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Nancy Cunard: A Biography
From Nancy Clara Cunard (10 March 1896 – 17 March 1965) was a writer, heiress and political activist. She was born into the British upper class but strongly rejected her family's values, devoting much of her life to fighting racism and fascism. She became a muse to some of the 20th century's most distinguished writers and artists, including Wyndham Lewis, Aldous Huxley, Tristan Tzara, Ezra Pound and Louis Aragon, who were among her lovers, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Constantin Brâncuşi, Langston Hughes, Man Ray, and William Carlos Williams. MI5 documents reveal that she was involved with Indian socialist leader VK Krishna Menon. In later years, she suffered from mental illness, and her physical health deteriorated. She died at age 69, weighing only 26 kilos (57 pounds), in the Hôpital Cochin, Paris.
512 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
3 people are currently reading
137 people want to read
About the author
Anne Chisholm
18 books5 followersAnne Chisholm is a biographer and critic who has also worked in journalism and publishing. Her first biography, Nancy Cunard (1979), won the Silver PEN prize for non-fiction; in 1992 the biography of Lord Beaverbrook she wrote jointly with her husband, Michael Davie, was runner up for the Hawthornden prize.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 19, 2014
I could write pages and pages about why I liked Anne Chisholm's biography "Nancy Cunard", but I won't, because it's more fun to discover the story behind Cunard for yourself. Brave and resilient, until it was no longer possible, Nancy Cunard wasn't just a style icon, bohemian and poet she was also a revolutionary, journalist and printing press owner.
The pictures in the book, taken from her childhood at Neville Holt in 1902 to later in her life in 1959, reveal as much about the way she lived as the the text. Despite her wealthy upbringing, which she later rejected, she never lost her class, elegance or dignity. Eventually she suffered for her independence, and although I found that hard to read, I still felt that no matter what she remained true to herself and became an important historical figure.
The pictures in the book, taken from her childhood at Neville Holt in 1902 to later in her life in 1959, reveal as much about the way she lived as the the text. Despite her wealthy upbringing, which she later rejected, she never lost her class, elegance or dignity. Eventually she suffered for her independence, and although I found that hard to read, I still felt that no matter what she remained true to herself and became an important historical figure.
September 13, 2022
An absolutely phenomenal book about Nancy Cunard, granddaughter of the shipping magnate, Samuel Cunard. Nancy was an unusual woman of her era—living, writing, socializing and advocating beginning in the 1920s through to her death in the 1969. She was one of the first advocates for Black rights and equality in England’s upper class and artistic circles. Chisholm’s book is marvelous, she writes with clarity and depth. Nancy Cunard comes to life along with several literary and artistic figures of the day who Nancy knew including Adolf Huxley, Ernest Hemingway, George Moore and others. I’d never heard of Nancy Cunard until coming across this book, yet she was so significant with her contributions in literature and human rights, it is unfortunate that history appears to have forgotten her. I highly, highly recommend this book.
Reading Notes
Nancy was born in 1896 in London England, the only daughter to Sir Bache Cunard, heir to the Cunard shipping magnate Samuel Cunard and Maud Cunard (Burke). Nancy grew up amongst literary, artistic and musical figures of the early twentieth century, many who visited Cunard family estate, Neville Holt, in Leicestershire. In 1911 at the age of fifteen, Maud Cunard (also known as Lady Cunard) left Sir Bache and took Nancy with her to begin a new life in London. Lady Cunard’s move was motivated by her relationship with the married conductor Thomas Beecham. Though she had had affairs prior to Beecham, Lady Cunard never officially divorced her husband, nor did Beecham divorce his wife until 1942. Maud Cunard not only supported Becham’s musical career in London, financially and emotionally, but also had an active social life among the wealthy and famous. Chisholm suggests that Nancy viewed the relationship between her mother and Beecham with distrust, which is understandable given Nancy was separated from her father and her childhood home. Beecham too, apparently never liked Nancy (p 25).
A prominent figure in Nancy’s life was the Irish writer, poet and art critic George Moore. He was a friend of Lady Cunard, Nancy’s mother, though lover is a more accurate description. Their affair ended after Lady Cunard became involved with Beecham, yet Moore was an enduring figure in Nancy’s life as described in the book. It seemed strange to me, how much Moore was involved with Nancy—writing to her and visiting periodically throughout Nancy’s life. At first, I thought it stemmed from the rumor that Moore could be Nancy’s father which was possible given the timing of Lady Cunard and Moore’s affair. Yet later in the book something happens that made me think otherwise—an episode where Moore asked to see Nancy naked. Odd and disturbing.
