E. Nesbit, A Biography (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: E. Nesbit, A Biography Barbara Koelle Moore, Doris Langley . E. Nesbit, A Biography. Philadelphia and New York: Chilton Books, 1966. This biography of one of the most loved authors of children's books must be something of a literary rarity. First published in 1933, it was revised and reissued 35 years later. Doris Langley Moore explains in the new introduction that not until the death of Edith Nesbit's children did she feel free to fill in previously suppressed facts. The reason is suggested by George Bernard Shaw's reply to a request for information about his long-time friend: ". . .as Edith was an audaciously unconventional lady and Hubert an exceedingly unfaithful husband [I do] not see how a presentable biography is possible as yet; and [I have] nothing to contribute to a mere whitewashing operation." The revised biography is the account of a lively and fascinating woman, a gifted author who was also a dedicated socialist and good friend to many eminent Victorian and Edwardian figures. From her marriage to the young journalist Hubert Bland in 1880 to her death in 1924, E. Nesbit wrote to supplement the family income. Much was hack work, but with her first stories of the Bastable children she began the series of children's books that made her famous. In The Five Children and It and its sequels, she introduced the wonderful mixture of magic and the mundane world that influenced such later writers as C.S. Lewis and Edward Eager. But the force of her personality overshadows her books in Mrs. Moore's pages. In a rigidly conventional age, Edith Nesbit dispensed with corsets, smoked habitually, held shockingly liberal views, lived in a menage a trois, and brought up five children, only three of them hers. And did it more or less successfully while writing continuously. Not until I read this book was I aware that The Story of the Amulet, which had so intrigued me as a child with its background of ancient civilizations, was based on E. Nesbit's painstaking consultation with Sir Wallis Budge at the British Museum. The book is full of such nuggets. Unfortunately out of print, it is well worth tracking down. Barbara Koelle Swarthmore, PA Copyright © 1979 Children's Literature Association