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Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-84055-2 - Henry Handel Richardson: A Life Michael Ackland Frontmatter More information

Henry Handel Richardson

Henry Handel Richardson is celebrated for her classic Australian novels The Getting of Wisdom and The Fortunes of Richard Mahony, yet her own life-story is still to be fully told. This enthralling book is the ﬁrst complete biography of this enigmatic Australian literary icon. Drawing on previously unavailable records, the book sheds new light on Richard- son’s unconventional life. Beginning with her traumatic childhood, then tracing in detail the largely unknown story of the eleven formative years Richardson spent on the Continent, the book goes on to explore the personal and social forces that moved her during her long years as a London intellectual, concluding with her last ordeal as a frail spectator in the front-line of the Battle of Britain.

Michael Ackland is the author of Henry Kendall: the Man and the Myths and Damaged Men: the Precarious Lives of James McAuley and Harold Stewart. He was educated in Australia and Germany, where he attended secondary school and studied German literature at the University of Cologne. Currently he is Head of the English Department at Monash University.

‘This is an important work, astute and persuasively argued.’ – Brenda Niall, award-winning biographer

A LIFE

MICHAEL ACKLAND

PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE The Pitt Building, Tr umpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011–4211, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia Ruiz de Alarcón 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa

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This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published by Cambridge University Press 2004

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

National Library of Australia Cataloguing in Publication data Ackland, Michael. Henry Handel Richardson: a life. Bibliography. Includes index. ISBN 0 521 84055 4. 1. Richardson, Henry Handel, 1870–1946. 2. Novelists, Australian – 20th century – Biography. 3. Women and literature – Australia – History – 20th century. I. Title. A823.2

ISBN 0 521 84055 4 hardback

For Rhonda

and for Pam and Tony

How I do hate the ordinary sleek biography! I’d have every wart & pimple emphasised, every tricky trait or petty meanness brought out. The great writers are great enough to bear it. Henry Handel Richardson

Contents

Acknowledgements xiii Chronologyxv Prologue 1 1Blood Lines 5 2 The Whirlpool of Destiny 26 3 Trauma and its Fictions45 4Whatever Happened at PLC? 59 5Love and Music in Leipzig80 6‘A Failure All Round’ 105 7 The Continent to the Rescue 126 8 Reappraising England 154 9 A Denizen of Many Worlds 182 10 Winds of Change 206 11 Blackout 232 12 Towards the Next Room 256

Notes 275 Bibliography 308 Index 320

Illustrations

Unless otherwise stated, photographs are from the Monash University Richardson Project.

Text Dr Walter Richardson 8 Ettie, Lil and Mat Main in Leipzig, 1889 97 Richardson the compulsive smoker 151 NL The Richardson sisters in Harrow, 1905 164 NL Richardson with her nephew Walter Neustätter, 1905 172 NL Henry skiing with Walter near Dresden, 1913 176 NL 90 Regent’s Park Road 186 NL ‘Westﬁeld’, Lyme Regis, with the Cobb in the background 215 The main beach, Lyme Regis 217 Henry and George at Lyme Regis 220 NL Henry and Olga at Newquay, 1934 223 Richardson as celebrated author 230 NL ‘Green Ridges’, Fairlight 244 NL

xii ILLUSTRATIONS

Lillian Neill 247 NL Richardson’s female circle 250 Richardson and her Armstrong-Siddeley 252

Plates Mary Richardson and her ‘chicks’ between pages 92 and 93 Ettie and Lil Richardson’s 1886 matriculation class at PLC NL Ettie and George Robertson in Munich NL The concert hall of the Leipzig Conservatorium Leipzig Conservatorium of Music Suffragette poster between pages 188 and 189 Mary Richardson in later life NL General Colleges Building, Kaiser Wilhelm University, Strasbourg Author’s collection George, Henry, Walter and Lil holidaying in the Dolomites, 1910 NL Richardson in her London study, 1930 NL Olga Roncoroni Henry and Olga at Lyme Regis Richardson with one of her much-loved pets Richardson’s last passport photograph NL

