Vera Chapman

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Vera Chapman (also Vera Ivy May Fogerty and Belladonna Took ) (born May 8, 1898 in Bournemouth , † May 14, 1996 in Croydon ) was a British author.

Life

Vera Chapman began studying at Lady Margaret Hall in Oxford in 1918 and was one of the first women to be admitted to university in 1919. She graduated in 1921 and three years later married Reverend Charles Sydney Chapman, whom she accompanied to Portuguese East Africa (now Mozambique ) for the first year of marriage , where she worked as a teacher. She then worked as a civil servant in the Colonial Ministry until after the Second World War, and retired in 1963.

In 1969 she had an ad in the New Statesman looking for like-minded people to found a Tolkien Society. Shortly thereafter, she was a founding member and later secretary of the Tolkien Society. She was encouraged to write by JRR Tolkien , whom she herself persuaded in 1972 to become Honorary President of the Society. She was 77 years old when her first book was published. Vera Chapman wrote numerous chivalric novels and children's books, including a retelling of the Arthurian saga, which is seen as the first feminist interpretation of the material ( Marion Zimmer Bradley only came up with her version seven years later). In Blaedud the Birdman she erected a literary monument to England's first aeronaut, while the stories in The Notorious Abbess are set in the 12th century and tell of a nun with supernatural gifts.

Vera Chapman died in a nursing home a week after her 98th birthday.

Works

  • 1975: The Green Knight , German The Bride of the Green Knight , ISBN 3-423-20912-7
  • 1976: The King's Damsel , German Des König's dark messenger , ISBN 3-423-20451-6
  • 1976: King Arthur's Daughter , German King Arthur's daughter , ISBN 3-423-20559-8
  • 1977: Judy and Julia
  • 1978: Three Damosels (the first three Arthurian books in one volume)
  • 1978: Blaedud the Birdman
  • 1987: The Wife of Bath
  • 1982: Miranty and the Alchemist
  • 1993: The Notorious Abbess (short story collection)
  • 1990: Around Darlington in Old Photographs (non-fiction book)
  • 1996: Croft, Hurworth, Neasham, Middleton And Dinsdale in Old Picture Postcards (non-fiction)
  • 1998: The Enchantresses (with Mike Ashley , fourth Arthurian book)

Film adaptations

  • 1998: Quest for Camelot , German The Magic Sword - The Legend of Camelot (based on The King's Damsel , cartoon by Warner Bros. )

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Chapman, Vera
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fogerty, Vera Ivy May
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British author
DATE OF BIRTH May 8, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Bournemouth
DATE OF DEATH May 14, 1996
Place of death Croydon