Pauline Smith
Pauline Janet Smith (1882 – 1959) was a South African novelist, short story writer, memoirist and playwright.[1]
Pauline Smith | |
|---|---|
| Born | Pauline Janet Smith April 2, 1882 Oudtshoorn, South Africa |
| Died | January 29, 1959 (aged 76) Dorset, England, United Kingdom |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | South African |
Life
Pauline Smith was born on 2 April 1882 in Oudtshoorn, South Africa, and grew up in the Little Karoo.[2] She was the elder of two daughters born to Herbert Urmson Smith, an English doctor, and his Scottish wife Jessie, from Aberdeen.[3] At the age of thirteen she was sent to boarding school in Scotland.[1] Smith never lived permanently in South Africa again, though throughout her life she made a number of extended visits to the country. Her extended visit of 1913-1914, and the journal that she kept, formed the basis of many stories of The Little Karoo and her novel The Beadle.[4]
In 1908 she met the English novelist Arnold Bennett, who encouraged her to write fiction about South Africa. Eventually she published the two works for which she is best known: the story collection The Little Karoo (1925), and the novel The Beadle (1926).[4]
Smith was also a friend of Frank Swinnerton.[1]
She died on 29 January 1959 in Dorset, England. A collection of her papers are held at the University of Cape Town.[4]
Works
| Library resources about Pauline Smith |
| By Pauline Smith |
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- The Little Karoo. London : Jonathan Cape, 1925. With an introduction by Arnold Bennett.
- The Beadle. New York: Doran, 1927.
- A.B.: "... a minor marginal note". London: Jonathan Cape, 1933.
- Platkops Children. London, England: Cape, 1935.
- Hold Yourself Dear New York: J. Messner, 1965.
References
- Barbara Fister (1995). "Smith, Pauline". Third World Women's Literatures: A Dictionary and Guide to Materials in English. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 286. ISBN 978-0-313-28988-0.
- Sheila Scholten; Harold Scheub, eds. (1993). The Unknown Pauline Smith: Unpublished and Out of Print Stories, Diaries and Other Prose Writings (including Her Arnold Bennett Memoir). University of Natal Press. p. ix. ISBN 978-0-86980-885-6.
- Dorothy Driver, ed. (1983). Pauline Smith. McGraw-Hill Book Company. p. 139. ISBN 978-0-07-450659-2.
- The Pauline Smith Collection, University of Cape Town. Accessed May 20, 2020.
Further reading
- Coetzee, J. M. (October 1986). "Farm Novel and Plaasroman in South Africa". English in Africa. 13 (2): 1–19.
- Coetzee, J. M. (1988). "Simple Language, Simple People: Smith, Paton, Mikro". White Writing: On the Culture of Letters in South Africa. New Haven, CT: Yale University. pp. 115–135.
- Driver, Dorothy, ed. (1983). Pauline Smith. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Haresnape, Geoffrey (1969). Pauline Smith. New York: Twayne.
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