Maps Strasbourg 134 London 184

Acknowledgements

My primary debt is to the dedicated Richardson scholars, past and present, who have provided so much material upon which this study necessarily draws. In particular, I would like to single out Dorothy Green, Leonie Kramer, Axel Clark, Clive and Meg Probyn and Bruce Steele. I have also been invaluably assisted at a number of libraries, both here and overseas. Graeme Powell and his staff in the Manuscripts Room at the National Library in Canberra did all they possibly could to assist me in every aspect of this project. They were unfailingly friendly, co-operative and encouraging over many years of research. Similarly, Paul Brunton and his staff in the Manuscripts section of the Mitchell Library, Sydney, were most helpful, as was the staff of the LaTrobe Library, Melbourne, and Richard Overell, Rare Books Librarian at Monash University. Overseas my experience was mainly positive. At the British Museum and local libraries in Camden, Harrow, Harrow College, Hastings and Lyme Regis, and in various colleges and sections of the University of London, staff were most generous with their time and knowledge. The same was true of Germany, where I would like to single out for special thanks the State Library of Hessen, the University Libraries of Berlin, Cologne, Göttingen, Leipzig and Munich and the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek in Weimar. They afford a stark contrast to the National and University Library of Strasbourg, which often seemed bent on impeding research efforts. Happily its negative effects were counterbalanced by quality assistance provided at the city archives and at Strasbourg’s municipal library, as it was at the municipal library in Bordighera. Many people aided me in diverse ways. Brenda Niall read some early sections of my manuscript at a critical time and offered timely encouragement.

xiii

xiv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My colleagues in the Richardson Project at Monash University, Clive Probyn and Bruce Steele, provided me with typed copies of Lillian Richardson’s correspondence with her sister, answered occasional questions and very generously provided the bulk of the excellent photographic material reproduced in this book. Dunya Lindsey helped me track down some last-minute references when my own patience was beginning to flag, Walter Veit assisted in deciphering German handwriting and Chris Willcocks in preparing the photographic material. Frau Piech, Librarian at the Conservatorium in Leipzig, showed genuine interest in my project and her archivist, Maren Goltz, answered numerous queries with good sense and thoroughness over a number of years. Monash University provided me with financial assistance as well as occasional periods of time to concentrate on writing; and Kim Armitage has been an exemplary publisher, enthusiastic, reliable and thoroughly professional. Of the many individuals who helped me I shall mention only Penny Alexander, for her patience and understanding, Tony and Carolyn Cousins and John Fyfield for their support, as well as Hans and Leo Reiffert and Gunda and Olaf Semper for their warm hospitality in foreign climes. Without the encouragement and assistance extended by these and numerous other friends this project might well have proved crushing, and certainly far less enjoyable.

Chronology

1854 Uprising of miners in Ballarat, known as the Eureka Stockade, bloodily suppressed. 1855 Marriage on 27 August of Walter Lindesay Richardson (born 1826) and Mary Bailey (born 1835) in Geelong. Walter works as a storekeeper in Ballarat. 1856 Walter registers as a medical practitioner. 1857 First of Mary’s many miscarriages. 1859 Mary’s brother John Bailey widowed and elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly. Walter and Mary look after his three children. 1863 Walter becomes an honorary medical ofﬁcer at the Ballarat District Hospital. He is contributing articles to the Australian Medical Journal. 1867 The Richardsons arrive in London, they travel and Walter practises at Eccles. 1869 Walter practises at Rawcliffe until news of unexpected wealth encourages them to set off for Melbourne on 26 December. 1870 The future novelist, Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson, is born 3 January. Walter is converted to spiritualism by a successful experiment with automatic writing. 1871 Birth of her sister Lil (Ada Lillian Lindesay) on 28 April who, unlike her sister, is not baptised, in keeping with her father’s abandonment of religious orthodoxy. Strasbourg ceded to the newly formed German state under the Treaty of Frankfurt. 1872 August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht tried for high treason in Leipzig. 1873 Family travels to London as a prelude to the parents’ ‘grand tour’ of the Continent. From this time on Richardson’s ‘memories begin to grow clearer and more connected’. 1874 Return to Melbourne owing to a drastic decline in revenue. Walter is forced to resume medical practice.

