Mary Butts, The Crystal Cabinet

Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Ed. by Andrew Radford, University of Glasgow
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

First circulation or publication 1937 - c.

Places

United Kingdom (Country of Origin; Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Autobiography (literary)

Resources

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Recommended Reading

The Crystal Cabinet: My Childhood at Salterns

, Mary Butts’ unfinished memoir,

was published by Methuen in 1937. Early reviews in

Time and Tide

and

The Listener

were alert to the text’s generic sophistication and hybridity; how the sometimes-fragmentary design both reflected and disrupted traditions of formal autobiography, land-writing, reminiscence, elegy and swingeing social critique. The reference to William Blake’s poem of the same name in the book’s title proclaims what is for the author a crucial family link: Mary was the great-granddaughter of Blake’s close associate, correspondent, and principal patron Thomas Butts (1739-1845). This sense of connection to Blake’s visionary poetics, coupled with her vaunted derivation from “the most ancient blood in England” (

, p.…

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1618 words

Citation: Radford, Andrew. "The Crystal Cabinet". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 September 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=41301, accessed 26 November 2024.]

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Mary Butts, The Crystal Cabinet

Dates

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