Short stories and articles at the British Library

Yesterday I went to the BL to read the short stories of Beatrix that were in periodicals there. I only managed to read half of what I had ordered, and took photos of the rest but haven't read them yet.

This was my first impressions on reading the stories.

Liliput Dec 1943

London's cat communities

3 pages with sketches of cats

Different habits of wild cats on the streets of London. Odd as I always thought she was a dog person but very sweet. While a very light-hearted piece it highlights the economic differences between the different parts of London.

New Writings Spring 1938

The two thousand pound raspberry.

A short story about a days filming, very realistic and seems to be taken from real life. All about a car scene where they have to film it live and then with a backdrop but ended up being cut from the final film. It really created the idea of how much pressure and how many people are involved in a film production, and ultimately how it can be a total waste of time. It was the longest of the stories and I wasn't able to type it out.

Liliput July 38 also has a short story by Viertel in it, about a woman who shoots her husband cause he is having an affair, then realises how much her son looks like her husband, only one page

Dec 38 also has another short story by him entitle Hollywood marriage between two of the workers in a production.

Liliput Jan 42

Christmas in Germany by Beatrix was part of a series called, "The foulest Christmas I ever had".

Other writers in that section were; Arthur Koestler, Lord Berners, Dean of Canterbury, Beatrix Lehmann and Rex Harrison. I think it worth noting that Beatrix was once again the only woman, and was in some fairly illustrious company for the time.

The piece tells how she was stuck in a lodging alone in Germany and miserable on Christmas day. (It is worth noting that she was 30 at the time of the story). One can't help but wonder where Christopher Isherwood was at the time, especially as he reported that the two of them spent that New Year's Eve together and had such a wonderful time chatting that they missed the countdown for the new year! Which makes me think that the image of her totally friendless and poor in a foreign country on her own may be slightly exaggerated to make a better story. Definitely something that would be interesting to check with her letters home from that time. But my favourite part of the story was when she went to visit another actress only to discover that the actress had been dead drunk for two weeks and had attempted suicide the day before.

Lilliput November 38

The dog act 

Was another humorous story that undercut class assumptions. In this case a posh lady was horrified by the treatment of performing dogs that she saw in the music hall and decided to rescue the poor creatures and give them a home. She was totally oblivious to the fact that their owner cared for them deeply, and that they likewise cared for him and enjoyed the activities of their performance. It had a  great line about actors being different to all other types of humans. It was very cute and sweet. 

One thing that struck me while reading these stories was how light and humourous they were. Beatrix's novels were so full of depression and lonely people unable to connect with the world and the stories were very fluffy in comparison. I think it was good to be able to read the stories to get that balance between the two very different types of writing.

 

The other thing that I managed to read was the opening address for the Women's Parliament. The pamphlet had a great photo of Beatrix on the cover mid-oration and reproduced the speech in full. It was very interesting to read, and to see all the resolutions that the women wanted passed at the time, working conditions and child care and equal pay with men. Also the impact of the war on women's lives was very much in evidence.  I was pleased that Beatrix had been involved in the campaign and so interested in women's rights.

When copying out the stories I realised that they are still in copyright so can't be reproduced in full. But as her whole immediate family is dead, as is everyone mention in her will and her sister's children, who didn't leave any children of their own I have no idea who would be the copyright holders now.