West, Rebecca (Vol. 7) - West, Rebecca 1892–
West, Rebecca 1892–
Dame Rebecca, born Cecily Fairfield (her husband's surname is Andrews), took her pseudonym from Ibsen's heroine in Rosmersholm. She is an English novelist, critic, and journalist whose prolific literary criticism allows the reader an insight into her standards for fiction. She believes that romanticism is heretical, that the artist should seek and portray truth through analysis and accurate description of complex human experiences. The critics of Dame Rebecca's fiction do not agree upon her success in meeting these requirements. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 5-8, rev. ed.)
Rebecca West is romantic in the way that James and Conrad were romantic. She chooses her characters from the exceptional, not the ordinary, with minds at once large and clear-thinking and ambitions that are lofty; and these characters are heightened by her prose, which is richer in texture, more coloured and sustained in imagery than...
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