Alison Light
Auteur de Mrs. Woolf and the Servants: An Intimate History of Domestic Life in Bloomsbury
A propos de l'auteur
Alison Light is the author of the acclaimed Mrs. Woolf and the Servants. She is Honorary Professor in the Department of English at University College, London, and on the hoard of the Raphael Samuel History Centre in London.
Œuvres de Alison Light
Mrs. Woolf and the Servants: An Intimate History of Domestic Life in Bloomsbury (2007) 355 exemplaires
Oeuvres associées
Le rendez-vous suivi du Journal de Rebecca. (1981) — Introduction, quelques éditions — 138 exemplaires
Étiqueté
Partage des connaissances
- Date de naissance
- 1955-08-04
- Sexe
- female
- Nationalité
- UK
- Lieux de résidence
- Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, UK
- Études
- Sussex University.
Cambridge University (Churchill College) - Professions
- writer
critic
scholar - Relations
- Samuel, Raphael (husband)
- Courte biographie
- Alison Light is the author of Forever England: Femininity, Literature and Conservatism between the Wars and edited Virginia Woolf's Flush for Penguin Classics. She has worked at the BBC and lectured at London University. She is currently a part-time Professor at the Raphael Samuel History Centre in the University of East London and also teaches in the School of English at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. She is a contributor to the London Review of Books. Her grandmother worked as a domestic servant.
Membres
Critiques
https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/a-radical-romance-by-alison-light/
I had previously hugely enjoyed Light's Common People, the history of her own immediate ancestors; here she goes even more personal, into her marriage to fellow historian Raphael Samuel, from their first meeting in 1986 to his death in 1996. He was twenty years older, and Jewish; she had studied English at Churchill College, Cambridge (fellow Cambridge alumni will wince in sympathy) and gradually drifted into history and commentary, which was what brought them together. The first half or so, about the development of their relationships with each other and with their very different families, is lovely. But the strength is in the second half. I think even for someone less interested in history as a discipline than me, this would still be a tremendous memoir of love and loss; in particular, when she gets to Samuel's illness and death, she is sparing with the details but eloquent in her sparseness. She goes into much more detail on the funeral arrangements, but of course that's something that a surviving partner can control and direct unilaterally, unlike most aspects of a relationship, which have to be negotiated. A great book, strongly recommended.… (plus d'informations)
I had previously hugely enjoyed Light's Common People, the history of her own immediate ancestors; here she goes even more personal, into her marriage to fellow historian Raphael Samuel, from their first meeting in 1986 to his death in 1996. He was twenty years older, and Jewish; she had studied English at Churchill College, Cambridge (fellow Cambridge alumni will wince in sympathy) and gradually drifted into history and commentary, which was what brought them together. The first half or so, about the development of their relationships with each other and with their very different families, is lovely. But the strength is in the second half. I think even for someone less interested in history as a discipline than me, this would still be a tremendous memoir of love and loss; in particular, when she gets to Samuel's illness and death, she is sparing with the details but eloquent in her sparseness. She goes into much more detail on the funeral arrangements, but of course that's something that a surviving partner can control and direct unilaterally, unlike most aspects of a relationship, which have to be negotiated. A great book, strongly recommended.… (plus d'informations)
1 
nwhyte | 1 autre critique | May 10, 2022 |
nwhyte | 1 autre critique | May 10, 2022 | 
Alison Light's genealogical explorations of her grandparents and their worlds, which is handled really quite superbly. More books like this, please!
I would love to be able to bring my ancestors to life in the way Alison Light has done here. She says herself that she hopes to have inspired her readers to do just that but I think few of us would have the talent to do so in such an entertaining, sympathetic and scholarly way. But I might try.....
She has managed to turn the lives of the type of ancestors we all have; the labourers the farm workers, the builders, the industrial workers, the paupers and sadly even those confined to the asylum into several fascinating 'stories'. It was even more interesting in my case as my several of my ancestors lived in Portsmouth-I learnt a lot about the city. There is a crucial section at the end of the book which help to explain how the author went about her research- the sort of books and records she consulted and where they were found-very, very useful to us family historians.
Not quite 5 stars just because it's so tricky trying to keep track of who is who and how they are related, despite the family trees at the beginning of the book. I'm not sure how this can be avoided in any family tree, which I know from experience, quickly turn into giant spider's web. Highly recommended.… (plus d'informations)
She has managed to turn the lives of the type of ancestors we all have; the labourers the farm workers, the builders, the industrial workers, the paupers and sadly even those confined to the asylum into several fascinating 'stories'. It was even more interesting in my case as my several of my ancestors lived in Portsmouth-I learnt a lot about the city. There is a crucial section at the end of the book which help to explain how the author went about her research- the sort of books and records she consulted and where they were found-very, very useful to us family historians.
Not quite 5 stars just because it's so tricky trying to keep track of who is who and how they are related, despite the family trees at the beginning of the book. I'm not sure how this can be avoided in any family tree, which I know from experience, quickly turn into giant spider's web. Highly recommended.… (plus d'informations)
1 Patsmith139 | 8 autres critiques | Mar 15, 2021 |
Patsmith139 | 8 autres critiques | Mar 15, 2021 | Listes
Prix et récompenses
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Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 6
- Aussi par
- 6
- Membres
- 612
- Popularité
- #41,086
- Évaluation
- 3.9
- Critiques
- 26
- ISBN
- 24
- Favoris
- 1
I think it is beautifully written, thoughtful and moving, but I can't feel totally objective about it, as I remember Raph as my aunt's partner in the early 1970s, when her children from her previous marriage were young and I was even younger. So I reserved a library copy as soon as I learned of the book's existence but was quite nervous of actually reading it.
The house where Light and Samuel lived was the same one where my aunt and cousins lived with him more than 10 years before the period covered by this memoir - it is an old house in Spitalfields, on the border of the City and East London (near Shoreditch and Bethnal Green), and it is an area with a rich history of its own. I was interested to realise that I can remember the odd shapes of house and the winding stairs down to the kitchen, and the noise of grinding coffee beans but not the toilet being outside!
The memoir is interesting for what she tells about the man, the relationship, the home etc, and for what is held back - it feels quite short at just over 200 pages and how quickly their 10 years together is over. I liked the dignity and the selectiveness of this - while the subject is someone very dear to my family, I think there is an art to choosing what to reveal and explore in a book of this kind.… (plus d'informations)