For over a hundred years, precious little has been known about Amy Levy, a member of Victorian literature's most unique voices, formerly hailed as a genius by the famous playwright.
But now, audiences will get the chance to familiarize themselves with a writer whose pioneering work examined women’s independence, the Jewish experience, and same-sex desire.
“Seldom nowadays for a complete collection of a Victorian-era author’s papers to emerge,” remarked a senior archivist. “Our goal was to act on this to make her archive available in the place where she was educated and where she spent time even in the final days of her life.”
A Pioneering Life
The author was born in 1861 into a Jewish middle-class family in London and enrolled at Newnham College in 1879, establishing herself as the next Jewish woman among Cambridge’s first generation of female students.
She authored three volumes of poetry, three novels – such as Reuben Sachs and The Romance of a Shop – numerous essays and a collection of writings for the Jewish Chronicle. When she died by suicide in 1889, just 27 years old, she was recognized by her fellow writers as an extraordinary gift, with Oscar Wilde composing a tribute and lauding the “authenticity, straightforwardness, and melancholy” of her work.
A Complex Identity
A noted academic working on a biographical study about Levy commented that she felt the documents would not only revolutionize scholarly research but also be of fascination to a general readership.
“I studied Amy’s poetry decades ago and they have haunted me ever since,” the professor said. “Not only was she a skilled and poignant writer, but she was also so complicated. She asserted her Jewish roots, but she was also an atheist. She seemed to interact positively with men, but she was a homosexual woman.”
The expert explained that Levy had built a circle of friends at Newnham and also in her adult life, notably through the writer Vernon Lee “who was highly sociable to many people including Wilde. Levy joined Lee’s circle, in fact she developed feelings for her, a love that sadly was never returned.
“When Wilde was given a brief piece from Levy for his magazine the Woman’s World, he was deeply impressed by the story and called Levy a girl of genius.”
A Timeless Influence
Scholars contend Levy’s work connects meaningfully to current debates around gender equality, queer writing and the Jewish plight and say she foreshadowed conversation that would come years after her death.
“She was ahead of her time, which was maybe one of the reasons she failed to secure her role,” the expert said. “She faced challenges with her homosexuality and how she belonged in a heteronormative society. Matrimony was not an option for her, but neither was having a career like a school teacher, which she gave up to become a full-time author.
“She has long been of interest to people who study Jewish females and their history. And today, when we have in the aftermath of the global pandemic so many young people battling depression, anxiety, psychological distress, even suicidality, studying her life might be of benefit and consolation to a wider public too,” the professor said.
The Final Year
The assemblage includes Levy’s 1889 personal diary, in which gradually dwindling entries trace the last months before her death from carbon monoxide poisoning. A ultimate, touching entry, written the day before she died, said: “Alone at home all day.” But the scholar said Levy in many ways had “a rich, full, exciting existence” too.
“She could be amusing at times, which can be seen in her writings. She did experience a trifecta of challenges, including neuralgia. She was losing her hearing progressively, which causes isolation from others and isolation. And she also battled depression.
“Though she failed to discover happiness, it was always something she demanded: the entitlement to joy, even elated.”
