E. M. Delafield

Nick Turner (University of Salford)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Birmingham Newman University), Louise McDonald (Birmingham Newman University), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Dates

Born 9 Jun 1890
Died 2 Dec 1943
Activity 1915-1939

Places

Born in United Kingdom
Active in United Kingdom

Activities

Primary

Letter-writer/ Diarist
Novelist
Story-writer

Resources

Delafield's Works

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The writer who would become E.M. Delafield, one of the most popular novelists of the 1930s, whose

Diary of a Provincial Lady

(1930) remains in print to this day, was born in 1890. Her mother was a novelist and her father a Count whose descendants had fled France in the Revolution; her childhood was a privileged one. This was contrasted with the nine months she spent in a French convent: Catholic themes would appear in some of her novels, such as

Consequences

(1918) and

Turn Back the Leaves

(1930). She was V.A.D in the First World War, and then worked in the Ministry of National Service: her novel

The War Workers

(1918) reflected her experiences of this. She married the son of a baronet in 1919, soon settling in Devon.

Delafield was a regular contributor to the feminist journal Time and

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1101 words

Citation: Turner, Nick. "E. M. Delafield". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 July 2014 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=13244, accessed 26 November 2024.]