Vernon Lee
Vernon Lee, born Violet Paget on October 14, 1856, in France, was a notable author recognized for her diverse literary contributions, including novels, essays, and ghost stories. Raised in a multilingual environment, she became proficient in several languages, which informed her early writings, with her first published work appearing at just thirteen. Lee began her literary career under the pseudonym Vernon Lee in 1877 and published her first book, a collection of studies on eighteenth-century Italy, in 1880. She is particularly known for her supernatural fiction, where themes of hauntings and possession were prevalent, as well as for introducing the concept of empathy into English psychological aesthetics.
Despite a close but complicated relationship with her half-brother Eugene Lee-Hamilton, who initially overshadowed her career, Lee's literary output eventually surpassed his. Over her lifetime, she explored various styles, moving from the influence of French decadence to more naturalistic fiction akin to that of Henry James. As her career progressed, she experienced fluctuations in her mental well-being and audience reception, leading her to seek more commercially appealing writing. Lee's works continued to be published posthumously until the 1960s, and she passed away on February 13, 1935. Her legacy endures through her contributions to literature, particularly in the realms of the supernatural and psychological exploration.
On this Page
Vernon Lee
Writer
- Born: October 14, 1856
- Birthplace: Château Saint-Léonard, near Boulogne, France
- Died: February 13, 1935
- Place of death: Tuscany, Italy
Biography
The author known as Vernon Lee was born on October 14, 1856, as Violet Paget at Château Saint-Léonard near Boulogne, France. Her mother had been widowed in 1852 and her father was a tutor who taught Eugene Lee-Hamilton (born 1845), the product of the first marriage. She and her half-brother would both go on to develop their literary talents, under the influence of their domineering mother who always favored the boy.
Violet Paget became multilingual, learning to speak French, Italian, and German in addition to English. In fact, her first literary work was in her secondary languages of French and Italian. She published a story in a Swiss newspaper in 1870 at age thirteen. She published a trio of articles on female English novelists in an Italian journal while she was still a teenager.
She began writing as Vernon Lee in 1877, with an article in Fraser’s Magazine. Her first book, a collection of eighteenth century studies in Italy, was published in 1880—two years after her half-brother’s first collection of poems and transcripts. Eugene had joined the diplomatic service and was stationed at the British embassy in Paris during the siege of 1870. He developed an illness thereafter, which brought his mother and half-sister to him and kept them all settled in Florence.
Violet was sixteen years old when her half-brother fell ill. For a time, she submerged her own literary talent working for him, traveling to London to seek publishers for him. Her half- brother eventually regained his health and ability to travel. He married novelist Annie E. Holdsworth in 1898 and lived apart from the half-sister who had devoted herself to his career until his death in 1907.
Her own work would surpass his as time went on and she produced novels, essays, literary criticism, travelogues and ghost stories. She had decided early not to marry and so never bothered to cultivate feminine mannerisms. Her first book of fiction was a collection titled Tuscan Fairy Tales (1880). Next came her first ghost story, “A Culture-Ghost: Or, Winthrop’s Adventure” (1881) and the novel Ottilie (1883) which reflected in some ways her own relationship with her half-brother.
Her supernatural fiction often dealt with hauntings and possession. She introduced the concept of empathy into the English language, being a key concept of her psychological aesthetics. Future work ranged from the fantastic and humorous children’s tale, The Prince of the Hundred Soups, to Miss Brown, an 1884 satiric novel of manners set in contemporary London literary circles over which not all actual literary figures were amused.
After 1900, Lee dropped the influence of French decadence in prose fiction, which had fallen into public disfavor. She turned to the more naturalistic fiction popularized by Henry James. She did not entirely forsake supernatural fiction, or even what today would be termed horror fiction. Lee became depressed over the size of her reading audience, and tried for more commercial work. By 1925, she was contributing to Today and Tomorrow pamphlets on the science of the future. Her stories continued to be collected and published into the 1950’s and early 1960’s. She died on February 13, 1935.