Bryher
Bryher, born Annie Winifred Ellerman on September 2, 1894, in Margate, Kent, was a notable English writer and a significant figure in early 20th-century Modernism. Coming from a wealthy family, she was educated privately and traveled extensively, which likely influenced her literary career. To avoid her father's influence in the publishing industry, she adopted the pseudonym Bryher, named after one of the Scilly Isles. Throughout her life, she formed important connections with other Modernist writers, such as James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway, and was known for her long-term partnership with the poet H. D.
Bryher’s literary contributions began during World War I, with her first poetry collection published in 1914. She later ventured into historical fiction, producing acclaimed novels like *The Fourteenth of October* and *Gate to the Sea*, offering vivid portrayals of various historical periods. Additionally, she co-edited *Close-Up*, a pioneering magazine on silent film, and wrote critical and autobiographical works, showcasing her diverse literary talents. As a prominent early lesbian writer, she played a crucial role in the development of gay literature. Bryher passed away in Vevey, Switzerland, on January 28, 1983, leaving behind a rich legacy in literature and the arts.
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Bryher
Author
- Born: September 2, 1894
- Birthplace: Margate, Kent, England
- Died: January 28, 1983
- Place of death: Vevey, Switzerland
Biography
Bryher was the pseudonym of Annie Winifred Ellerman, who was born on September 2, 1894, in Margate, Kent, England, to a wealthy family. Her father was a British shipping magnate, and she was privately tutored and traveled extensively from an early age. When she began to publish during World War I, she legally changed her name to Bryher, the name of one of the Scilly Isles off the coast of England, in order to avoid her father’s ties to the British publishing world. She married the American writer Robert McAlmon in 1921, but they divorced in 1927, and later that year she married Kenneth Macpherson, whom she divorced in 1947. However, she is best known as the lifelong partner of the poet H. D. (Hilda Doolittle).
Bryher was friends with many of the Modernist writers of the 1920’s, including Sylvia Beach, James Joyce, Andre Gide, Ernest Hemingway, and Gertrude Stein. She began contributing poetry, articles, and reviews to the Saturday Review and other journals during World War I. Her book, Region of Lutany and Other Poems, was published in 1914, and she later published several novels, beginning with Development in 1920.
Her best-known works are the historical novels she produced after 1950, beginning with The Fourteenth of October in 1952; her other historical novels include Gate to the Sea, published in 1958, and This January Tale, released in 1966. Her historical fiction provides an accurate and vivid depiction of human life across a wide range of historical periods, from ancient times (The Coin of Carthage) until World War II (Beowulf: Roman d’une maison de thé dans Londres bombarde, translated as Beowulf: A Novel).
Bryher and Macpherson edited Close-Up: A Magazine Devoted to the Art of the Film, a journal they started in 1927, which is still considered one of the best periodicals on silent film. She also wrote criticism and autobiography, including an early biography of poet Amy Lowell, Film Problems of Soviet Russia, The Heart to Artemis: A Writer’s Memoirs, and The Days of Mars: A Memoir, 1940-1946.
Bryher died in Vevey, Switzerland, on January 28, 1983. She was an early and important member of the avant-garde movements of artistic expression which swept Europe in the first decades of the twentieth century and was herself a prolific writer in a number of genres, including both poetry and fiction. As an early lesbian writer, she also had an impact on the emergence of gay literature in the first decades of the twentieth century.