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=                           Rose_Macaulay                            =
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                            Introduction
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Dame Emilie Rose Macaulay,  (1 August 1881 - 30 October 1958) was an
English writer, most noted for her award-winning novel 'The Towers of
Trebizond', about a small Anglo-Catholic group crossing Turkey by
camel.

The story is seen as a spiritual autobiography, reflecting her own
changing and conflicting beliefs. Macaulay's novels were partly
influenced by Virginia Woolf. She also wrote biographies, travelogues
and poetry.


                     Early years and education
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Macaulay was born in Rugby, Warwickshire the daughter of George
Campbell Macaulay, a classical scholar, and his wife, Grace Mary (née
Conybeare). Her father was descended in the male-line directly from
the Macaulay family of Lewis. She was educated at Oxford High School
for Girls and read Modern History at Somerville College at Oxford
University. In 1906 her father, George Campbell Macaulay, moved to
Southernwood, a grand house in Great Shelford, near Cambridge. She
spent much of her time in the company of the poet Rupert Brooke, a
family friend. During the First World War, she worked as a land girl
in Shelford. Here she was inspired to write a collection of poems
called "On the Land 1916" recalling the hard work and companionship of
those days.


                               Career
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Macaulay began writing her first novel, 'Abbots Verney' (published
1906), after leaving Somerville and while living with her parents at
Ty Isaf, near Aberystwyth, in Wales. Later novels include 'The Lee
Shore' (1912), 'Potterism' (1920), 'Dangerous Ages' (1921), 'Told by
an Idiot' (1923), 'And No Man's Wit' (1940), 'The World My Wilderness'
(1950), and 'The Towers of Trebizond' (1956). Her non-fiction work
includes 'They Went to Portugal', 'Catchwords and Claptrap', a
biography of John Milton, and 'Pleasure of Ruins'. Macaulay's fiction
was influenced by Virginia Woolf and Anatole France.

Her dystopian novel 'What Not' (1918) deals with eugenics and
misinformation in a fictional version of England. It was first
published in 1918, then withdrawn and republished in 1919 with some
passages removed.

During World War I Macaulay worked in the British Propaganda
Department, after some time as a nurse and later as a civil servant in
the War Office. She pursued a romantic affair with Gerald O'Donovan, a
writer and former Jesuit priest, whom she met in 1918; the
relationship lasted until his death, in 1942. During the interwar
period she was a sponsor of the pacifist Peace Pledge Union; however,
she resigned from the PPU and later recanted her pacifism in 1940. In
the same period, she found new audiences through broadcasts on the
BBC, and as a columnist in journals such as 'The Spectator', 'The
Listener', and 'Time and Tide.' In January 1941, Macaulay wrote: "The
pageant of life is enormously enriched by the presence of so many
foreigners in our midst...the uniforms of Polish soldiers mingle with
those of the Czechs, Norwegians, Dutch and Free French...And not only
foreigners. Driving in the country, you are continually hailed by the
rich accents of young men in battle-dress from Alberta and Montreal,
who seldom know where they are, and always want to go somewhere else.
They are as a rule enormously charming".

Her London flat was destroyed in the Blitz, and she had to rebuild her
life and library from scratch, as documented in the
semi-autobiographical short story, 'Miss Anstruther's Letters', which
was published in 1942.

'The Towers of Trebizond', her final novel, is generally regarded as
her masterpiece. Strongly autobiographical, it treats with wistful
humour and deep sadness the attractions of mystical Christianity, and
the irremediable conflict between adulterous love and the demands of
the Christian faith. For this work, she received the James Tait Black
Memorial Prize in 1956.


                           Personal life
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Macaulay was never a simple believer in "mere Christianity", and her
writings reveal a more complex, mystical sense of the Divine. That
said, she did not return to the Anglican church until 1953; she had
been an ardent secularist before and, while religious themes pervade
her novels, previous to her conversion she often treats Christianity
satirically, for instance in 'Going Abroad' and 'The World My
Wilderness'.

