Amy Levy | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Amy Judith Levy (1861-11-10)10 November 1861 Clapham, London, England |
| Died | 9 September 1889(1889-09-09) (aged 27) Endsleigh Gardens, London, England |
| Resting place | Balls Pond Road Cemetery |
| Occupation | Essayist, poet, novelist |
| Education | |
Amy Judith Levy (10 November 1861 – 9 September 1889)[note 1] was an English essayist, poet, and novelist best remembered for her literary gifts; her experience as the second Jewish woman atCambridge University, and as the first Jewish student atNewnham College, Cambridge; her feminist positions; her friendships with others living what came later to be called a "New Woman" life, some of whom were lesbians; and her relationships with both women and men in literary and politically activist circles in London during the 1880s.
Levy was born inClapham, an affluent district of London, on 10 November 1861, to Lewis and Isobel Levy.[4] She was the second of seven children born into a Jewish family with a "casual attitude toward religious observance",[5]: 13 who sometimes attended aReform synagogue in Upper Berkeley Street,[5]: 17 theWest London Synagogue. As an adult, Levy continued to identify herself as Jewish and wrote forThe Jewish Chronicle.[5]: 138
Levy showed an interest in literature from an early age. At 13, she wrote a criticism ofElizabeth Barrett Browning's feminist workAurora Leigh; at 14, Levy's first poem, "Ida Grey: A Story of Woman's Sacrifice", was published in the journalPelican. Her family was supportive of women's education and encouraged Amy's literary interests; in 1876, she was sent toBrighton and Hove High School and later studied atNewnham College, Cambridge. Levy was the first Jewish student at Newnham when she arrived in 1879 but left before her final year.[5]: 55
Her circle of friends includedClementina Black,Ellen Wordsworth Darwin,Dollie Radford,Eleanor Marx (daughter ofKarl Marx), andOlive Schreiner. While travelling inFlorence in 1886, Levy metVernon Lee, a fiction writer and literary theorist six years her senior, and fell in love with her.[6] Both women went on to explore the themes ofsapphic love in their works. Lee inspired Levy's poem "To Vernon Lee".[citation needed]
The Romance of a Shop (1888), Levy's first novel, is regarded as an early "New Woman" novel and depicts four sisters who experience the difficulties and opportunities afforded to women running a business in 1880s London.[7] Levy wrote her second novel,Reuben Sachs (1888), to fill the literary need for "serious treatment ... of the complex problem of Jewish life and Jewish character", which she identified and discussed in a 1886 article "The Jew in Fiction."[8]
Levy wrote stories, essays, and poems for popular or literary periodicals; the stories "Cohen of Trinity" and "Wise in Their Generation", both published inOscar Wilde's magazineThe Woman's World, are among her most notable. In 1886, Levy began writing a series of essays on Jewish culture and literature forThe Jewish Chronicle, includingThe Ghetto at Florence,The Jew in Fiction,Jewish Humour, andJewish Children.[citation needed]
Levy's works of poetry, including the daringA Ballad of Religion and Marriage, reveal her feminist concerns.Xantippe and Other Verses (1881) includes "Xantippe", a poem in the voice ofSocrates's wife; the volumeA Minor Poet and Other Verse (1884) includes more dramatic monologues as well as lyric poems. Her final book of poems,A London Plane-Tree (1889), contains lyrics that are among the first to show the influence ofFrench symbolism.[9]
Levy remains a topic of discussion amongst scholars in terms of whether or not she is to be considered a Victorian Lesbian writer. She had sent several poems to her friend Violet Paget, also known as Vernon Lee, confessing her love. These poems include her famous works "To Vernon Lee" and "New Love, New Life." Both of these pieces express messages of unrequited love to another woman. Scholars[who?] continue to debate if these gestures were that of friendship or intense passion.[citation needed]
Levy experienced episodes ofmajor depression from an early age. In her later years, her depression worsened in connection to her distress surrounding her romantic relationships and her awareness of her growing deafness. On 9 September 1889,[2] two months away from her 28th birthday, she died by suicide "at the residence of her parents ... [at]Endsleigh Gardens" by inhalingcarbon monoxide.[10] Oscar Wilde wrote an obituary for her inThe Women's World in which he praised her gifts.[11] The first Jewish woman to be cremated in England, her ashes were buried atBalls Pond Road Cemetery in London.[12]
In 1993, Melyvn New produced a compilation of Levy's works, published asThe Complete Novels and Selected Writings of Amy Levy: 1861–1889.[13]
On the 9th September, at the residence of her parents, Endsleigh Gardens, Miss Amy Levy, an accomplished Jewish authoress, aged 27.
Inscription: In memory of AMY LEVY born November 10th 1861 died September 9th 1889.
