Brigid Brophy

Brigid Brophy
Born	Brigid Antonia Brophy (1929-06-12)12 June 1929 Ealing,England
Died	7 August 1995(1995-08-07)(aged 66) Louth, Lincolnshire,England
Occupation	Author and literary critic
Genre	Short stories, novels, plays, non-fiction studies, literary criticism.
Notable works	Hackenfeller's Ape(1953); Flesh(1962); The Snow Ball(1964)
Spouse	Michael Levey
Parents	John Brophy(father)
Website
brigidbrophy

Brigid Antonia Brophy(married nameBrigid Levey,laterLady Levey;12 June 1929 – 7 August 1995), was an English author, literary critic andpolemicist.She was an influential campaigner who agitated for many types ofsocial reform,includinghomosexual parity,vegetarianism,humanism,andanimal rights.Brophy appeared frequently on television and in the newspapers of the 1960s and 1970s, making her prominent both in literary circles and on the wider cultural scene.Her public reputation as an intellectual woman meant she was both revered and feared. Her oeuvre comprises both fiction and non-fiction, displaying the impressive range of Brophy's erudition and interests. All her work is suffused with her stylish crispness and verve.

Brophy's major achievements include igniting contemporary debate about animal rights,and the establishment of thePublic Lending Rightby which writers in the UK receive a payment each time their book is borrowed from a public library.

Biography

Born in London to the writerJohn Brophyand his teacher wife, Charis, Brigid Brophy's education was fragmented by her wartime attendance at many different schools, includingSt Paul's Girls' School,in London'sBrook Green.A precocious child, her literary talents were kindled by her father, who encouraged her to read the authors he admired, includingGeorge Bernard Shaw,John MiltonandEvelyn Waugh.Aged 15, Brophy gained a scholarship to theOxford University.She studied classics atSt Hugh's College;however, she did not gain a degree: the authorities asked her not to return after her fourth term.(This caused Brophy such severe upset that afterwards she only sketched the reasons for it, citing frowned-upon sexual activity and drunkenness.) After a period of psychological turmoil, Brophy worked as a shorthand-typist and shared a rented flat nearLondon Zoowith a friend from Oxford.

At a party, Brophy met art historianMichael Levey(afterwards Director of theNational Gallery1973–87, andknightedin 1981), and they married in 1954. They had one daughter, Katharine (Kate) Levey, in 1957. Brophy and Levey rejected sexual orthodoxy and each partner wasfree to enjoy outside relationships;this unconventional set-up was happy. For some years, Brophy had a complex amorous liaison withIris Murdoch,and later a stable love partnership with writerMaureen Duffy.When that was suddenly ended by Duffy in 1979, Brophy had a severe emotional crisis, which she believed played a part in her developing difficulty in walking. It was some time before her symptoms were diagnosed as late-onsetmultiple sclerosis:Brophy was then in her 50s.

In 1987, Levey resigned from his demanding role as Director of the National Gallery in order to better care for Brophy. Brophy had always been a punctilious correspondent and an indefatigable worker; she continued to write even while her mobility declined. However, following increasing debilitation and needing full-time care, Brophy unwillingly left London in 1991. She was cared for in a nursing home inLincolnshire,in the town to which her husband and daughter had moved. Levey devoted each afternoon to visiting his wife until she died, aged 66, in 1995.

Fiction

In 1953, when she was in her early twenties, Brophy became a published author with the issue of her volume of short stories,The Crown Princess.It was critically admired, yet she subsequently disowned the book.In the same year, the first of her seven novels,Hackenfeller's Ape,appeared. The stimulus for the novel was Brophy's living within earshot of the roar of caged lions inLondon Zoo;from childhood Brophy had been sympathetic to the plight of non-human animals.The plot involves the plan tosend a captive ape into spaceas a scientific experiment and the attempt to foil this plan.Hackenfeller's Apewas commended for its originality, and was awarded first prize for a debut novel at theCheltenham Literary Festival;the attendant publicity established Brophy as a novelist.She continued, however, to publish short stories.

The King of A Rainy Country(1956) follows Susan and her nearly-boyfriend Neale in their quest for a girl Susan had loved at school. The novel is both funny and elegiac, and is thought to be the nearest Brophy came to autobiography.Flesh(1962) charts the course of the initially-diffident Marcus, whose mature impulses amusingly lead him to bodily excess.The Finishing Touch(1963) is a light piece, playing on the aerated, wispy dialogue ofRonald Firbank,an undervalued writer whom Brophy much praised. The novel portraysAnthony Blunt,an art historian known to Levey, in the guise of a headmistress of a finishing school.

