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23-484: New Writing was a popular literary periodical in book format founded in 1936 by John Lehmann and committed to anti-fascism . It featured leading poets and writers of the day such as W.H. Auden , V.S. Pritchett , Christopher Isherwood , Tom Wintringham , Stephen Spender , Ahmed Ali , Jim Phelan , Rex Warner , and B. L. Coombes . New Writing also published articles about Mass-Observation by Tom Harrisson . After having been approached by Lehmann to contribute

46-566: A great influence on literature of the period and an outlet for writers such as Christopher Isherwood , W. H. Auden , Edward Upward and miner-author B. L. Coombes . Lehmann included many of these authors in his anthology Poems for Spain which he edited with Stephen Spender . With the onset of the Second World War and paper rationing , New Writing's future was uncertain and so Lehmann wrote New Writing in Europe for Pelican Books, one of

69-519: A piece to the periodical, George Orwell developed a "sketch" he had had in mind for some time, and which appeared as " Shooting an Elephant ", first published in the second number of the periodical, in Autumn 1936. A second piece by Orwell, "Marrakech", appeared in the Christmas 1939 edition. With New Writing' s future uncertain, Lehmann wrote New Writing in Europe for Pelican Books , a critical summary of

92-653: Is an autobiographical record of his homosexual life in England and pre-war Germany, discreetly written in the form of a novel. He also wrote the biographies Edith Sitwell (1952), Virginia Woolf and her World (1975), Thrown to the Woolfs (1978), Rupert Brooke (1980) and Christopher Isherwood. A Personal Memoir (1987). His book Three Literary Friendships (1983), deals with the relationships between Lord Byron and Percy Shelley , Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine , Robert Frost and Edward Thomas . In 1965, he published Christ

115-435: Is attracted to both men and women, and interacts with fairly openly gay and lesbian characters during her years at Cambridge. The novel was considered a succès de scandale and is thought to be based on her Cambridge years. Lehmann went on to publish six more novels, as well as a play ( No More Music , 1939), a collection of short stories ( The Gypsy's Baby & Other Stories , 1946), a spiritual autobiography ( The Swan in

138-529: The Bloomsbury Group , including Leonard and Virginia Woolf , though "Lehmann was unsure how to respond to the older woman's combination of teasing and flattery". Lehmann's marriage with Phillips fell apart during the late 1930s, after Phillips left for Spain during the Spanish Civil War to support the anti-fascist cause. The separation, and Lehmann's affair with the journalist Goronwy Rees , led

161-510: The Arts (1948–49). He also published the first two books by the cookery writer Elizabeth David , A Book of Mediterranean Food and French Country Cooking . He published two of Denton Welch 's posthumous works: A Voice Through a Cloud (for which he supplied the title) (1950) and A Last Sheaf (1951). This publishing house published several book series , including the Chiltern Library,

184-597: The Evening , 1967), and a photographic memoir of her friends ( Rosamond Lehmann's Album , 1985), many of whom were famous ( Bloomsbury Group ). She also translated two French novels into English: Jacques Lemarchand's Genevieve (1948) and Jean Cocteau 's 1929 novel Les Enfants Terribles as The Holy Terrors (1955). Lehmann's novel The Weather in the Streets (1936) was made into a film in 1983, which starred Michael York and Joanna Lumley . Her 1953 novel The Echoing Grove

207-590: The Holiday Library, the Modern European Library, and the Library of Art and Travel. It operated from 1946–1953. In 1954, he founded The London Magazine , remaining as editor until 1961, following which he was a frequent lecturer and completed his three-volume autobiography , Whispering Gallery (1955), I Am My Brother (1960) and The Ample Proposition (1966). In The Purely Pagan Sense (1976)

230-1015: The Hunter , a spiritual/autobiographical prose poem which had been broadcast in 1964 on the BBC Third Programme . In 1974, Lehmann published a book of poems, The Reader at Night, hand-printed on handmade paper and hand-bound in an edition of 250 signed copies (Toronto, Basilike, 1974). An essay by Paul Davies about the creation of this book is included in Professor A.T. Tolley's collection, John Lehmann: A Tribute (Ottawa; Carleton University Press, 1987), which also includes pieces by Roy Fuller , Thom Gunn , Charles Osborne , Christopher Levenson , Jeremy Reed , George Woodcock , and others. Lehmann died in London in April 1987. Rosamond Lehmann Rosamond Nina Lehmann CBE (3 February 1901 – 12 March 1990)

253-498: The couple went to live in Newcastle upon Tyne . It was an unhappy marriage: "He [Runciman] panicked when [Lehmann] became pregnant and insisted on an abortion, after which he praised her for being once again "all clean and clear inside". The two separated in 1927 and were officially divorced later that year. In 1927, Lehmann published her first novel, Dusty Answer , to great critical and popular acclaim. The novel's heroine, Judith,

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276-629: The first critical summaries of the writers of the 1930s in which he championed the authors who had been the stars of New Writing —Auden and Spender—and also his close friend Tom Wintringham and Wintringham's ally, the emerging George Orwell . Wintringham reintroduced Lehmann to Allen Lane of Penguin Books , who secured paper for The Penguin New Writing a monthly book-magazine, this time in paperback. The first issue featured Orwell's essay " Shooting an Elephant ". Occasional hardback editions combined with

