Nixon, Laura Elizabeth (2014) The 'British' Carmen Sylva: recuperating a German-Romanian writer. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. Access from the University of Nottingham repository: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/13946/1/Laura_Nixon_-_PhD_thesis.pdf Copyright and reuse: The Nottingham ePrints service makes this work by researchers of the University of Nottingham available open access under the following conditions. · Copyright and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. · To the extent reasonable and practicable the material made available in Nottingham ePrints has been checked for eligibility before being made available. · Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not- for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. · Quotations or similar reproductions must be sufficiently acknowledged. Please see our full end user licence at: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/end_user_agreement.pdf A note on versions: The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher’s version. Please see the repository url above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription. For more information, please contact [email protected] The ‘British’ Carmen Sylva: Recuperating a German- Romanian writer. Laura Elizabeth Nixon, BA (Hons), MA. Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. July 2014. 1 Abstract. Carmen Sylva (1843-1916), a German princess and the first Queen of Romania, was a well-known royal figure and a prolific writer. Under this pseudonym, she published around fifty volumes in a wide variety of genres, including poetry, short stories and aphorisms. During her lifetime she was a regular feature in the British periodical press and visited Britain on numerous occasions. Widely reviewed – both celebrated and condemned for her ‘fatal fluency’ – Sylva’s work became marginalised after her death and has yet to be fully recovered. She has only recently received critical attention in her native Germany and has yet to be recuperated within British literary culture. This thesis will examine the reasons behind Sylva’s current obscurity as well as presenting the grounds for her reassessment. It will establish her connection to Britain, markers of which can still be found in its regional geography, as well as the scope of her literary presence in British periodicals. It will draw comparisons between Sylva and her contemporaries and will examine her contribution to fin-de-siècle British literary culture, analysing her short stories in order to detail her engagement with the ‘Woman Question’. This focus places Sylva at the centre of contemporary discussions and her often conflicting responses to such issues further our understanding of the complexity of nineteenth-century literary debates. In reassessing Sylva, this study will address broader notions surrounding the short story, popular fiction, and women’s writing, in order to question both current and contemporary attitudes to literature. 2 Acknowledgements. Patience is not passive. On the contrary, it is active; it is concentrated strength. - Carmen Sylva, Thoughts of a Queen. Firstly, I would like to thank the University of Nottingham for generously awarding me a Postgraduate Teaching Fellowship from 2011-2013. This project would not have been possible without the opportunities that have been provided by the University and the School of English. To Professor Josephine Guy and Professor Lynda Pratt, thank-you for being the most supportive supervisors I could have hoped for (my personal A- Team). Your knowledge, guidance and kindness have kept me motivated throughout this process and I hope that I have finally become, after so many years, more ‘assertive.’ A huge thank-you to my friends and colleagues who have been part of this process. Special mention must go to Helen Budd, Louise Chamberlain, Sarah Gloyne and Chloe Harrison for tea, cake, movie nights and a lot of laughter. Last, but by no means least, I could not have achieved this without my family. To Mum, Dad, Rob, Libby, Ewan and my four fantastic grandparents – Isobel, Frank, Margaret and Albert – who have supported me in more ways than I can mention. You have always encouraged me to do my best, ‘get my head down’ and make my own luck. This is dedicated to you. 3 Contents Abstract. .................................................................................................................. 1 Acknowledgements. ................................................................................................ 2 A Note on Translation. ............................................................................................ 5 Chronology of Carmen Sylva’s Life. ...................................................................... 6 Introduction. The literary diet. .......................................................................... 12 0.1. Literary value and bias. .................................................................................. 13 0.2. Feminism and recuperation. ........................................................................... 18 0.3. Popular fiction and ‘Silly Lady Novelists.’.................................................... 26 0.4. Carmen Sylva and ‘literary health.’ ............................................................... 32 Chapter One. (Re)acquainting ourselves with Carmen Sylva. ....................... 35 1.1. Carmen Sylva’s life and significance. ............................................................ 35 1.2. Criticism Past and Present. ............................................................................. 42 1.3. ‘The weapon of personality’: biographies of Carmen Sylva. ........................ 61 Chapter Two. Carmen Sylva’s presence in Britain. ........................................ 71 2.1 ‘A beautiful haven of peace’: Carmen Sylva in Llandudno. ........................... 71 2.2. Making ‘eisteddfodic history’: Carmen Sylva and the 1890 Eisteddfod. ...... 80 Chapter Three. Her ‘authorship is but a pastime’: Carmen Sylva’s literary presence. ............................................................................................................... 86 Table 1. .................................................................................................................. 87 3.1. Advertising. .................................................................................................... 90 Fig. 1 ..................................................................................................................... 93 Fig. 2. .................................................................................................................... 95 Fig. 3. ……………………………………………………………………………99 Fig. 4……………………………………………………………………………..99 3.2. References. ................................................................................................... 107 3.3. Reviews. ....................................................................................................... 110 3.4. Articles on or that mention Carmen Sylva. .................................................. 133 3.5. Primary texts. ............................................................................................... 144 3.6. Other. ............................................................................................................ 153 Fig. 5. .................................................................................................................. 163 Chapter Four. ‘There is a repulsive goodness as well as an attractive wickedness’: Carmen Sylva and the ‘Woman Question.’ ............................. 166 4.1. Carmen Sylva and the ideal woman. ............................................................ 173 4.2. Carmen Sylva and the New Woman. ........................................................... 208 4.3. The ‘grey area’ in the marriage plot. ............................................................ 241 Chapter Five. Recuperation leads to reassessment: three case studies. ....... 255 5.1. ‘Visions of aspects, now loved, now strange’: Felicia Hemans and the image of Wales. ............................................................................................................. 255 5.2. Bram Stoker and Romanian ‘otherness.’ ..................................................... 276 5.3. Edith Nesbit and forgotten short stories of the fin-de-siècle. ....................... 294 4 Chapter Six. Carmen Sylva’s literary legacy. ................................................ 305 Appendices. ........................................................................................................ 310 Appendix One. Carmen Sylva and Llandudno .............................................. 311 Fig. 1 ................................................................................................................... 312 Fig. 2 ................................................................................................................... 312 Fig. 3 ................................................................................................................... 313 Fig. 4..…………………………………………………………………………..313