Amy Levy
Amy Levy, born on November 10, 1861, in Clapham, England, was a pioneering Jewish writer of the Victorian era. The daughter of Lewis and Isabelle Levy, she moved to Brighton in 1876, where her education began. Levy made history as the first Jewish student at Newnham College, Cambridge, from 1879 to 1881, during which she started publishing her short stories. Her writings often grappled with the societal expectations of women, exploring themes of marriage, beauty, and personal aspirations. Notable works include "The Diary of a Plain Girl," which critiques societal standards of female beauty, and "Cohen of Trinity," a story reflecting the struggles of a Jewish poet and the despair leading to suicide—an echo of Levy's own tragic fate. Her literary contributions, marked by psychological depth and social commentary, remain influential, despite her untimely death by suicide on September 10, 1889. Levy's legacy endures as a significant voice in Victorian literature, offering insights into the challenges faced by women and marginalized groups of her time.
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Amy Levy
Fiction Writer and Poet
- Born: November 10, 1861
- Birthplace: Clapham, England
- Died: September 10, 1889
- Place of death: London, England
Biography
Amy Levy was born November 10, 186,1 in Clapham, England, to Lewis and Isabelle (Levin) Levy. In 1876, the couple moved with their two daughters to Brighton, where the girls began school. From 1879 to 1881, Levy became the first Jew to study at Newnham College, Cambridge, where she began publishing short stories. Rumors of Levy’s brief life include that she was once a Clapham factory girl (which is unlikely), and a teacher. It is documented through letters from Oscar Wilde and Clementina Black, as well as personal writings, that Levy traveled throughout Europe and had a vast knowledge of Greek and French.
Society’s treatment and expectations of women are predominant themes throughout Levy’s writings. Her early short stories focus on women, marriage, and lost aspirations. “The Diary of a Plain Girl,” published anonymously, details the value placed upon society’s idea of female beauty and the difficulties young girls experience when they are not deemed “pretty” or do not meet the ideal. Her later works including “Olga’s Valentine,” fluctuate between pleasure reading and psychological fiction. The novel focuses on a marriage proposal to a woman resigned to be an old maid. Olga and her perspective fiancé, Horace, discuss marriage and suicide and view either route as a viable option. In the end, Horace winds up committing suicide, which would become another common theme in Levy’s writing.
In 1884, Levy published the fist of four epistolary travel stories in London Society. The stories are comprised of semi-autobiographical letters one young girl, Melissa, sends to her friends, Psyche and Blanche, back home as she travels Europe and England, in search of a proper marriage. “At Prato” was published in Time, 1888, and focuses on a male protagonist, Ivan Callander, who falls helplessly in love with a woman who is waiting with him for a train to Florence. Feeling abandoned after the brief meeting with the beautiful Elinor, Ivan goes through a drastic character change that is noticed by all around him. He is forever haunted and questions whether Elinor actually existed or was a figment of his tortured imagination.
Levy’s most famous short story, “Cohen of Trinity,” was published in Gentleman’s Quarterly in 1889. Similar to Levy’s life, the protagonist Cohen is a struggling Jewish poet and author whose work is never met with the success of which he dreams. His self- imposed sense of failure leads to his suicide. Shortly after its publication, Levy would take her own life. Amy Levy committed suicide September 10, 1889, by inhaling charcoal fumes at her parents’ house. She became the first Jewish woman to be cremated in England. Although Amy Levy was a minor writer, she remains a literary pioneer and a vital author of the Victorian era.