With characteristic firmness of judgement Brophy recognised her next novel,The Snow Ball(1964), as a masterpiece: set at a sumptuous costume ball on New Year's Eve in the 1960s, the novel is sparked by theMozartopera that Brophy thought most perfect,Don Giovanni.Described by a reviewer forThe Guardianas a "swirling, sumptuous, sensual feast of a book",The Snow Ballis an account of seduction that revels in sensual detail, its dialogue witty and profound.AsGiles Gordonnoted, it is considered Brophy's finest novel, and following its initial publication bySecker & Warburgwould be reprinted several times, as a Corgi paperback, then in 1979 byAllison & Busby(alongside their reissues ofHackenfeller's ApeandFlesh),and most recently byFaber and Faberin 2020.

The novelIn Transit(1969) takes place in an airport lounge, where the protagonist has "lost", and is seeking to rediscover, his/her sex. Brophy plays with narrative consciousness; the text is dense with puns and allusions, forming a captivating consideration of gender and sexual orientation, language and meaning; overall, there is a serious political point.In Transitis considered Brophy's most radical in form, leading to her being hailed apostmodernwriter.The Adventures of God in his Search for the Black Girl(1973) is described in its subtitle as "a novel and some fables". (The title inverts Shaw'sThe Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God.) The volume contains some of Brophy's most pointed and poignant short stories, and an inventive discursive scenario where ideas are challenged.

Brophy's last novel,Palace Without Chairs(1978), is set in a fictitious European kingdom. The royal family is democratic, domestic, but at court politics intrude. Prince Ulrich, heir to the throne, subverts the expectations of his position, rebelling in ways to which Brophy is clearly sympathetic.

Brophy's irrepressible imagination was not only fertile but versatile. As well as short stories (and plays and poems that remain unpublished), Brophy producedPussy Owl(1976), a book for children that features her invented "Superbeast", the narcissistic, stomping progeny ofEdward Lear's "The Owl and the Pussycat".BBC televisiondevoted an episode ofJackanorytoPussy Owl.

Her performed and published plays are a play for radio,The Waste Disposal Unit(broadcast in 1964), and her farce for the theatre,The Burglar(which opened inBrighton,transferring toLondon's West Endin 1967).The Burglarhad a short run; it was a singular and stinging flop.

Non-fiction

Brophy was a ceaseless worker, often dealing with several different types of project simultaneously. As well as composing fiction, at times in a creative frenzy, she undertook extensive research for her non-fiction. Her first published study wasBlack Ship to Hell(1962). The title refers to the Greek myth of the underworld. In this wide-ranging study, Brophy illuminates the origins of man's self- destructive forces, taking a Freudian analytical approach.

Much in demand as a provocative, often acerbic literary critic, Brophy reviewed books for journals and newspapers. She was also an essayist and wrote pamphlets for the causes she supported. She was a prolific contributor to the opinion columns and letters pages of the press, seldom missing an opportunity to comment on matters such asvivisection,theVietnam War,orcensorship– all of which she vehemently and cogently opposed. In addition, she did not shrink from pointing out factual errors or a piece of sophistry she had spotted.

Her later critical explorations wereMozart the Dramatist(1964, revised 1990), in which Brophy expounds Mozart's flair for presenting authentic psychology in his dramas. InPrancing Novelist: A Defence of Fiction in the Form of a Critical Biography in Praise of Ronald Firbank(1973), Brophy explores the life and mind of Firbank, in a framework that justifies the value of the genre he employed.

A collaboration with her husbandMichael Leveyand their friendCharles Osborneappeared in 1967, to considerable clamour in the press.Fifty Works of English Literature We Could Do Withoutdebunks the canon of texts traditionally served up to students and general readers and accepted as "great literature". It was a deliberately provocative volume, and some critics were outraged by the trio's cheek.

The Sunday Timesinvited Brophy to write an opinion-piece; Brophy's response wasThe Rights of Animals(1965). This incisive article was much discussed. As a parallel to Paine's essaysThe Rights of Man,The Rights of Animalsmade Brophy pivotal to the revivified animal rights movement. Her views as a rational, uncompromising animal advocate attracted criticism from the less stringent-minded. In all spheres Brophy dealt with her detractors calmly, utilising devastating courtesy.

