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EntityQ230598· pop 45· linked from 201 articles

Also known as Ella Gwendolen Rees Williams, Ella Rees Williams

British novelist (1890–1979)

Person · Open Library

Born
24 August 1890
Died
14 May 1979
Works
41

Top works

  • After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie
  • Il Grande mare dei sargassi
  • Good morning, midnight
  • Collected Short Stories
  • Till September Petronella

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person
Gender
Male
Origin
Cardiff
Active from
1970-07-18
britishindieindie folkindie popukwelsh

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
9
Total plays
17

<a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Jean+Rhys">Read more on Last.fm</a>

via Last.fm · Jean Rhys

Quotes

  • One October afternoon Mrs Baker was having tea with Miss Verney and talking about the proposed broiler factory in the middle of the village where they both lived. Miss Verney, who had not been listening attentively, said, 'You know Letty, I've been thinking a great deal about death lately. I hardly ever do, strangely enough.' (beginning of the story "Sleep It Off, Lady")
  • I like emotion, I approve of it-in fact am capable of wallowing in it. (1946)

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Key facts

Born
Ella Gwendoline Rees Williams , ( 1890-08-24 ) 24 August 1890, Roseau or Grand Bay , British Leeward Islands (now Dominica )
Died
14 May 1979 (1979-05-14) (aged 88), Exeter , Devon, England
Occupation
Novelist, short story writer , essayist
Genre
Modernism , postmodernism
Notable works
Good Morning, Midnight (1939) Wide Sargasso Sea (1966)
Spouse
Jean Lenglet ​ ​ ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1919 ; divorced</span>"}]]}'>div. 1933 ) ​ Leslie Tilden-Smith ​ ​ ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1934 ; died 1945 ) ​ Max Hamer ​ ​ ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1947 ; died 1966 ) ​

via Wikipedia infobox

~22 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Jean Rhys (/riːs/ REESS; born Ella Gwendoline Rees Williams; 24 August 1890 – 14 May 1979) was a British Creole novelist who was born and grew up in the Caribbean island of Dominica. From the age of 16, she resided mainly in England, where she was sent for her education. She is best known for her final novel, Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), written as a prequel to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre.

Rhys started writing intermittently around 1914, and found a literary mentor in Ford Madox Ford (with whom she also had an affair) in 1923. With his assistance and encouragement, her first work of fiction—The Left Bank and Other Stories—was published in 1927. This was followed by four short semi-autobiographical novels about women navigating perilous circumstances across London and Paris: Quartet (1928), After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie (1931), Voyage in the Dark (1934), and Good Morning, Midnight (1939). After these publications failed to lead to significant financial or critical success, Rhys felt her writing career had stalled, and largely withdrew from public life.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Jean Rhys” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.