled in interview late in life many of jokes shared found way cold comfort farm, did of common acquaintances. after gibbons began course contributed poem, marshes of soul , december 1921 issue of university college magazine. parody, in newly fashionable vers libre style, first published literary work. during next 2 years contributed further poems , prose magazine, including doer, story in russian manner , foreshadows later novels in both theme , style. gibbons completed course in summer of 1923, , awarded diploma.

journalism , writings

gibbons s first job british united press (bup) news agency, decoded overseas cables rewrote in presentable english. during slack periods practised @ writing articles, stories , poems. made first trips abroad, travelling france in 1924 , switzerland in 1925. swiss alpine scenery inspired several poems, of later published. in 1924 met walter beck, naturalised german employed family s cosmetics firm. couple became engaged, , enjoyed regular weekends together, signing hotel registers married couple using false names.

the vale of health on hampstead heath, gibbons lived brothers after parents deaths

in may 1926 gibbons s mother, maude, died @ age of 48. little reason remain father in kentish town surgery, gibbons took lodgings in willow road, near hampstead heath. 5 months later, on 15 october, father died heart disease aggravated heavy drinking. gibbons family s principal breadwinner; youngest brother lewis still @ school, while elder, gerald, intermittently employed actor. 3 set home in cottage on vale of health, small settlement in middle of hampstead heath, literary connections keats (whom gibbons revered), leigh hunt , d. h. lawrence. later year, result of error involving calculation , reporting of foreign exchange rates, gibbons sacked bup, found new position secretary editor of london evening standard. within short time promoted, , became reporter , features writer @ substantial salary of under £500 year, although not given by-line until 1928.

during evening standard years, gibbons persevered poetry, , in september 1927 poem giraffes appeared in criterion, literary magazine edited t. s. eliot. work read , admired virginia woolf, enquired if gibbons write poems woolf publishing house, hogarth press. in january 1928 j. c. squire, leading voice in georgian poetry movement, began publish gibbons s poems in magazine, london mercury. squire persuaded longmans publish first collection of gibbons s verses, entitled mountain beast, appeared in 1930 critical approval. time by-line appearing increasing frequency in standard. part of series on unusual women interviewed, among others, former royal mistress lillie langtry. paper published several of gibbons s short stories.

despite evident industry, gibbons dismissed standard in august 1930. ostensibly economy measure although gibbons, in later life, suspected other reasons, particularly increasing distraction work arose relationship walter beck. engagement had ended painfully in 1928, because gibbons looking committed relationship whereas wanted more open. biographer , nephew, reggie oliver, believes gibbons never entirely got on beck, after 1929 when met allan webb, future husband. not unemployed long; accepted job offer editorial assistant @ women s magazine, lady. here, according observer writer rachel cooke, applied versatility writer every subject under sun bar cookery, province of mrs peel. @ same time began work on novel become cold comfort farm; colleague , friend elizabeth coxhead recorded gibbons neglected duties disgracefully work on project.

cold comfort farm

in time lady, gibbons established reputation caustic book reviewer, , particularly critical of fashionable loam , lovechild rural novels. novelists such mary webb , sheila kaye-smith had achieved considerable popularity through depictions of country life; webb favourite of british prime minister stanley baldwin. gibbons had first become familiar genre when provided summaries of webb s golden arrow evening standard s 1928 serialisation. found writing overblown , plotting ridiculous, , decided own first novel comic parody of genre. february 1932 had completed manuscript , delivered publishers, longmans.

cold comfort farm, chapter v. judith starkadder explains mysterious properties of sukebind .

gibbons s chosen title novel had been curse god farm , before friend elizabeth coxhead, had connections in hinckley district of leicestershire, suggested cold comfort alternative, using name of farm in hinckley area. gibbons delighted suggestion, , work published cold comfort farm in september 1932. plot concerns efforts of rational, bossy london heroine bring order , serenity rustic relations, starkadders, on run-down sussex farm. according feminist companion literature in english, gibbons s parody [demolishes] ... stock-in-trade of earthy regionalists such thomas hardy, mary webb, sheila kaye-smith , d. h. lawrence . literary scholar faye hammill describes work extremely sophisticated , intricate parody meaning produced through relationship literary culture of day , work of such canonical authors d. h. lawrence, thomas hardy, , emily brontë . in history of 1930s, juliet gardiner ascribes socio-economic dimension book: picture of rural gloom caused government lassitude , urban indifference .

