Thanks for looking over this so quickly, and thanks for the comments.
- Comment: 1. We need references to published reviews of her work.Have added missing ref to Blake Morrison review of her work, where text says recent work well received. Hope that's what you meant. 2. Probably there should be less emphasis on section 2. The period covered by Section 2 represents the bulk of her work, covering 8 out of 10 publications. In understanding those publications, especially her best known works "Epithalamion" and "Elarna Cane", it is necessary to understand, in the former case, the context of her sexual relationships, and in the latter, the context of the decay and violent conclusion of her relationship with Blair Hughes-Stanton - both of which are covered in detail, for the same reason, in the standard work on her, the biography of Blair Hughes-Stanton. I could cut all this out if you like, but it's there to help explain her work. Let me know what you think.3. You may not use WP as a source. Instead link to the WP article. DGG ( talk ) 16:49, 16 October 2020 (UTC)
Apologies, I'm not sure what you mean here - I've only referenced Wikipedia twice, and in both cases I've linked to the Wikipedia article, not the generic en.wikipedia.org.
Language: again, apologies, I'm not sure what is meant by it not being formal enough, but I've replaced "sex-mad" with "libidinous"; made it clearer than the quote about her husband comes from her; ameliorated Hughes-Stanton's comment on the foundation of their relationship and made the source clearer; and replaced "limped on" with "continued with much ill-feeling". Hope that covers some of what you meant?
Thanks again for reviewing.
Ida Florence Affleck Graves (March 1902 - 14 November 1999) was a British artist, poet, novelist, and children's writer, and member of the Bloomsbury Group.[1]
Early life
Graves was born in Mysuru, India, the daughter of Colonel Douglas H. McDonnel Graves, Surgeon, and Mabel Alice Petley.[1][2] Sent to a boarding school in Eastbourne, England, at the age of six,[3] Graves was educated from 13 at the Quaker Croham Hurst School, then in Surrey.[1] Separated from her parents, she turned to writing for comfort, writing every day except Sundays.[4] From Surrey, she went to the University of London to study English Literature, also attending an evening course in sculpture at Chelsea Art School.[1] In the early 1920s she joined the Bloomsbury Group.[2]
Career
In 1929, Leonard and Virginia Woolf's Hogarth Press published Graves's first poetry collection, The China Cupboard and Other Poems (as Ida Graves), with a cover by Vanessa Bell, as No.5 of their Living Poets series. During this period, Graves additionally supported herself as a reader for the Stage Society[2]. Her relationship with her first husband failed, after a motorcycle injury to his head left him, in her opinion, "not infertile, but useless at holding his horses"[3]. Graves started a relationship with artist Blair Hughes-Stanton in 1930, and Marks, apparently simultaneously, left her for Isobel Powys, neice of John Cowper Powys, taking their two children with him[3]. While Hughes-Stanton's wife, Gertrude Hermes, provided a divorce in 1933, Marks refused in an effort to protect his social standing, instead offering Graves a £4 a week maintenance provided she took the blame for the separation[2]. Graves' and Hughes-Stanton's cohabitation from 1932, by Hughes-Stanton's admission founded on their "Lawrentian sex"[2], eventually caused Hughes-Stanton to lose his position at the conservative Gregynog Press, and together the two of them started the Gemini Press[2]. In 1933, they published their first book: Epithalamion: a poem, a "sequence of sexual imagery and symbolism"[2] by Graves celebrating their relationship and illustrated by Hughes-Stanton[2]. It won the top literary award at the 1937 Venice Biennale[5]. However, as the financial depression of the 30s impacted their income, they became increasingly stretched and in 1935 reluctantly published their second (and last) volume: a book of "sardonic verse"[2] Pastoral, or Virtue Requited, by "H.H.M.", that is, Graves' husband[2]. Despite the day-to-day financial worries, Graves had managed to save £450, and in 1935 they moved into the early 16th C. timbered Weavers' House she bought in Stratford St. Mary, Suffolk, with the money[2]; a house which they did up and then remained largely unchanged until Graves' death in 1999[1]. By 1939, and now with two young children with Hughes-Stanton, the relationship was failing, with Hughes-Stanton increasingly jealous of her writing and