Moore’s relationship with Nancy could be explained by Moore’s yearning to be closer to Nancy’s mother. He moved from Ireland to London soon after Lady Cunard and Nancy did (1911), and on several occasions he tried to revive a relationship with Lady Cunard. It could also be that Moore wanted to support Nancy’s talent and interest in writing and poetry since he himself was a famous novelist and poet. In keeping with the latter theory, there are frequent mentions throughout the book of letters between Moore and Nancy and occasions where Moore writes reviews of Nancy’s published poetry.
Nancy was described over and again as striking, charismatic and beautiful. Chisholm writes how she electrified a room with her presence, how men (and women) were drawn to her. She had several lovers, and a hysterectomy performed earlier in her life allowed her a level of sexual freedom. Interesting however is that Chisholm writes how Nancy was often described as ‘cold’ and uninterested in sex by several of her partners.
Nancy married once, in 1915 to a Sydney Fairborn. The marriage was against her mother’s will, perhaps in defiance, and Chisholm writes how the union was likely an escape from her mother’s domain. Fairborn was in the war, as a captain for the British forces for most of their marriage. Nancy however seemed to hold a great distaste and dislike for Fairborn as Chisholm writes, for reasons that are unclear. They divorced in 1919.
It was hard to keep pace with Nancy’s life as described by Chisholm, as Nancy traveled extensively and was involved with and knew many men, several who were literary figures. Many are known to readers of today, and include Adolf Huxley, Michael Arlen, Ernest Hemingway, and others. Nancy was an inspiration for characters in several of these writers’ works, including Huxley and Arlen. Huxley’s characters displayed actions and traits that mirrored his relationship and perceptions of Nancy. Micheal Arlen—novelist and playwright, used Nancy and her mother as models for characters in his first novels Piracy and The Green Hat. In The Green Hat, Arlen describes a scenario involving a character’s hysterectomy, which mirrored Nancy’s. The details of the operation, Nancy confirmed later, were authentic (p 67). Other key figures in Nancy’s life were her female friends, also writers, Louise Morgan, Janet Flanner and Solito Solano. Nancy met Morgan after Morgan’s review of Nancy’s poem, Parallax, was published the journal, Outlook. Parallax is considered Nancy’s most successful poem and was published by Hogarth Press, run by Virginia and Leonard Woolf.
One of the most significant relationships in Nancy’s life as Chisholm describes extensively, was with an American Jazz musician, Henry Crowder. There were lovers and engaged in a public relationship, which in the 1930s was rare given Crowder was Black. When Lady Cunard learned of their relationship she cut off Nancy’s allowance. Nancy continued with the relationship as she seemed to love Crowder deeply, even though the relationship was tumultuous and fraught. Crowder often felt like a kept man, relying on Nancy financially when he quit his position in the Jazz ensemble in order to travel with Nancy and help her with the publishing company she had started, The Hours Press. Nancy was a challenging partner for Crowder as she engaged in relationships with other men, drank copious amounts of alcohol and participated in late night parties. Crowder was not a binge drinker or a party-goer.
However, what came out of the relationship was something significant—Nancy’s quest to elevate Black culture and equality of Blacks via an enormous literary project titled Negro: An Anthology. Her idea was to publish a book dedicated to African American culture and racial equity that included poetry, music scores, essays, photographs and images of paintings mostly by Black contributors. The project was large in scope and Nancy did publish the work with Rockford, Wishart & Co. in 1934 at her own expense, despite advice to reduce its size and contributions. The publication of the book, and Nancy’s efforts leading up to it, interestingly coincided with the Scottsboro Boys Trials in the United States. This was the landmark case where nine young men were accused of raping two women on a train in Atlanta, GA. The girls lied, and even though one recanted her statement, the men (some children) were still charged. Nancy acted on behalf of the young men’s defense in England and was appointed honorary treasurer of the British Scottsboro Defence Committee (p 208). It is admirable the extent to which Nancy worked to support the young men; she sent money to their families, organized dances to raise funds, and appealed to her friends to contribute.
I view Nancy as a significant champion for racial equality in her era, working within an upper class society that didn’t embrace or acknowledge racial equity. It is interesting to consider why she has been overlooked in history. Perhaps she was ahead of her time and people weren’t ready in the UK for her forceful convictions, or it could be that her efforts went unnoticed partly due to her alignment with Communism, or her frequent outrageous behavior, including towards her mother, who she criticized in a public forum (published). Still, Nancy Cunard was a pioneer, and deserves recognition as an advocate, promoter and historian of Black culture and equality.
