Category Archives: H.D.’s Circle

“Queer Kinship Among the Stars: H.D., Silvia Dobson, and Astrology” by Victoria Papa in Modernism/modernity Plus

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Victoria Papa’s rich, multimedia exploration of horoscopes, natal charts, and a zodiac wheel is set within the deep and lasting friendship between H.D. and Silvia Dobson. The article enhances our biographical understanding of H.D. while adding to the critical study of H.D. and the occult.

Horoscope drawing by Silvia Dobson, given to H.D., ca. 1935-1936. Source: Silvia Dobson Papers, Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Yale’s Beinecke Library online exhibition, “We Are Everywhere: Lesbians in the Archive” can serve as a gloss on Papa’s article. “Who Was Silvia Dobson” and “A Mirror for a Star” call greater attention to Dobson and her relationship with H.D.

Dobson remained a dedicated supporter of H.D. and of H.D. scholars throughout her life, contributing an astrological chart to the inaugural issue of the H.D. Newsletter in Spring 1987. Like Papa’s article, Cassandra Laity’s commentary on H.D.’s astrological chart and the one created for the H.D. Newsletter highlights the same blending of interpersonal connection with philosophical and spiritual exploration.

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Bryher’s Beowulf Reprint Available through Edelweiss

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Bryher’s Beowulf: A Novel of the London Blitz was published originally in 1956 by Pantheon Press. Schaffner Press has issued a 2020 reprint of the novel with an introduction by Susan McCabe.

book cover Beowulf: Novel of the London Blitz by Bryher

This gorgeous book features two women who own a local teashop in the midst of the London blitz of World War II. Founded on the everyday challenges and survival strategies, the novel transforms the old hero into Beowulf, the plaster bulldog statue that embodies the spirit of the teashop and the community it creates.

Look for a preview of Susan McCabe’s introduction online.

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Susan McCabe Publishes the First Double Critical Biography of H.D. and Bryher

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book cover H.D. & Bryher: An Untold Love Story of ModernismH. D. & Bryher: An Untold Love Story of Modernism (Oxford UP, 2021) digs into the rich archives of both H.D. and Bryher to offer a portrait of modernist literature, queer life, and political engagement. This comprehensive double-biography (424 pages) promises to unlock new approaches to the H.D./Bryher networks and their role in shaping and enabling modernism around the world.

“This rich and stunning biography tells the untold story of two women, Bryher and H.D., who radically shaped modernism. McCabe uncovers the emergence of their aesthetics, spirituality, sexuality, politics and more–together and apart–against the backdrop of the oppressive milieu, their international travel, and beyond.” — Cassandra Laity, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Pre-order from www.oup.com/academic with promo code AAFLYG6 to save 30 %.

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“The Most Famous Photograph of Poets Ever Taken”

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Erwin Tiongson’s Slate article (11 Dec. 2019), “The Most Famous Photograph of Poets Ever Taken,” features a 1948 photo published in Life Magazine. Although H.D. was not part of this group and indeed was convalescing in Switzerland at the time, the image features many members of her literary and personal circles.

Photo portrait of 16 poets, taken in 1948. The poets are arrayed in a group in front of the bookshelves of the Gotham Book Mart. Source: Slate Magazine.
Lisa Larsen/The Life Images Collection via Getty Images. Image links to the Slate Magazine article, “The Most Famous Photograph of Poets Ever Taken”

Nearly all of the 16 poets featured in the image contributed to Life and Letters Today, the magazine owned by Bryher from 1935-1950. The magazine was edited by Robert Herring, but correspondence between Herring and H.D. shows that she made hands-on, substantive contributions both to the content of the magazine and to the scope of contributors.

Of the poets pictured, the following were all Life and Letters Today contributors: Horace Gregory, Marya Zaturenska, Edith and Osbert Sitwell, Richard Eberhart, Charles Henri Ford, W.H. Auden, Elizabeth Bishop, Marianne Moore, and Delmore Schwartz. Most of the rest were one degree of separation from those contributors.

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