Fembio Special: Famous Lesbians
Bryher
(Annie Winifred Ellerman; Anne Winifred Ellerman; Winifred Ellerman; Anne Winifred EllermanMcAlmon; Anne Winifred Ellerman Macpherson; Winifred Bryer)
born on September 2, 1894 in London or Margate, Kent, England
died on January 28, 1983 in Vevey, Switzerland
British writer
130th birthday on September 2, 2024
Biography
As a child, Winifred Ellerman had dreamed of being a boy and travelling the seas, and of one day running her father's business. John Reeves Ellerman, a shipowner and one of the richest men in England, was proud of his daughter’s practical talents and decisiveness and thus did not find the idea at all preposterous. However, he balked at actually putting her in charge, fearing that would arouse the ire of the (male) financiers. So it came to pass that she ended up devoting all her talent, education and money to literature.
Choosing to publish under the androgynous pseudonym of Bryher, she initially wrote poems, translations, literary commentaries, an autobiographical novel and authoritative texts on films of the 1920s. It was only later that she found her true literary form; she put the geographical and historical knowledge she had gained during her many travels to good use in the ten historical novels she wrote between 1940 and 1970. Critics suggested that she add some sex to the stories to make them more “adult,” but she ignored their advice. Contrary to the author's intentions, the novels were therefore to remain adventure reading for teenagers who found bygone times and faraway places as fascinating as she did.
At the age of 24, Bryher met the love of her life, the American writer Hilda Doolittle (H. D.), eight years her senior and star of the Imagism movement founded by Ezra Pound. Hilda was a striking beauty, highly gifted and, at the time of their meeting, pregnant and suffering from severe lung disease. Bryher rescued her, looking after the daughter she later adopted, providing financial support and standing by her whenever she would drift off into the state of dreamy semi-consciousness from which she drew the inspiration for her poetry.
They maintained permanent residences in London, Paris and Switzerland, travelling frequently during the 43 years of their relationship (H. D. died in 1961). Out of consideration for both Hilda and for her family, Bryher twice entered into marriages of convenience. She financed important projects for both husbands - Robert McAlmon's “contact” publishing house (he published Stein, Hemingway and Barnes, among others) and Kenneth MacPherson's films and film magazine, which they produced together.
Bryher was an important matron (patron) of the avant-garde of the 1920s and 1930s. She set up a fund for women who wanted to become self-employed, awarded travel grants, supported German emigrants during the war and helped individuals such as James Joyce and Djuna Barnes.
(Text from 1993; translated with DeepL.com; edited by Ramona Fararo, 2024.
Please consult the German version for additional information, pictures, sources, videos, and bibliography.)
Quotes
I had two mothers. My actual mother, H. D., who lived life in higher spheres. And her deputy, Bryher, who dealt with the realities. [...] Both mothers, each in her own way, gave me a lot of love. (Perdita Schaffner, daughter of H. D.)
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