sculptures, and taking this out on her by complaining she was a poor housewife and "too intellectual"[2]. The period saw the two becoming increasingly embroiled in ferocious public arguments[2]. Hughes-Stanton signed up for war work, apparently to escape the relationship, and was captured and shot in the face by a guard. Meanwhile, Graves, who supported herself by working on scenery and costumes for the The Royal Ballet, increasingly engaged in infidelities in his absence[2]. While he was captured, Graves authored Mother and Child (1942), a new long poem illustrated with reused prints by Hughes-Stanton[2]. Hughes-Stanton was finally repatriated at the end of 1943 and their relationship continued with much ill-feeling until 1950, when Hughes-Stanton, who had become increasingly unfaithful, started a relationship with a woman in the village and apparently became enamored by the young woman they employed as a cleaner, leading to increased arguments and gaslighting of Graves by Hughes-Stanton[2]. Finally, an argument in which Hughes-Stanton punched Graves in the head, and she reciprocated by almost strangling him to death with his tie, ended the relationship, with Hughes-Stanton leaving to stay with Gertrude Hermes[2]. These final years of the relationship are especially noteworthy in acting as the basis for Graves' 1956 semi-autobiographical stream of consciousness novel Elarna Cane[2]. As indicated in Elarna Cane, with the escape from the love-hate romantic distraction and jealousy of Hughes-Stanton, Graves entered one of the most productive periods of her life, producing not only the experimental Elarna Cane and the equally personal Willa, You're Wanted (1952), but the children's books Ostrobogulous Pigs (1952), Mouse Tash (1953), and Little Thumbamonk (1956), all published by Faber under "Affleck Graves" on their suggestion of adopting a genderless nom de plume. In 1953, she began a relationship with a 25 year old jazz pianist, Don Nevard[3], who became her husband in 1995[1]. After this brief but productive period in the 1950s, she then went largely silent, disappearing into the community of Stratford St Mary.
In 1990[6], teacher Peter Wallis came across some of Graves' work in East Anglian literary magazine Rialto, and searched her out.[5][3] She had continued to produce poetry, but that, with some exceptions published in the Samphire New Poetry collections, most of her new work was unpublished[3]. With encouragement from Wallis, Graves published two new collections, A Kind Husband (1994), and The Calfbearer (1999), both with Oxford University Press under "Ida Affeck Graves"; the latter collection coming out six months before her death at the age of 97. Her new poetry was well received, and in an interview with poet and author Blake Morrison, she relished her refound fame, noting "I'd love to be a cult."[3]
Personal life
Graves had two children (Anna and Anthony) with her first husband, Herbert Henry Marks (married c.1923; died 30 Apr 1972);[7] Anthony died at the age of 27 in an avalanche.[1] Between 1930 and 1950 she was in a relationship with artist Blair Hughes-Stanton, with whom she had a son Corin (born 1933) and daughter Kristin (born 1935). In 1953, Graves began a relationship with jazz pianist Don Nevard, who she married in 1995 and who was with her until the end of her life.[1]
Graves was the niece of Ada J. Graves and distant cousin of poet and writer Robert Graves through Charles Graves.[1]
She is buried in the garden of her home in Stratford St Mary, Suffolk.[1]
Bibliography
Poetry:
The China Cupboard and Other Poems (1929)
Epithalamion: a poem (1933)
Mother and Child (1946)
A Kind Husband (1994)
The Calfbearer (1999)
Novels (as Affleck Graves):
Willa, You're Wanted (1952)
Elarna Cane (1956)
Children's Books (as Affleck Graves):
Ostrobogulous Pigs (1952)
Mouse Tash (1953)
Little Thumbamonk (1956)
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Jacqueline Simms (1999) Obituary: Ida Affleck Graves Independent Online, undated.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Penelope Hughes-Stanton (1991) The Wood-Engravings of Blair Hughes-Stanton. Pinner:Private Libraries Association. pp.183.
- ^ a b c d e f g Blake Morrison (1994) Poetry discovers a new talent - aged 92: A distant cousin of Robert Graves would like to be a cult Independent on Sunday, 14 August 1994.
- ^ PN Review 131 (1999) Ida Affleck Graves, Volume 26 Number 3, January - February 2000.
- ^ a b Reggie Oliver (1999) Ida Graves Guardian Online, Mon 29 Nov 1999.
- ^ Peter Wallis (1999) Ida Affleck Graves.
- ^ Herbert Henry Marks (1896 - 1972) WikiTree.