Macaulay never married. She was created a Dame Commander of the Order
of the British Empire (DBE) on 31 December 1957 in the 1958 New Year
Honours and died ten months later, on 30 October 1958, aged 77. She
was an active feminist throughout her life.


                               Works
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Fiction:
* 'Abbots Verney' (1906) John Murray
* 'The Furnace' (1907) John Murray
* 'The Secret River' (1909) John Murray
* 'The Valley Captives' (1911) John Murray
* 'Views and Vagabonds' (1912) John Murray
* 'The Lee Shore' (1913) Hodder & Stoughton
* 'The Making of a Bigot' (c 1914) Hodder & Stoughton
* 'Non-Combatants and Others' (1916) Hodder & Stoughton
* 'What Not: A Prophetic Comedy' (1918)
* 'Potterism' (1920) William Collins
* 'Dangerous Ages' (1921) William Collins
* 'Mystery At Geneva: An Improbable Tale of Singular Happenings'
(1922) William Collins
* 'Told by an Idiot' (1923) William Collins
* 'Orphan Island' (1924) William Collins
* 'Crewe Train' (1926) William Collins
* 'Keeping Up Appearances' (1928) William Collins
* 'Staying with Relations' (1930) William Collins
* 'They Were Defeated' (1932) William Collins
* 'Going Abroad' (1934) William Collins
* 'I Would Be Private' (1937) William Collins
* 'And No Man's Wit' (1940) William Collins
* 'The World My Wilderness' (1950) William Collins
* 'The Towers of Trebizond' (1956) William Collins

Poetry:
* 'The Two Blind Countries' (1914) Sidgwick & Jackson
* 'Picnic: July 1917', with guns in France audible
* 'Three Days' (1919) Constable
* 'Misfortunes', with engravings by Stanley Morison (1930)

Non-fiction:

* 'A Casual Commentary' (1925) Methuen
* 'Some Religious Elements in English Literature' (1931) Hogarth
* 'Milton' (1934) Duckworth
* 'Personal Pleasures' (1935) Gollancz
* 'The Minor Pleasures of Life' (1936) Gollancz
* 'An Open Letter' (1937) Peace Pledge Union
* 'The Writings of E.M. Forster' (1938) Hogarth
* 'Life Among the English' (1942) William Collins
* 'Southey in Portugal' (1945) Nicholson & Watson
* 'They Went to Portugal' (1946) Jonathan Cape
* 'Evelyn Waugh' (1946) Horizon
* 'Fabled Shore: From the Pyrenees to Portugal By Road' (1949) Hamish
Hamilton
* 'Pleasure of Ruins' (1953) Thames & Hudson
* 'Coming to London' (1957) Phoenix House
* 'Letters to a Friend 1950-1952' (1961) William Collins. (edited by
Constance Babington Smith)
* 'Last Letters to a Friend 1952-1958' (1962) William Collins. (edited
by Constance Babington Smith)
* 'Letters to a Sister' (1964) William Collins. (edited by Constance
Babington Smith)
* 'They Went to Portugal Too' (1990) (The second part of 'They Went to
Portugal', not published with the 1946 edition because of paper
restrictions.) Carcanet


                          Further reading
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* Hein, David. "Faith and Doubt in Rose Macaulay's 'The Towers of
Trebizond'." 'Anglican Theological Review' 88 (2006): 47-68. Abstract:
http://www.anglicantheologicalreview.org/read/article/508/
* Hein, David. "Rose Macaulay: A Voice from the Edge." In David Hein
and Edward Henderson, eds., 'C. S. Lewis and Friends: Faith and the
Power of Imagination', 93-115. London: SPCK; Eugene, OR: Cascade,
2011.
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*
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* Martin Ferguson Smith (ed),' Dearest Jean: Rose Macaulay’s letters
to a cousin' (Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2011).
*


                           External links
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* Profile of Rose on
[https://web.archive.org/web/20161002193607/https://sites.google.com/site/greatshelfordcommunitywebsite/home/village-people
Great Shelford website] where she lived some of her life


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