The first book-length selection from the extraordinary unpublished diary of the late-Victorian writer "Michael Field"-the pen name of two female coauthors and romantic partners
Michael Field was known to late-Victorian readers as a superb poet and playwright-until Robert Browning let slip Field's secret identity: in fact, "Michael Field" was a pseudonym for Katharine Bradley (1846–1914) and Edith Cooper (1862–1913), who were lovers, a devoted couple, and aunt and niece. For thirty years, they kept a joint diary titled Works and Days that eventually reached almost 10,000 pages. One Soul We Divided is the first critical edition of selections from this remarkable unpublished work.
A fascinating personal and literary experiment, the diary tells the extraordinary story of the love, art, ambitions, and domestic life of a queer couple in fin de siècle London. It also tells vivid firsthand stories of the literary and artistic worlds Bradley and Cooper inhabited and of their encounters with such celebrities as Browning, Oscar Wilde, W. B. Yeats, Aubrey Beardsley, and Bernard Berenson. Carolyn Dever provides essential context, including explanatory notes, a cast of characters, a family tree, and a timeline.
An unforgettable portrait of two writers and their unexpected romantic, literary, and artistic marriage, One Soul We Divided rewrites what we think we know about Victorian women, intimacy, and sexuality. Carolyn Dever is professor of English and creative writing at Dartmouth College. Her books include Chains of Love and Beauty: The Diary of Michael Field (Princeton) and Death and the Mother from Dickens to Freud: Victorian Fiction and the Anxiety of Origins. "This book is a triumph of dedication. Making the story of Michael Field accessible through their own words, it is an incredible asset to scholars and general readers alike: a fascinating tale in the hands of a brilliant curator."-Marion Thain, King's College London
"With prose that sings and draws the reader in like a great novel, Michael Field's diaries are deeply addictive. One Soul We Divided is a vitally important book that brings the diaries to life, revealing the drama, humor, and terrible sorrow of Bradley and Cooper's lives."-Alex Murray, Queen's University Belfast
"The sheer length of Michael Field's diaries has always made grasping them as a whole seem impossible-until now. In One Soul We Divided, Carolyn Dever presents Field's rich range of voices in a single, manageable volume-a remarkable achievement."-Sharon Bickle, University of Southern Queensland "This book comprises a selection of entries from dairies written jointly by two Victorian writers of poems and plays-Katharine Bradley and her niece Edith Cooper. . . . The valuable supplements in this new edition include an excellent essay on Bradley and Cooper, useful annotations, and a bibliography."
