The Hon Theodora Benson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Eleanor Theodora Roby Benson 27 August 1906 Lichfield, England |
| Died | 25 December 1968 (aged 62) |
| Alma mater | SOAS University of London |
| Father | Godfrey Benson |
Eleanor Theodora Roby Benson (1906–1968) was an English novelist, travel writer, and satirist She is perhaps best known for the novel Which Way? (1931), republished in 2022 by the British Library.
Biography
editBenson was born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, the daughter of Godfrey Benson, 1st Baron Charnwood. She went to school at Queen's College[1] and Cheltenham Ladies' College. She studied Malay at what is now SOAS University of London.[2][3]
She contributed to the likes of Lilliput. She admired Evelyn Waugh,[3] who contributed to Benson's The First Time I… among the likes of Rose Macauley, Louis Golding, and Antonia White.
During World War II, Benson worked as a ghost speechwriter in the Ministry of Information.[1]
After the war, Benson grew more serious. One friend explained that her "compassions and insight, in her later years, seemed to intensify to a burning point and caused her to be endlessly occupied and concerned with other people".[4] She would go on to author two more novels, The Undertaker's Wife and Rehearsal for Death, as well as a second short story collection The Man from the Tunnel, and Other Stories.
Benson never married. Towards the end of her life, she began writing about the 18th-century crime of Catherine Nairn but never finished. She died of pneumonia at age 62 while staying with her sister Antonia, Lady Radcliffe in the countryside.[2][4]
Reception and legacy
editBenson's works were successful at time of publication.[2]
Her works remained out of print for decades. In 2018, a Tumblr and Weebly-based blog began collecting information on Benson.[1] Which Way? was republished in 2022 as part of a British Library series on "lost" 20th-century novels by women writers.[5][6]
Bibliography
editNovels
edit- Salad Days (1928)
- Glass Houses (1929)
- Shallow Water (1931)
- Which Way? (1931 or 2)
- Façade (1933)
- Concert Pitch (1934)
- The Undertaker's Wife (1947 or 8)
- Rehearsal for Death (1954)
Non-fiction
edit- Chip, Chip, My Little Horse (1934)
- The Unambitious Journey (1935)
- In the East my Pleasure Lies (1938)
- Sweethearts and Wives, Their Part in War (1943)
- London Immortals (1951)
Short story collections
edit- Best Stories of Theodora Benson (1940)
- The Man from the Tunnel, and Other Stories (1950)
Edited volumes
edit- The First Time I... (1935)
Collaborations with Betty Askwith
edit- Lobster Quadrille (1930)
- Seven Basketfuls (1932)
- Muddling Through; or, Britain in a Nutshell (1934)
- Foreigners; or, The World in a Nutshell (1935)
- How to be Famous; or, the Great in a Nutshell (1936)[7]
References
edit- ^ a b c Rank, Julia (6 December 2023). ""Queen's Reads" - Which Way by Theodora Benson". Old Queens – Queen's College, London. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
- ^ a b c "Theodora Benson". Orlando: Women's writing. Retrieved 29 September 2024.(subscription required)
- ^ a b "Novelist learns Malay in London". The Straits Times. 15 May 1937. p. 13. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
- ^ a b "Hon Theodora Benson". The Times. 1968. Retrieved 16 May 2018.(subscription required)
- ^ Callard, Sandra (20 November 2021). "Which Way? by Theodora Benson – Review". On Yorkshire Magazine. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
- ^ "British Library Women Writers 12: Which Way? by Theodora Benson". Stuck in a Book. 22 March 2022. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
- ^ "English girls' clever book of satire". Examiner. 11 January 1936. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
Category:Alumni of SOAS University of London
Category:British speechwriters
Category:Daughters of barons
Category:Deaths from pneumonia in England
Category:English satirists
Category:English travel writers
Category:Ghostwriters
Category:People educated at Cheltenham Ladies' College
Category:People educated at Queen's College, London
Category:People from Lichfield
Category:Writers from Staffordshire