299-658: The magazine Daylight appeared sporadically, but it was as Penguin New Writing that the magazine survived until 1950. He joined Leonard and Virginia Woolf as managing director of Hogarth Press between 1938 and 1946. He then established his own publishing company, John Lehmann Limited, with his novelist sister Rosamond Lehmann (who had a nine-year affair with one of Lehmann's contributing poets, Cecil Day-Lewis ). They published new works by authors such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Nikos Kazantzakis , and discovered talents like Thom Gunn and Laurie Lee . Lehmann edited two anthologies of new writing entitled Orpheus: A Symposium of

322-434: The public world and turn to spiritualism. Lehmann believed that Sarah lived on after death. Her 1967 novel The Swan in the Evening is an autobiography that Lehmann described as her "Last Testament". In it she intimately describes the emotions she felt at Sarah's birth, and also those she felt at her daughter's abrupt death. The novel also recounts the psychic experiences Lehmann claims to have had in relation to Sarah's death,

345-628: The two to divorce in 1944. During the Second World War , Lehmann lived in the English countryside with her two children, and contributed to and helped to edit New Writing , a periodical edited by her brother John Lehmann . She was also an active opponent of fascism , and spoke at anti-fascist meetings in Paris and London, as well as being active in PEN International . Lehmann's affair with Goronwy Rees began in 1936 and ended when she found out Rees

368-481: The writers of the 1930s. Wintringham reintroduced Lehmann to Allen Lane of Penguin Books , who secured paper for Penguin New Writing , a monthly book-magazine, this time as a paperback , and which survived until 1950. John Lehmann Born in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire , the fourth child of journalist Rudolph Lehmann , and brother of Helen Lehmann, novelist Rosamond Lehmann and actress Beatrix Lehmann , he

391-518: Was a Liberal MP from 1906 to 1910, and founder of Granta magazine and editor of the Daily News . Because of this, Rosamond grew up in an affluent, well-educated, and well-known family; the American playwright Owen Davis was Rosamond's cousin, and her great-grandfather Robert Chambers founded Chambers Dictionary . Her great-uncle was the artist Rudolf Lehmann . Lehmann's older sister Helen

414-622: Was an English novelist and translator. Her first novel, Dusty Answer (1927), was a succès de scandale ; she subsequently became established in the literary world, and intimate with members of the Bloomsbury set . Her novel The Ballad and the Source received particular critical acclaim. Rosamond Lehmann was born in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire , the second of four children of Rudolph Chambers Lehmann (1856–1929) and his American wife, Alice Mary Davis (1873–1956), from New England. Rosamond's father

437-585: Was being educated at home by the family's live-in "Childrens Government", Maria Jacquemin. Also in the home lived the family's eight servants. Rosamond's mother also instilled feminist ideals into her children. In 1919 Lehmann won a scholarship to Girton College, Cambridge . She graduated with second-class degrees in both English Literature (1921) and Modern and Medieval Languages (1922). There, she also met her first husband, Leslie Runciman (later 2nd Viscount Runciman of Doxford ). They married in December 1923, and

460-399: Was born in 1899, and her two younger siblings were born in 1903 and 1907 respectively. Her younger sister Beatrix (1903–1979) became an actress; her younger brother, John (1907–1987), a writer and publisher. Purportedly, Rosamond's father favoured Beatrix and her mother favoured John, leaving Rosamond feeling neglected. Because of this, supposedly, she turned to writing. By 1911, Lehmann

483-636: Was educated at Eton and read English at Trinity College, Cambridge . He considered his time at both as "lost years". At Trinity, Lehmann had a passionate relationship with Virginia Woolf's nephew, Quentin Bell . After a period as a journalist in Vienna , he returned to England to found the popular periodical New Writing (1936–40) in book format. This literary magazine sought to break down social barriers and published works by working-class authors as well as educated middle-class writers and poets. It proved

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506-589: Was engaged to another woman, by reading about the engagement in the newspaper. Afterward, Lehmann entered a "very public affair" for nine years (1941–1950) with the married poet Cecil Day-Lewis . The two went on holidays and lived together, and Lehmann tried to convince him to leave his wife for her. In the end, however, Day-Lewis left both his wife and Lehmann for actress Jill Balcon . This heartbreak inspired Lehmann's novel The Echoing Grove (1953), to great success. Lehmann's beloved daughter, Sarah, died of poliomyelitis in 1958. Her death led Lehmann to retreat from

529-646: Was made into the 2002 film Heart of Me , starring Helena Bonham Carter as the main character, Dinah. After Lehmann's divorce from Leslie Runciman, she married Wogan Philipps in 1928. Phillips was an artist who later succeeded his father as 2nd Baron Milford. Together they had two children: a son, Hugo (1929–1999), and a daughter, Sarah, also known as Sally (1934–1958). The family lived at Ipsden House in Oxfordshire between 1930 and 1939. While living in Oxfordshire, Lehmann began to mingle with prominent figures of

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