Antonia White

Antonia White , real name Eirine Botting , (born March 1, 1899 in London , England , † April 10, 1980 ibid) was a British writer .

Life

White was born in an Anglican household. Her father taught Greek and Latin at St. Paul's School in London. When her father converted to the Roman Catholic Church , she also became Catholic at the age of seven. At her father's request, she then attended the boarding school of the Sacré-Cœur sisters in Roehampton, southwest of central London, today's Woldingham School in the county of Surrey .

White began writing at school when she was 15 and wanted to show the manuscript to her father when it was completed. She wanted to surprise him with a story about morally depraved people who converted to the faith in a sensational way. She tried her hand at a detailed description, but mainly put on paper that the actors had "indulged in unspeakable vices". The manuscript was found at the school only halfway through and resulted in its immediate dismissal without White being given the opportunity to explain it. It was not until 15 years after this event and after the death of her father that she began to write again.

White entered into the first of three marriages in 1921. However, this marriage was annulled after two years because, according to White, it was never consummated. Immediately afterwards, White fell in love with an officer in the Scots Guards , of whom only the first name "Robert" is known. After an intense two year relationship, the couple separated. White had a nervous breakdown and spent the next year in London's Bethlam mental hospital . As soon as she could leave the institution, she dealt with the ideas of Sigmund Freud for years ; her illness, which she called "the beast", could no longer suppress her until the end of her life.

Antonia White's second husband was Eric Earnshaw Smith, from whom they divorced after two years of marriage. During this time, however, she had also fallen in love with two other men: the first was the engineer Rudolph Silas Glossop. The copywriter Tom Hopkinson married White after her divorce from Smith. The two daughters from this marriage, Lyndall Hopkinson and Susan Chitty, both wrote autobiographical books about their difficult relationships with their mother.

plant

Antonia White completed her first novel Frost in May (German title Maifrost ) , in which she described her experiences in the convent school and her exclusion in a slightly alienated form. She began her second novel, but it was never finished because of another divorce and writer's block. This novel The Lost Traveler was only published after almost 20 years in 1950.

Publications

translated into German

• Minka and Löwenherz: A cat novel , Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig 2001, ISBN 3-458-34464-0 .
  • English: Minka and Curdy Children's Book, Harvill 1957.
• Maifrost (with an afterword by Elizabeth Bowen ), Goldmann, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-442-06594-1 .
  • Frost in May , Harmsworth 1933, reprinted in Virago, London 1978.
• Hound and Falcon: The Story of a Faith Crisis . Knecht, Frankfurt am Main 1967.
  • English: The Hound and the Falcon: The Story of a Reconversion to Catholic Faith Longmans, London 1965, new edition: Virago, London 1980.
• The glass wall: The fate of Clara Batchelor , Knecht, Frankfurt am Main 1958.
  • English: Beyond the Glass , Eyre and Spottiswoode 1952, new edition: Virago, London 1979.
• A witch's house , Roman, Knecht, Frankfurt am Main 1956.
  • English: The Sugar House , Eyre and Spottiswoode 1952, new edition: Virago, London 1979.
• Serious girl eyes , Roman, Zsolnay, Vienna 1954.
  • English: The Lost Traveler , Eyre and Spottiswoode 1950, new edition: Virago, London 1979.

English-language editions

• As once in May: The early Autobiography of Antonia White and other Writings , Virago, London 1983, ISBN 0-86068352-4 .
• Living with Minka and Curdy , Childrens' Book, Harvill, London 1970.
• Strangers , Harvill Press, 1954, reprinted with an Introduction by Hermione Lee . Dial Press, New York City 1982, ISBN 0-385277865 .
• Three in a Room: Comedy in 3 Acts , French's Acting Edition, London 1947.
• BBC at War , The British Broadcasting Corporation, London 1942.
• Frost in May Tauchnitz, Leipzig 1934.

Diaries

• Susan Chitty (Ed.): Diaries , Viking, New York City, 1982, ISBN 0-670-83564-1 .

literature

• Susan Chitty (Ed.): As Once in May. Virago, London 1983, ISBN 0-86068-352-4 .
• Jane Dunn: Antonia White: A life , Jonathan Cape, 1st edition 1998, ISBN 022403619X

Web links

• To the novel Maifrost