xvi CHRONOLOGY

1875 Family moves to newly constructed home and practice in Hawthorn. Acrimonious scenes about ‘money, always money’ between the parents. 1876 Family moves in July to a country practice in Chiltern, Victoria. Summer 1876–77: clear signs of her father’s mental deterioration and that his medical practice is close to collapse. 1877 Family moves to Queenscliff, Walter’s decline owing to tertiary syphilis continues. 1878 Walter placed in medical care, first in Richmond, then in the Kew Mental Asylum. Mary makes the transition from gentility to work as postmistress in Koroit. 1879 Walter, in the final stages of general paralysis, is transferred to Koroit where he dies on 1 August. Richardson behaves like ‘a selfish-bad- tempered child’. 1880 Mary is appointed postmistress at Maldon. Precocious musical talent of her daughters becomes apparent, as does the blighting inheritance of preceding years. 1883 Attends Presbyterian Ladies’ College (PLC) as boarder. Death of Richard Wagner in Venice. Cosima assumes responsibility for his legacy. 1884 Makes important academic progress and her musical talent is furthered. 1885 Becomes known as a ‘great liar’ and is ostracised by important school cliques. Fourth section of Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra published privately. 1886 Is strongly attracted to fellow boarder Constance Cochran. Distinguishes herself as musical performer and composer. 1887 Family moves to Melbourne where Mary heads the Richmond South post office. Richardson repeats matriculation. Psychological stress leads to the loss of handfuls of hair—‘If only I could find the reality!’ 1888 Encounters the German Romantic heritage while teaching at a Toorak private school; reads her parents’ letters—‘a love story of 30 years ago’. Sale of the Hawthorn house finances the family’s voyage to England. Coronation of Wilhelm II. 1889 Begins a formal three-year course of study at the Leipzig Conservatorium of Music which marks ‘a definite break with the past’. 1890 Meets John George Robertson (born 1867) who is studying for his doctorate. Trip to Norway via Berlin and Copenhagen. Romance blossoms during their shared study of Wagner. 1891 Engagement on 20 February to Robertson, who rekindles her interest in literature. 1892 Successfully completes her musical studies in March but is devastated by lukewarm reviews. Family moves to England. Robertson completes his dissertation but is unable to find an academic post in England. 1893 Writes a defence of Ibsen and begins translating Jacobsen’s Niels Lyhne, the ‘Danish book that really thrust the pen in my hand’, with Robertson’s encouragement.

