Dora Marsden
Dora Marsden (born March 5, 1882 in Marsden (England) , † December 13, 1960 in Dumfries , Scotland ) was a feminist , author of avant-garde literature and selfish anarchist .
youth
Marsden was born in Marsden near Huddersfield , Yorkshire . In 1890 her father left the family after the economic misery of his textile factory. She started working as a tutor when she was 13. At 18, she attended Manchester University for three years and then worked full-time for five years. Marsden became involved in the fight for women's suffrage during her studies. In 1909 she was arrested for her political activity and accepted a job with the Women's Social and Political Union , only to leave in 1911 because of disputes over the leadership.
Activity as editor
Marsden's most important cultural work from 1911 onwards was the issuing of three publications, the later ones being more or less continuations of the first:
- The Freewoman , November 1911 - October 1912
- The New Freewoman , June 1913 - December 1913
- The Egoist , January 1914 - December 1919
The magazines were mostly published under the direction of the author Harriet Shaw Weaver . During the time at the magazines, their focus changed from feminism to individual anarchism .
The publications appeared of a high standard and propagated the modernist movement. Ezra Pound , TS Eliot , DH Lawrence , Wyndham Lewis , Herbert Read, and James Joyce contributed material to the periodicals. Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man was first published as a series in The Egoist .
The Egoist , whose title had been suggested by Ezra Pound, was not chosen as a tribute to the philosophical egoist Max Stirner . It was more of a philosophical term that was in the air at the time and associated with authors such as Friedrich Nietzsche and Maurice Barrès . When Stirner's book The One and His Own was published, Marsden never fully criticized it. She stated that she liked it, but also partially disapproved. In particular, she did not share Stirner's attitude towards God : while Stirner believed that God and other religious figures came from outside, society, Marsden said that the idea of a higher creature was an inner part of human nature.
Marsden's philosophical legacy
In 1920 Marsden withdrew from the literary and philosophical scene and spent fifteen years in seclusion working on her Magnum opus , in which she wanted to bring together knowledge from philosophy , mathematics , physics , biology and theology . It was published by Harriet Shaw Weaver in two volumes under the titles The Definition of the Godhead (1928) and Mysteries of Christianity (1930).
This extensive work has not been well received, not even by its previous supporters. Marsden suffered a nervous breakdown in 1930, the consequences of which were compounded by the death of her mother in 1935. After all, she had to spend the last 25 years of her life in a home for the mentally ill in Dumfries , Scotland.
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| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Marsden, Dora |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British author, feminist and anarchist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 5, 1882 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Marsden (England) |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 13, 1960 |
| Place of death | Dumfries |