the work immediate critical , popular success. satire heightened gibbons s mockery of purple prose, whereby marked florid , overwritten passages of book asterisks, reader s delectation , mirth . 1 critic found hard accept well-developed parody work of scarcely known woman writer, , speculated stella gibbons pen-name evelyn waugh. gibbons found herself in demand in literary circles , fellow writers, raised celebrity status found distasteful. acquired agent, advised confidently expect regular , comfortable income novelist. assurance prompted her, @ end of 1932, resign position lady , embark on full-time writing career.

in march 1931 gibbons had become engaged allan webb, budding actor , opera singer 5 years junior. son of cricketing parson, , grandson of allan becher webb, former bishop of bloemfontein served dean of salisbury cathedral. on 1 april 1933 couple married @ st matthew s, bayswater. later year learned cold comfort farm had been awarded prix Étranger, foreign novel category of prestigious french literary prize, prix femina. had won against works 2 more experienced writers, bowen , rosamond lehmann. outcome irritated virginia woolf, herself former prix Étranger winner, wrote bowen: enraged see gave £40 (the cash value of prize) gibbons; still, , rosamond can join in blaming . cooke observes of prix Étranger winners inter-war years, cold comfort farm , woolf s lighthouse remembered today, , former has bequeathed phrase has passed common usage: nasty in woodshed .

established author
1930s

mock tudor houses on holly lodge estate, highgate, gibbons lived 1936 (2008 photograph)

during remainder of 1930s gibbons produced 5 more novels, 2 poetry collections, children s book, , number of short stories. november 1936 family home in oakshott avenue, on holly lodge estate off highgate west hill, gibbons regularly worked in mornings ten until lunchtime. novels received critics , public, though none earned accolades or attention had been given cold comfort farm; readers of times warned not expect gibbons s second novel, bassett (1934), repetition of earlier masterpiece. enbury heath (1935) relatively faithful account of childhood , adult life with, according oliver, thinnest veil of fictional gauze cover[ing] raw experience . miss linsey , pa (1936) thought nicola beauman, in analysis of women writers 1914 1939, parody radclyffe hall s 1928 lesbian novel of loneliness. gibbons s final prewar novels nightingale wood (1935)— cinderella brought right date —and american (1939), oliver considers escapist novel, variant of hans christian andersen s snow queen.

gibbons considered herself serious poet rather comic writer. published 2 collections of poetry in 1930s, latter of which, lowland verses (1938) contains marriage of machine , lament on effects of industrial pollution: oil, poison lulls/your wings , webs, cormorants , gulls? gibbons s single children s book fairy tale collection untidy gnome, published in 1935 , dedicated child laura, born year.

war years, 1939–45

the advent of war in september 1939 did not diminish gibbons s creative energy. in november began series of articles, woman s diary of war , st martin s review, journal of london church of st martin-in-the-fields. series ran until november 1943, , includes many of gibbons s private reflections on conflict. in october 1941 wrote: [t]he war has done me good ... dour satisfaction out of managing rations, salvaging, fire watching, , feeling trying work better world . in july 1940 webb enlisted in middlesex regiment, , following year commissioned king s royal rifle corps. later served overseas, in cairo.

the title story in gibbons s 1940 collection, christmas @ cold comfort farm, failed equal impact of original. when collection reissued many years later described oddly comforting , amusing ... , possibly truer depiction of times might think . gibbons published 3 novels during war: rich house (1941), ticky (1942) , bachelor (1944). ticky, satire on mid-nineteenth century army life, gibbons s favourite of novels, although acknowledged hardly liked it. failed commercially, despite favourable review in times literary supplement. oliver surmises middle of second world war perhaps wrong time satirise ... ridiculous , dangerous rituals surround male aggressive instinct . bachelor won critical praise revealing account of life in war-torn britain—as did several of gibbons s postwar novels.

