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The Immortal Moment: The Story of Kitty Tailleur
May Sinclair was the pseudonym of Mary Amelia St. Clair (24 August 1863 - 14 November 1946), a popular British writer who wrote about two dozen novels, short stories and poetry. She was an active suffragist, and member of the Woman Writers' Suffrage League. She once dressed up as a demure, rebel Jane Austen for a suffrage fundraising event. Sinclair was also a significant critic in the area of modernist poetry and prose, and she is attributed with first using the term 'stream of consciousness' in a literary context, when reviewing the first volumes of Dorothy Richardson's novel sequence Pilgrimage (1915-67), in The Egoist, April 1918.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1908
8 people want to read
About the author
May Sinclair
227 books60 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
May Sinclair was the pseudonym of Mary Amelia St. Clair, a popular British writer who wrote about two dozen novels, short stories and poetry. She was an active suffragist, and member of the Woman Writers' Suffrage League. May Sinclair was also a significant critic, in the area of modernist poetry and prose and she is attributed with first using the term stream of consciousness) in a literary context, when reviewing the first volumes of Dorothy Richardson's novel sequence Pilgrimage (1915–67), in The Egoist, April 1918.
May Sinclair was the pseudonym of Mary Amelia St. Clair, a popular British writer who wrote about two dozen novels, short stories and poetry. She was an active suffragist, and member of the Woman Writers' Suffrage League. May Sinclair was also a significant critic, in the area of modernist poetry and prose and she is attributed with first using the term stream of consciousness) in a literary context, when reviewing the first volumes of Dorothy Richardson's novel sequence Pilgrimage (1915–67), in The Egoist, April 1918.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 16, 2016
As with the rest of Sinclair's early work, I had not much of an idea as to what The Immortal Moment: The Story of Kitty Tailleur was about before I began. The novel's opening paragraph is stunning, and appeals to each of the senses.
As with two of her previous works, The Judgment of Eve and The Helpmate, there is a detailed female character study in this novel; in fact, more than one if one includes Miss Keating, who is our title character's companion. She decides that she wants to find a different position after listening to the malicious gossip banded around by the other guests in the hotel in which they are staying. The Immortal Moment is strongly characterised, and the conversations which take place, particularly between Kitty and Miss Keating, are wonderfully believable. They are never cliched or overdone, but well thought out, and translated masterfully to the page. One cannot help but feel a rather overwhelming sense of sympathy for Kitty at points. She has such agency; she is an incredibly complex female subject, through which such interesting ideas are presented about womanhood and motherhood.
One can see that Sinclair's foray into psychology, and the inclusion of consciousness within her literature, is beginning to come to the fore here; she discusses the male mind in part, and makes full use of her titular character to write about a woman's position within society, and the effects this was like to have upon her.
As with two of her previous works, The Judgment of Eve and The Helpmate, there is a detailed female character study in this novel; in fact, more than one if one includes Miss Keating, who is our title character's companion. She decides that she wants to find a different position after listening to the malicious gossip banded around by the other guests in the hotel in which they are staying. The Immortal Moment is strongly characterised, and the conversations which take place, particularly between Kitty and Miss Keating, are wonderfully believable. They are never cliched or overdone, but well thought out, and translated masterfully to the page. One cannot help but feel a rather overwhelming sense of sympathy for Kitty at points. She has such agency; she is an incredibly complex female subject, through which such interesting ideas are presented about womanhood and motherhood.
One can see that Sinclair's foray into psychology, and the inclusion of consciousness within her literature, is beginning to come to the fore here; she discusses the male mind in part, and makes full use of her titular character to write about a woman's position within society, and the effects this was like to have upon her.
July 31, 2022
Another absolute gem from May Sinclair. Maybe with less to offer to today's society, where Kitty would be writing a kiss-and-tell column for a tabloid. And there aren't that many Roberts around nowadays!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews