Women, writing and travel. Part one : the diaries of Stella Benson, from Cambridge University Library

Author / Creator

Benson, Stella, 1892-1933, author

Available as

Online

Summary

Stella Benson was a vibrant writer and diarist whose work took her across the United States, and to Hong Kong and China. Her eight acclaimed novels include I Pose, This is the End, Living Alone and...

Stella Benson was a vibrant writer and diarist whose work took her across the United States, and to Hong Kong and China. Her eight acclaimed novels include I Pose, This is the End, Living Alone and Tobit Transplanted. Honest and compelling, Benson's diaries contain her very forthright opinions on people and events. Early volumes trace her work in the East End of London for the Charity Organisation Society, her involvement in the campaign for women's suffrage, her shop in Hoxton, and two years in America, much of the time spent in the artistic and bohemian community in the San Francisco-Berkeley area. Her diaries are a good source for accounts of people she met on her travels, colonial life in Hong Kong, the Treaty Ports, and her views on China and America, with much detail on political and social issues. Her troubled health and her position as a lonely wife in far-flung places contributed to her enthusiasm for writing.

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