Storm Jameson
Storm Jameson was an influential British writer and political activist, born in Whitby, England, in 1891. Growing up in a privileged environment, she received a strong education, ultimately becoming the first woman to earn a bachelor's degree in English from Leeds University. Jameson's literary career began with her first novel, *The Pot Boils*, published in 1919, and she produced over fifty works throughout her lifetime, including novels, essays, and autobiographical writings. Her writing, particularly during the 1930s and 1940s, reflected her deepening engagement with political themes, including socialism and antifascism. Notably, she played a significant role in supporting fellow intellectuals and artists during the rise of Nazism, serving as president of the English Centre of PEN Club. Her memoir, *Journey from the North*, published in the late 1960s, garnered renewed critical interest and showcased her impact on British literature. Jameson remains recognized for her contributions to literature and for her commitment to social issues, particularly in the context of her time. She passed away in 1986, and her work continues to be reevaluated, especially through a feminist lens.
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Subject Terms
Storm Jameson
Author
- Born: January 8, 1891
- Birthplace: Whitby, Yorkshire, England
- Died: September 30, 1986
- Place of death: Cambridge, England
Biography
Storm Jameson was born in the Yorkshire town of Whitby, England, the daughter of a sea captain and a strict Congregationalist from a wealthy shipbuilding family. Jameson experienced a comfortable childhood, accompanying her father on sea voyages as a very young girl. Her mother was ambitious for Jameson, encouraging her to pursue an education. Jameson earned a scholarship to Leeds University and became the first woman there to receive a bachelor’s degree in English. She then was awarded a scholarship from University College London, and in 1914 completed her thesis on modern European drama at King’s College. Jameson loved the intellectual life and developed a lifelong passionate interest in socialism, international politics, and antifascism.
Jameson married Charles Douglas Clarke in 1913, and in 1915 the couple had a son, C.W. Storm Clarke, who died as a pilot in World War II. She published her first novel, The Pot Boils, in 1919, and by 1923 had produced four novels on domestic themes, works which she later criticized as being too romantic. She also worked as an editor at the New Commonwealth, writing political essays and reviews, and in 1923 she became the English representative of Alfred A. Knopf Publishing. By 1926, she had divorced Clarke and married historian Guy Chapman, with whom she had a long and happy union.
Jameson’s work from the 1930’s on reflects her increasing interest in politics and social activism, including the Triumph of Time trilogy, written between 1927 and 1931, about a family of Yorkshire shipbuilders, based upon her own upbringing. The Mirror in Darkness, a five-volume saga written in the 1930’s, deals with the complex European political scene between the World Wars.
Jameson was president of the English Centre of PEN Club from 1938 to 1945, during which time she helped artists and intellectuals escape from Nazi-occupied nations. She wrote the introduction to the first English edition of The Diary of Anne Frank, which she considered one of her most important essays. In 1943, she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Leeds; in 1974, she was honored by the English Centre of PEN for her final novel, There Will Be a Short Interval (1973).
During her long and prolific career, Jameson produced more than fifty novels, as well as literary criticism, political essays, journalism, and autobiography. She was at the height of her popularity from the 1920’s to the 1940’s, but her two-volume memoir, Journey from the North, published in 1969 and 1970, brought renewed critical acclaim. Since her death in 1986 she has become recognized as one of Britain’s most influential literary figures during the period from 1918 to 1945, and her work has been republished and reevaluated, particularly by feminist critics.