Brophy wrote two books onAubrey Beardsley(Black and White,published in 1968, andBeardsley and His Worldin 1976), the draftsman whose mastery of black ink on white Brophy not only much admired but profoundly understood. In 1983,The Prince and the Wild Geeseappeared. With a largely pictorial format, the book follows the attempted romance between a Russian Prince and an Irish girl, who in fact rejected him. The watercolours reproduced are byPrince Gagarinhimself.

Brophy devised a literary panel game,Take It Or Leave It,where well-known authors participated.

In 1969, Brophy collaborated withMaureen Duffyto exhibit, at a London gallery, a display of their home-made three-dimensional "heads and boxes", which they designated "Prop Art". The playful-yet-serious items were offered for sale, and although few were bought, there was a ripple of publicity, some of it puzzled. Each artefact illustrated or evoked abstract concepts, using visual and verbal puns to plunder the unconscious mind and reveal punchy connections.

In the early 1970s, Brophy, with Michael Levey and Maureen Duffy and two others formed the Writers Action Group(WAG, pronounced "wag" ) to press for authors to receive a small payment each time one of their works was borrowed from a public library in the UK. This system is still operant today, and thePublic Lending Right(PLR) authors receive is much appreciated. In a seven-year campaign which took up almost all Brophy's time, she succeeded in bringing about something her late father, John Brophy had agitated for in the early 1950s. He had conceived the notion of "The Brophy Penny" (his idea was for a different funding format, whereas a founding principle of Brigid Brophy's scheme was that it be funded by central government). The Writers Action Group recruited support from writers, then organised shrewd publicity, including a demonstration with placards in central London. With help from a few sympathetic parliamentarians, the PLR UK Bill was finally passed in 1979. Brophy later wrote an informative and entertaining guide to PLR (see list of non-fiction works, below).

Bibliography

Fiction

• The Crown Princess and Other Stories(London: Collins, 1953; New York: Viking, 1953)
• Hackenfeller's Ape(Rupert Hart-Davis,1953; reprintedAllison & Busby,1979;Virago Modern Classics,1991; Faber Editions, 2023)
• The King of a Rainy Country(Secker & Warburg,1956; reprinted Virago Modern Classics, 1990, 2012)
• Flesh(Secker & Warburg, 1962; Allison & Busby, 1979)
• The Finishing Touch(1963, revised 1987)
• The Snow Ball(Villiers Pub., 1964, reprinted Allison & Busby, 1979; Cardinal, 1990; Faber, 2020)
• The Burglar(play, first produced in London at theVaudeville Theatre,22 February 1967, and published 1968)
• In Transit: An Heroi-Cyclic Novel(1969, reprinted 2002)
• The Adventures of God in His Search for the Black Girl: A Novel and Some Fables(1973)
• Pussy Owl: Superbeast(1976), for children, illustrated by Hilary Hayton
• Palace Without Chairs: A Baroque Novel(Hamish Hamilton, 1978)

Non-fiction

• Black Ship to Hell(1962)
• Mozartthe Dramatist: A New View of Mozart, His Operas and His Age(1964) (revised 1990)
• Don't Never Forget: Collected Views and Reviews(1966)
• (With Michael Levey, and Charles Osborne)Fifty Works of English and American Literature We Could Do Without(1967)
• Religious Education in State Schools(1967)
• Black and White: A Portrait ofAubrey Beardsley(1968)
• The Rights of Animals(1969.Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society)
• The Longford Threat to Freedom(1972)
• Prancing Novelist: A Defence of Fiction in the Form of a Critical Biography in Praise ofRonald Firbank(1973)
• Beardsley and His World(1976)
• The Prince and the Wild Geese,pictures byGregoire Gagarin(Hamish Hamilton, 1983)
• A Guide to Public Lending Right(1983)
• Baroque 'n' Roll and Other Essays(1987)
• Reads: A Collection of Essays(1989)

Contributor

• Best Short Plays of the World Theatre,1958–1967, 1968
• Animals, Men and Morals,edited by Stanley and Roslind Godlovitch and John Harris (1971)
• The Genius of Shaw,edited byMichael Holroyd(1979)
• Animal Rights: A Symposium,edited by D. Paterson and R. D. Ryder (1979)
• ShakespeareStories,edited byGiles Gordon(1982)

A collection of Brophy's manuscripts is housed in Lilly Library atIndiana UniversityatBloomington.

External links

• Website about Brigid Brophy
• Quotations related toBrigid Brophyat Wikiquote
• Brigid BrophyatLibrary of Congress,with 47 library catalogue records (many under 'Brophy, Brigid, 1929-' without '1995')