postwar years

gibbons s first postwar novel westwood (1946). book incorporates comic depiction of novelist charles morgan, novel fountain gibbons had reviewed before war , found offensive wearisome . in westwood, morgan appears in guise of novelist gerald challis , pompous, humourless bore. oliver considers characterisation 1 of gibbons s enjoyable , vicious satirical portraits. in introduction book s 2011 reprint, lynne truss describes rich, mature novel, romantic , wistful, full of rounded characters , terrific dialogue deserved more commercial success received. public s expectations still prejudiced cold comfort farm, 1949 had sold 28,000 copies in hardback , 315,000 in paperback. anticipating sequel popular, year gibbons produced conference @ cold comfort farm, shortest novel, in farm has become conference centre , tourist attraction. there mockery of contemporary , indeed future artistic , intellectual trends, before male starkadders return overseas, wreck centre , restore farm original primitive state. book moderately successful but, oliver remarks, not compare original.

from gibbons s introduction 1957 reissue of jane austen s sense , sensibility.

in 1950 gibbons published collected poems, , in same year made fellow of royal society of literature. throughout 1950s continued, @ two-year intervals, produce politely received novels, none of created particular stir. among these fort of bear (1953), in departed familiar london milieu setting story largely in wilder regions of canada. last of books handled longmans; thereafter work published hodder , stoughton. journey austria , venice in 1953 provided material novel shadow of sorcerer (1955). 1954, having accepted invitation malcolm muggeridge, editor of punch, gibbons provided frequent contributions magazine following 15 years. among these science fiction story, jane in space , written in style of jane austen. gibbons, wrote introduction 1957 heritage edition of sense , sensibility, long-time admirer of austen, , had described in lady article 1 of exquisite of woman artists.

after war, allan webb resumed stage career role of count almaviva in 1946 sadler s wells production of marriage of figaro. in 1947 appeared in original run of vivian ellis musical bless bride, , made several further stage appearances in following 2 years. during time had brief affair actress sydney malcolm, gibbons forgave him. left theatre in 1949 become director of book club specialising in special editions, , later bought bookshop in archway district of london. health failed in late 1950s , in 1958 diagnosed cancer of liver. died in july 1959 @ oakshott avenue.

late career

stella gibbons, photographed in 1980s

after webb s death, gibbons remained @ oakshott avenue , continued write novels. 1961 rented summer house @ trevone in cornwall, became setting 1962 novel weather @ tregulla. returned literary criticism after many years, when in 1965 contributed essay light on c.s. lewis, review of writer s work edited jocelyn gibb. in 1966 wrote essay punch, genesis of novel , in mused on detrimental effect of cold comfort farm on long term career. likened book unignorable old uncle, whom have grateful because makes handsome allowance, embarrassment , bore . gibbons made last overseas trip in 1966, grenoble in france visited old friend elizabeth coxhead. visit provided material 1968 novel snow woman in gibbons overcame habitual distaste emotional excess opening book melodramatic birth on sofa. woods in winter (1970) last published novel; decided @ point no longer prepared subject work editorial control. in 1980s wrote 2 more novels private circulation among friends, yellow houses , alpha. these books - alpha retitled pure juliet - published vintage classics in 2016, after manuscripts released gibbons s family.

final years

the last 2 decades of gibbons s life uneventful , lived entirely beyond public eye. kept health , looks until end of life—in biographical sketch, jill neville recorded beauty endured, did upright carriage, typical of edwardian ladies forced girls walk around book balanced on heads. unpublished novels wrote occasional short stories, 2 of rejected bbc, , contributed 3 new poems richard adams s 1986 anthology occasional poets, work included verses part-time poets such iris murdoch, william golding, alan ayckbourn , quentin crisp. these gibbons s last published works. 1 of gibbons s poems in anthology writ in water , inspired love poetry of keats. in 2013 manuscript of poem presented keats-shelley memorial house museum in rome.

gibbons maintained wide circle of friends, in later years included adams, entertainer barry humphries , novelist john braine. mid-1970s established pattern of monthly literary tea parties in oakshott avenue @ which, according neville, known expel guests if shrill, dramatic, or wrote tragic novels. own productivity dwindled , ceased altogether, kept commonplace book in recording thoughts , opinions on literature late 1988.

from mid-1980s gibbons experienced recurrent health problems, not helped when resumed smoking. in last months looked after @ home grandson , girlfriend. died there on 19 december 1989, after collapsing previous day, , buried in highgate cemetery, alongside husband. @ funeral, nephew , future biographer reggie oliver read 2 of poems, latter of which, fairford church , concludes words: little sure. life hard./we love, suffer , die./but beauty of earth real/and spirit nigh.

cite error: there <ref group=n> tags on page, references not show without {{reflist|group=n}} template (see page).