Katharine Burdekin

[altariel]

Katharine Burdekin was a very powerful feminist and anti-facist writer of 1930s and 40s. Three of her books came back into print during the 1980s as the result of work by Daphne Patai; the best-known of these is the anti-facist dystopia Swastika Night, which "includes a feminist analysis of fascism, and extrapolates Nazi sexism to its logical extremes" (see here).

I was poking around Abebooks earlier today to see what was available. Apart from some copies of the 1980s reprints and one or two editions from the 1940s, there was also, excitingly, this:



COLLECTION OF 23 MANUSCRIPTS INCLUDING 15 NOVELS. MOSTLY UNPUBLISHED.
BURDEKIN, Katherine. ( Murray Constantine.)

"Book Description: 1928 - 1956. Katherine Burdekin (1896-1963) is best known for her dystopian future fantasy 'Swastika Night' (1936) which she wrote under the pseudonym Murray Constantine. Bleiler and Locke between them list 6 titles by her -- mostly time travel (to the past and the future) future wars, visitors from other times, magical objects and supermen themes. Burdekin lived in Suffolk with her companion Isabel Allen Burns. They knew many writers, being on familiar terms with Virginia and Leonard Woolf, and Bertrand and Dora Russell; however, they were close to only a few, including Margaret Goldsmith, Goldsmith's husband Frederick Voigt, and Norah James. This manuscript collection consists of mostly unpublished manuscripts, mainly speculative fiction (some set in the far future,) but also Arthurian, spiritual, feminist and fantastical themes. There are 15 novels, 5 short stories, 2 plays, 2 poems and one miscellaneous piece (an extract of a local mill history). The works are mostly typed with about a third hand written. The whereabouts of the MS of Swastika Night is unknown but in the unpublished Children of Jacob,' (present in this collection) written in the late 30's Burdekin tried to explain the historical puzzle' of how National Socialism could have arisen. There are several other unpublished novels in this collection where Burdekin continued to explore political themes in futuristic settings, including No Compromise' (written in the mid- 1930's), and Joy in Heaven.' (mid 40's). Included is a hand written manuscript by her friend Margaret Goldsmith, 3 letters from Havelock Ellis, one from John Cowper Powys and the galley proofs of a novel "Two in a Sack' that was withdrawn before publication in 1929 by Thornton Butterworth because of its exploration of androgyny. KB intended it to be a 'realistic bildungsroman' concerning a young woman with a 'masculine soul.' There is also the dedication copy and a proof of the novel that she wrote with Margaret Goldsmith 'Venus in Scorpio' (1940) which focuses on the intense relationship between Marie Antoinette and Princess Marie de Lamballe. A late work "Altar to an Unknown Saint' (1947) a long mystical poem appears to have been self published and self bound and has the manuscript loosely inserted. These unpublished works also explore themes of witchcraft, lesbianism, ghosts, future communes, reincarnation, rule by women, utopias, etc., The unpublished novel "The Stars Shine in Daylight" deals with Hitler, gender issues, lesbianism, world war etc., It ends in Glastonbury. It was written as a sequel to Radclyffe Hall's "The Well of Loneliness", picking up exactly where Hall's book ends."

I'd love to sift through it all, although I was very taken, in particular, by that sequel to The Well of Loneliness.

Price? A mere snip at just under US$ 35,000, or £18,000 to you and me. I hope some library manages to get hold of them, preferably one near here.

Comments

[aervir.livejournal.com]

Hm, unfortunately, that's a bit more money than is in my Barclay's account at the moment. So I think I should simply start with Swastika Night, of which I had already heard a lot, but which I had never actually bothered to read. Does it live up to its reputation?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It has large sections which are exchanges of questions and asnwers (between someone who possesses knowledge of lost history and the person he's passing this knowledge onto), so if you're looking for a perfectly-formed novel, you'll be disappointed. But that's all in the dystopian tradition, and I think it's a particularly well thought-through one, and one that has given me a lot of food for thought.

[aervir.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the no-well-formed-novel warning. If one knows beforehand that it is useless to go looking for a "proper" plot, such books are suddenly much more enjoyable...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'll be interested to hear what you make of it.

[(Anonymous)]

(Katlinel at work)

'Swastika Night' is one of those books that's been on my list of books to read for ages. I've never been able to find a copy. I must have a look at Abebooks for it.

[checks change in purse]Um, sadly there isn't enough there to buy those manuscripts. I suspect it's not worth looking down the back of my sofa either.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I borrowed it from the library, so can't offer it on loan, I'm afraid. Amazon usually has a few copies going second-hand and fairly cheaply.

No, I don't think I have a spare £18,000 tucked behind the sofa either. The mss. look amazing, though.