Informazioni generali

Nome legale: Black MacLeish, Dorothy Delius Allan
Altri nomi: Black, Dorothy
Delius, Peter
Data di nascita: 1890-03-27
Data di morte: 1977
Sesso: female
Nazionalità: UK
Luogo di nascita: Bradford, Yorkshire, England, UK
Luogo di morte: Scotland, UK
Luogo di residenza: Bradford, Yorkshire, England, UK
Burma
Scotland, UK
Relazioni: Delius, Clare (mother)
Delius, Frederick (uncle)
Organizzazioni: Romantic Novelists' Association (vice-president)
Breve biografia: Dorothy Delius Allan Black was born on 1890 in Bradford, Yorkshire. She was the daughter of Clare Edith Delius (1866–1954) and her husband J. W. A. Black, who were married in 1889. Her mother's brother was the famous composer Frederick Delius (1862–1934). She was married with Hugh MacLeish in 1916.

She started to write very young, and her first novels were published in 1916. She used her maiden name Dorothy Black and the male pseudonym Peter Delius. At first, she wrote different types of books, including poetry and children's fiction, before concentrating on romance fiction. She travelled widely, seeking inspiration for her books set in different parts of the world. In 1943 she published anonymously Letters of an Indian Judge to an English Gentlewoman, later reprinted under her name. During the summer of 1949, she assisted the writer Marion Crawford, who was writing a series of features on life with Princess Margaret. In 1960 she wrote her autobiography The Foot of the Rainbow. In total, she published over a hundred novels and several short stories.

Dorothy Black became a vice-president of the Romantic Novelists' Association, along with Barbara Cartland. She passed away in 1977 in Scotland.

Utenti

Recensioni

Letters of an Indian Judge to an English Gentlewoman di Anonymous

A simply brilliant book one of my very favourites

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fross | 2 altre recensioni | Jan 8, 2015 |

LETTERS OF AN INDIAN JUDGE TO AN ENGLISH GENTLEWOMAN di ANONYMOUS

First published in 1934, this book purports to be the letters of an Indian lawyer who eventually becomes a judge, to an English woman he met only once at a party. The letters reveal the prejudices common in India and Burma at the time and the writer's firm belief that Colonial rule by sympathetic English men would be the best thing fior these countries. We only have the Indian's letters to read, which are also full of his family, his traditional superstitious wife, and his sons, one of whom goes to Cambridge like his father. I started this book hoping to get a slice of life as it was in Colonial times from the other point of view, of one of its inhabitants. Having a father who grew up in Burma and India at the same time this book was written, I had some familiarity with the era, so I could not shake off the feeling that these letters must have been heavily edited. I also could not quite believe that a memsahib of the Raj would have kept up such a long correspondence. And so, it turns out that the book was written by Dorothy Black, a successful romance writer. She did spend many years in Burma and was not typical of the English women there, as she hated the snobbishness and formality. I think she wrote this book in the persona of the English woman at the party, making up the judge's letters to reflect her political views. Views that were very pro Colonial nonetheless, and perhaps a little condescendingly paternalistic. But I am looking at this eighty years later, after WWIl, after Independence and after Burma's military dictatorship and its demise. Interestingly, my copy is from 1978, a year after she died and it does not credit her as the author although the book has been re-issued under her name.… (altro)

Segnalato

kerry1897 | 2 altre recensioni | Jan 23, 2014 |

The Foot of the Rainbow: A Writer's Autobiography di Dorothy Black

Dorothy Black (1890-1977) admits in her autobiography that she had no formal and very little informal education, couldn't spell, hated authority and was a wilful child, but from a young age she had, as she put it, 'a talent to amuse.' She could tell a good story, and by her late teens was already earning a very good living writing serial romance novels. Her life changed when she married a man she hardly knew and went to live with him in Burma.
Her autobiography is written in an impressionistic style, with descriptions of Burmese village life, boat trips and the travails of coping with the weather and snobbishness of the country but is short on details of the strange relationship with her husband. The love of her life, not her husband, is coyly referred to as A. and apart from a few lines describing his death we know very little of their short time together. She comes across as a strong individual who made choices influenced by her Victorian upbringing but had the sense to ignore idiotic advice when she was older. I was left wanting to know so much more about her.… (altro)

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kerry1897 | Jan 22, 2014 |

Letters of an Indian Judge to an English Gentlewoman di Arvind Nehra

As the title implies, this book consists of a series of letters written by an Indian judge to an English lady. We do not see her replies to his letters, but we do see his responses to comments she has made. This gives us the sense of being a voyeur, peeking into the lives of the judge and his family. This book has an old-world charm to it that you rarely, if ever, see in modern novels and, lacking all the swearing, sex and gore so common to todays novels, it makes a nice change for evening reading.… (altro)

Segnalato

seldombites | 2 altre recensioni | Feb 22, 2012 |

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