Nancy died in 1965 and at the age of sixty-nine. I am convinced she had an eating disorder, which likely contributed to her poor health, though Chisholm does not mention this in her book. Yet the frequent mention of Nancy’s thinness and her avoidance of eating and food, is a telling clue. All in all Nancy Cunard was a force—a remarkable, talented, complicated woman who’s contributions are significant and worthy of praise and study.
Reading Notes
Nancy was born in 1896 in London England, the only daughter to Sir Bache Cunard, heir to the Cunard shipping magnate Samuel Cunard and Maud Cunard (Burke). Nancy grew up amongst literary, artistic and musical figures of the early twentieth century, many who visited Cunard family estate, Neville Holt, in Leicestershire. In 1911 at the age of fifteen, Maud Cunard (also known as Lady Cunard) left Sir Bache and took Nancy with her to begin a new life in London. Lady Cunard’s move was motivated by her relationship with the married conductor Thomas Beecham. Though she had had affairs prior to Beecham, Lady Cunard never officially divorced her husband, nor did Beecham divorce his wife until 1942. Maud Cunard not only supported Becham’s musical career in London, financially and emotionally, but also had an active social life among the wealthy and famous. Chisholm suggests that Nancy viewed the relationship between her mother and Beecham with distrust, which is understandable given Nancy was separated from her father and her childhood home. Beecham too, apparently never liked Nancy (p 25).
A prominent figure in Nancy’s life was the Irish writer, poet and art critic George Moore. He was a friend of Lady Cunard, Nancy’s mother, though lover is a more accurate description. Their affair ended after Lady Cunard became involved with Beecham, yet Moore was an enduring figure in Nancy’s life as described in the book. It seemed strange to me, how much Moore was involved with Nancy—writing to her and visiting periodically throughout Nancy’s life. At first, I thought it stemmed from the rumor that Moore could be Nancy’s father which was possible given the timing of Lady Cunard and Moore’s affair. Yet later in the book something happens that made me think otherwise—an episode where Moore asked to see Nancy naked. Odd and disturbing.
Moore’s relationship with Nancy could be explained by Moore’s yearning to be closer to Nancy’s mother. He moved from Ireland to London soon after Lady Cunard and Nancy did (1911), and on several occasions he tried to revive a relationship with Lady Cunard. It could also be that Moore wanted to support Nancy’s talent and interest in writing and poetry since he himself was a famous novelist and poet. In keeping with the latter theory, there are frequent mentions throughout the book of letters between Moore and Nancy and occasions where Moore writes reviews of Nancy’s published poetry.
Nancy was described over and again as striking, charismatic and beautiful. Chisholm writes how she electrified a room with her presence, how men (and women) were drawn to her. She had several lovers, and a hysterectomy performed earlier in her life allowed her a level of sexual freedom. Interesting however is that Chisholm writes how Nancy was often described as ‘cold’ and uninterested in sex by several of her partners.
Nancy married once, in 1915 to a Sydney Fairborn. The marriage was against her mother’s will, perhaps in defiance, and Chisholm writes how the union was likely an escape from her mother’s domain. Fairborn was in the war, as a captain for the British forces for most of their marriage. Nancy however seemed to hold a great distaste and dislike for Fairborn as Chisholm writes, for reasons that are unclear. They divorced in 1919.
It was hard to keep pace with Nancy’s life as described by Chisholm, as Nancy traveled extensively and was involved with and knew many men, several who were literary figures. Many are known to readers of today, and include Adolf Huxley, Michael Arlen, Ernest Hemingway, and others. Nancy was an inspiration for characters in several of these writers’ works, including Huxley and Arlen. Huxley’s characters displayed actions and traits that mirrored his relationship and perceptions of Nancy. Micheal Arlen—novelist and playwright, used Nancy and her mother as models for characters in his first novels Piracy and The Green Hat. In The Green Hat, Arlen describes a scenario involving a character’s hysterectomy, which mirrored Nancy’s. The details of the operation, Nancy confirmed later, were authentic (p 67). Other key figures in Nancy’s life were her female friends, also writers, Louise Morgan, Janet Flanner and Solito Solano. Nancy met Morgan after Morgan’s review of Nancy’s poem, Parallax, was published the journal, Outlook. Parallax is considered Nancy’s most successful poem and was published by Hogarth Press, run by Virginia and Leonard Woolf.