CHRONOLOGY xvii

1894 In May sees Eleanora Duse—‘the face of the woman who is destined to be our fate’—perform; offers Niels Lyhne to Heinemann. 1895 Family moves to Munich where Lil studies the violin. ‘Music Study in Leipzig’ appears; marries Robertson on 30 December in Dublin. August Bebel puts an unsuccessful motion in the Reichstag to enfranchise German women. 1896 Living at Thorwaldenstrasse 33 III, next door to Munich’s principal military complex. Writes unpublished fiction and music. Heinemann issues her translations of Siren Voices (Niels Lyhne) and Björnson’s The Fisher Lass. Robertson appointed as Lector Publicus at the Kaiser-Wilhelm University, Strasbourg. Maurice Guest commenced, followed by the ‘bitter death’ of her mother on 26 November. Is soon ‘thick in books’. 1897 ‘The Schubert Centenary’, ‘Ibsen in Translation’ and ‘A Danish Poet’ appear. ‘German Women Writers’ fails to find a publisher. Extensive reading of Flaubert, Stendhal and other naturalist writers. Their apartment at 6 Sternwartstrasse is located at the edge of the campus and beside Strasbourg’s citadel. 1898 Intensive reading of Nietzsche and Flaubert. Zola publishes ‘J’accuse’ in defence of Dreyfus, Strasbourg’s inhabitants warned against being ‘annoyingly meddlesome’ in French affairs. Serious attack of bronchitis. 1899 Recuperates in Bordighera on the Italian Riviera (22 January–18 April). Death of a neighbouring child in Strasbourg which will allegedly inspire ‘The Life and Death of Peterle Lüthy’. Rereads Thus Spoke Zarathustra and Brandes. 1900 Moves to Twingerstrasse 5 II and helps proofread Robertson’s History of German Literature. Lil marries Dr Otto Neustätter. Death of Nietzsche —‘His influence will lie over all I do’—and publication of Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams and d’Annunzio’s Il Fuoco. Sees Duse in two plays in Frankfurt. 1901 Intermittent work on Maurice Guest and commencement of a pattern of summer holidays in the Bavarian Alps. Reads Dostoevsky. Death of Queen Victoria; declaration of the Federation of Australia. 1902 Complete break from composition (July–September). End of the Boer War; publication of J. A. Hobson’s Imperialism and Robertson’s History. 1903 Robertson appointed to second chair of German at London University. Introduced to Irene Stumpp. Harrowing birth of her nephew Walter Lindesay Neustätter in Munich on 7 December. Living at 18 Willow Road, Hampstead. Foundation of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in Manchester. 1904 Moves to 5 Lyon Road, Harrow, concentrates on completing Maurice Guest. ‘Georg Brandes’ published. Inaugural meeting of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance in Berlin.

xviii CHRONOLOGY

1905 Joins the London Spiritualist Alliance and Society for Psychical Research, her interest having been apparently aroused by the unfolding psychic powers of her housekeeper, Irene Stumpp. First holiday in Lyme Regis. 1906 WSPU moves to London. Election of a reforming Liberal government. 1907 Revisits Leipzig and holidays in Marquartstein where she commences The Getting of Wisdom. Death of Robertson’s father and first visit to Heinemann’s on 12 November. 1908 Maurice Guest published—‘I wrote many of my own [“agonies of youth”] out in the book, & came up a saner & quieter person’. 1909 Begins subscribing to Votes for Women, copies of which are forwarded to her sister. Lil follows Otto to Dresden, but her marriage is becoming noticeably strained. 1910 Moves to 90 Regent’s Park Road on 23 March. Death of Edward VII. Begins Australia Felix on 11 October; ‘Black Friday (18 November)— suffragettes brutally attacked by constabulary. The Getting of Wisdom appears and is greeted with outrage at PLC. Paul Solanges offers to translate Maurice Guest. 1911 Contact renewed with Mary Kernot and diary kept of a trip to Norway (13 July–1 September). ‘Death’, based on her mother’s final days, appears in English Review. 1912 Lil imprisoned in Holloway Prison for destroying public property with other suffragettes, Richardson conspires to subvert the prison system. Revisits Australia to gather material for the trilogy (10 September–16 October). 1913 The ‘Cat and Mouse’ Act comes into force. Suffragettes move from acts of civil disobedience to urban terrorism—‘every broken window & burnt house takes them [women] a few steps further from the harem & the veil—I am certain of that’. 1914 Death of Paul Solanges. Sylvia Pankhurst received at Lil’s home in Dresden. Holidaying at Lyme Regis with the Neustätter family when war is declared. Attends speech by Christabel Pankhurst at London Opera House (8 September) that signals suspension of suffragette agitation. 1915 Takes a three-year lease on ‘Westfield’ at Lyme Regis; Robertson’s mother dies. 1916 Has radium treatment on 11 June in a vain and painful attempt to have burnt away her birthmark—a ‘port-wine’ stain extending from her right shoulder to her fingers. 1917 Australia Felix published. Over ensuing years the trilogy becomes an ‘incubus’. 1919 Meets Olga Roncoroni (born 1893), who will live for a quarter of a century with the novelist. Richardson’s subsequent involvement in her psychiatric treatment slows the novelist’s rate of composition considerably.

