An Englishwoman's Love-letters - Tapa blanda

“Mr. Laurence Housman is both an artist and an author, his works being principally in the fantastic style. He it was who wrote ‘An Englishwoman’s Love Letters,’ which at the time of their anonymous publication were credited to most writers of repute. In reply to my letter requesting his reasons for selecting ‘The King’s Evil’ as his best story, Mr. Housman writes, ‘I do not think it is an author’s business to publish criticisms of his own work, but as ‘The King’s Evil’ of all my stories is the one that I feel the greatest satisfaction, at having written, I regard it as my best.” -The Novel Magazine, Volume 3, 1906

“‘An Englishwoman’s Love Letters’ which appeared anonymously was ascribed to a number of different authors, both men and women. The ‘Bookman’ claims to have discovered the true author, and writes as follows: ‘It is no longer a secret that Mr. Laurence Housman is the ’Englishwoman.’ Mr. Housman, who is a young man of thirty-four years, is an artist as well as an author. While he has written a number of books the ‘Love Letters’ is the first to give him an international reputation. The wisdom of such a deception as he has practiced in the case of this book is doubtful. One objects to having one’s deeper feelings moved by a practical joke, and Mr. Housman will find that he has made enemies rather than friends of the people who have shed tears over these letters.” -The Kansas City Public Library Quarterly, Volumes 1-3, 1901

“Identity crisis is played out in the production and reception history of Housman’s cross-dressing confession...Challenges fundamental assumptions about ‘feminine style,’ authentic ‘female experience,’ and ‘natural’ sexuality because the text achieved the transvestite fantasy of ‘passing’ as a woman.” Irene Gammel, Confessional Politics: Women's Sexual Self-representations in Life Writing and Popular Media, 1999

Absence may truly make the heart grow fonder. Presented as love letters from an anonymous Englishwoman to her far-away lover, this is the story of a passionate courtship and its tragic end. The formality of the letters only serves to underline the raw passion that hides between the lines.

An Englishwoman's Love-letters is the controversial and scandalous 1900 novel in letters by Laurence Housman, and was initially published anonymously. An account by a woman who with her lover were equally the victims of circumstances, which, so far as one of the two was concerned, remained a mystery to the day of her death. It was a scandal in its time due to its frankness, which excitement turned to disappointment as the public learned the author was no Englishwoman.

Laurence Housman was an English playwright, writer and illustrator. His novels included Gods and Their Makers (1897), An Englishwoman's Love-letters (1900), A Modern Antaeus (1901), Sabrina Warham (1904), John of Jingalo (1912) — US title: King John of Jingalo, The Royal Runaway and Jingalo in Revolution: A Sequel to King John of Jingalo (1914),The Sheepfold (1918),Trimblerigg: A Book of Revelation (1924) — political satire, Uncle Tom Pudd (1927),The Life of H.R.H. the Duke of Flamborough (1928) — political satire. (Wikipedia)