One of the most significant relationships in Nancy’s life as Chisholm describes extensively, was with an American Jazz musician, Henry Crowder. There were lovers and engaged in a public relationship, which in the 1930s was rare given Crowder was Black. When Lady Cunard learned of their relationship she cut off Nancy’s allowance. Nancy continued with the relationship as she seemed to love Crowder deeply, even though the relationship was tumultuous and fraught. Crowder often felt like a kept man, relying on Nancy financially when he quit his position in the Jazz ensemble in order to travel with Nancy and help her with the publishing company she had started, The Hours Press. Nancy was a challenging partner for Crowder as she engaged in relationships with other men, drank copious amounts of alcohol and participated in late night parties. Crowder was not a binge drinker or a party-goer.
However, what came out of the relationship was something significant—Nancy’s quest to elevate Black culture and equality of Blacks via an enormous literary project titled Negro: An Anthology. Her idea was to publish a book dedicated to African American culture and racial equity that included poetry, music scores, essays, photographs and images of paintings mostly by Black contributors. The project was large in scope and Nancy did publish the work with Rockford, Wishart & Co. in 1934 at her own expense, despite advice to reduce its size and contributions. The publication of the book, and Nancy’s efforts leading up to it, interestingly coincided with the Scottsboro Boys Trials in the United States. This was the landmark case where nine young men were accused of raping two women on a train in Atlanta, GA. The girls lied, and even though one recanted her statement, the men (some children) were still charged. Nancy acted on behalf of the young men’s defense in England and was appointed honorary treasurer of the British Scottsboro Defence Committee (p 208). It is admirable the extent to which Nancy worked to support the young men; she sent money to their families, organized dances to raise funds, and appealed to her friends to contribute.
I view Nancy as a significant champion for racial equality in her era, working within an upper class society that didn’t embrace or acknowledge racial equity. It is interesting to consider why she has been overlooked in history. Perhaps she was ahead of her time and people weren’t ready in the UK for her forceful convictions, or it could be that her efforts went unnoticed partly due to her alignment with Communism, or her frequent outrageous behavior, including towards her mother, who she criticized in a public forum (published). Still, Nancy Cunard was a pioneer, and deserves recognition as an advocate, promoter and historian of Black culture and equality.
Nancy died in 1965 and at the age of sixty-nine. I am convinced she had an eating disorder, which likely contributed to her poor health, though Chisholm does not mention this in her book. Yet the frequent mention of Nancy’s thinness and her avoidance of eating and food, is a telling clue. All in all Nancy Cunard was a force—a remarkable, talented, complicated woman who’s contributions are significant and worthy of praise and study.
February 19, 2021
An excellent biography of a fascinating woman who deserves greater recognition. Nancy Cunard was first and foremost a poet, but probably better remembered today as a muse of artists and photographers from Man Ray and Cecil Beaton to Oskar Kokoschka and Wyndham Lewis. But she was also a publisher - setting up her own printing press, The Hours Press, in 1928 - and a passionate activist, fighting both racism and fascism through her powerful first-hand journalism. Her personal life was turbulent; she drank heavily and famously broke off all relations with her mother, society hostess Emerald (Maud) Cunard, following her mother's reaction to Nancy's relationship with a black jazz pianist, Henry Crowder. None of her relationships lasted, whether due to her inability to compromise on her all-consuming projects - from compiling the anthology 'Negro' to reporting from the front line of the Spanish civil war - or a form of commitment phobia which saw her constantly move from one man to the next, conducting multiple affairs... Chisholm gets the balance right between fact and conjecture, posing such questions but not presenting them as certain. There are a lot of first hand sources to refer to as Nancy was a writer, as were many of her friends, and an anthology of memories of Nancy was compiled after her rather tragic death. Nancy played an active role in some of the most important moments of 20th century history, befriended (and enchanted) many of last century's most famous writers and artists, and was far ahead of her time in her efforts to stamp out inequalities - a legacy that has yet to be fulfilled.
October 1, 2014
"She knows only extremes."
This is the 3rd book I have read about Nancy Cunard. I can't get enough of her story. If anyone knows of other books, please leave a comment.
She makes me want to search for African bracelets and wear them all, all the time.
This is the 3rd book I have read about Nancy Cunard. I can't get enough of her story. If anyone knows of other books, please leave a comment.
She makes me want to search for African bracelets and wear them all, all the time.
Read
September 15, 2020Liked the biographer’s style and interested in Nancy Cunard’s unique life, but too many other books calling my name right now so I didn’t finish. Maybe I’ll do so when I retire...
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews