Ouida: a memoir

by Elizabeth Lee

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372 pages, Paperback

First published July 28, 2010

About the author

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Reviews

[Lorraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Figuring out how to rate these biographies has been difficult. Lee so clearly dislikes Ouida and is so mean-spirited in so many of her comments that taking this seriously as a piece of scholarship is really difficult. I gave it the highest rating, not because I think it an accurate and objective portrait of Ouida's life, but because it's just so over-the-top in its malice that it's a real page turner.

This is Ouida's earliest biography. It was written shortly after her death and so Lee was able to speak with many of her friends and acquaintances and also get access to Ouida's letters (to and from). I can't find any evidence that Lee ever met Ouida, but they had acquaintances in common (most notably Henry James).

I can't figure out why Lee even wrote this book. Her stated purpose is to set the record straight about a writer who was often in the middle of swirling rumors; I'd say her true purpose is to discredit Ouida. She has almost nothing positive to say about Ouida, and even when she must make some grudging compliment, it's always backhanded. She presents Ouida as a horrifically unpleasant person with no redeeming qualities; she can't seem to understand why Ouida had friends or why her books were popular. If they'd ever met, I'd say Lee had an axe to grind, but since that doesn't seem to be the case, I really don't get the depth of her animosity.

In terms of her love life, Ouida is presented as being delusional in thinking any of the three men she fell in love with could ever love her back.

Lee insists that Ouida has no humor which is flat out belied by her writing and her own letters. Lee does include copious amounts of quoting from Ouida's letters, and in the places where Ouida is allowed to speak for herself, I think a truer picture of her comes through than in Lee's commentary.