The Life and Work of Jean Rhys

Early Life and Influences of Jean Rhys

Jean Rhys, born Ella Gwendolyn Rees Williams on August 24, 1890, in Roseau, Dominica, was a writer whose work was profoundly shaped by her multicultural background. Her father was Welsh and her mother was a third-generation Creole of Scottish ancestry. The cultural and racial complexities of her heritage, along with her experiences of feeling like an outsider in both the Caribbean and Europe, deeply influenced her writing. At the age of 16, Rhys moved to England to attend the Perse School for Girls in Cambridge, where she struggled with social acceptance and faced discrimination due to her accent and colonial origins. These early experiences of alienation would later become recurring themes in her novels and short stories.

Rhys' Transition to Writing Amid Personal Challenges

After an unsuccessful stint as an actress in London, Jean Rhys worked various jobs, including as a chorus girl, to support herself. Her personal life was tumultuous, marked by a series of relationships, including a significant but ill-fated affair with Lancelot Grey Hugh Smith, a wealthy stockbroker. The emotional pain from this relationship and subsequent ones, including her first marriage to Jean Lenglet in 1919, catalyzed her writing career. Rhys' experiences with her husband's legal troubles and their life in Paris would later provide material for her semi-autobiographical works. Writing became a therapeutic outlet for Rhys, allowing her to articulate her feelings of displacement and existential despair.

Mentorship by Ford Madox Ford and Early Literary Success

In Paris, Jean Rhys met Ford Madox Ford, a prominent British writer and editor, who recognized her talent and became her mentor. He suggested she use the pen name 'Jean Rhys' and helped her publish her work in his literary magazine, The Transatlantic Review. Their professional relationship turned personal, and Ford's influence was significant in shaping Rhys' literary style. Her first collection of short stories, "The Left Bank and Other Stories" (1927), received critical praise for its innovative narrative techniques and insightful portrayal of women's inner lives. Although Rhys later criticized some of her early work, these publications established her as an important emerging voice in modernist literature.

Novels Mirroring Rhys' Experiences and Themes

Rhys' debut novel, "Quartet" (1928), was inspired by her own life, particularly her relationship with Ford and his partner, Stella Bowen. The protagonist, Marya Zelli, finds herself in a vulnerable position in Paris, echoing Rhys' own feelings of instability and dependency. Rhys continued to write novels that delved into the themes of alienation, marginalization, and the complexities of the female psyche. Her subsequent novels, "After Leaving Mr Mackenzie" (1931), "Voyage in the Dark" (1934), and "Good Morning, Midnight" (1939), further explored these motifs, portraying women protagonists who grapple with their identities and societal expectations in a patriarchal world.

The Impact of World War II on Rhys' Writing

The advent of World War II and the cultural shift towards more uplifting narratives led to a decline in interest in Rhys' work, which was often seen as bleak. She withdrew to the English countryside, where she struggled with personal issues, including depression and alcoholism, which hindered her writing. Despite these challenges, Rhys continued to write, albeit without publishing. A BBC Radio broadcast of "Good Morning, Midnight" in the 1950s sparked a resurgence of interest in her work. This renewed attention eventually led to the publication of her most acclaimed novel, "Wide Sargasso Sea," in 1966, after a long period of obscurity.

"Wide Sargasso Sea" and Rhys' Enduring Legacy

"Wide Sargasso Sea" is a prequel to Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre," offering a richly imagined backstory for the character of Bertha Mason, originally named Antoinette Cosway, who later becomes Mr. Rochester's mad wife in the attic. The novel revisits Rhys' enduring themes of cultural dislocation and psychological distress, this time through the postcolonial context of a Creole woman's experience in England and the Caribbean. The book was a critical and commercial success, earning Rhys the W.H. Smith Literary Award in 1967. Rhys' legacy endures through her exploration of the female experience and the critique of colonial and patriarchal structures, securing her place as a pivotal figure in 20th-century literature.