CHRONOLOGY xix

1921 Lil returns to Otto in Dresden after spending seven years with her sister in London. She announces her intent to help A. S. Neill realise his dreams for pedagogical reform. 1924 Lil and Neill lease ‘Summerhill’ in Lyme Regis as the permanent base for his radical school, earlier versions of which have already been run in Germany and Austria. 1925 The Way Home published to a muted reception. Writing the final volume of the trilogy in the face of neglect becomes a desperate and scarring trial. 1926 Lil divorces Otto and marries Neill—‘we all continue the best of friends’. 1928 Is a member of Harry Price’s National Laboratory of Psychical Research. Heinemann rejects the completed ms of Ultima Thule—‘the stark undiluted tragedy of it has somewhat horrified them’. 1929 Ultima Thule published at Robertson’s expense to international acclaim. ‘The Magic of the New Concert Room’ and ‘The Bath: an aquarelle’ appear. 1930 Death of Cosima Wagner on 1 April. ‘The Story of Wagner and von Bülow—and the Woman behind their Music’ (August) and The Fortunes of Richard Mahony are published. Awarded the Australian Literature Society’s Gold Medal for Ultima Thule. Five week cruise in the West Indies. 1931 ‘The Grown-up Ball’ and Two Studies are published. Meets Miles Franklin. 1932 Voyage to South Africa; visited by Brian Penton and Norman Lindsay. 1933 Death of her husband on 28 May—‘only where he was was Home to me’. Visited by Katharine Susannah Prichard and looks for a permanent residence on the coast. Numerous stories published—‘a handful of cobwebs in the Laura style’. Lil discovers Neill’s infidelity, their marriage can barely be rescued. 1934 Dissolves her London household and moves to ‘Green Ridges’, Fairlight, just outside Hastings on 26 April. The End of a Childhood published. 1938 Greets the invasion or ‘Anschluss’ of Austria as ‘the crime of crimes’ committed by an ‘evil degenerate & hysteric’. 1939 The Young Cosima published. Is severely shaken by negative reviews— ‘Worked but in despair’. 1940 ‘The Coat’ and ‘Some notes on my books’ are published. Battle of Britain commences. ‘Green Ridges’ is suddenly in the front line. Suffers repeated illnesses and failing eyesight, as well as constant interruptions because of enemy incursions. 1941 Is adversely affected by food rationing; her royalties and dividends dwindle alarmingly. The trilogy is dramatised for the stage in the United States. 1942 Abandons a proposed novel entitled Nick and Sanny after eight chapters, starts a long short story, ‘Miss Hailey and Miss Sonnier’ which is never completed.

xx CHRONOLOGY

1943 Turns her creative energies to autobiography and works on what will become Myself When Young. No let-up in war-time deprivations and attacks. 1944 Reads from the Proem to The Way Home for the BBC on Good Friday. The arrival of flying-bombs adds to the Sussex ordeal. Death of Lil on 30 April. Undergoes a colostomy on 3 November—‘brave beyond belief’ —Olga puts off surgery to nurse her. 1945 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer offers to buy the film rights to The Fortunes of Richard Mahony. ‘Russians in Berlin. Hurrah! May they blow the hideous place to blazes.’ Richardson, Olga and their house are in a miserable state by war’s end. 1946 Her last letter to Mary Kernot written at the end of January. She has scarcely sufficient strength to sign MGM’s contracts a month later. Dies on 20 March, cremated at Golders Green on 25 March and her ashes, together with Robertson’s, are scattered at sea off Fairlight on 6 April.