Lorna Sage
Encyclopedia
Lorna Sage was a Welsh
-born academic, as well as an award-winning literary critic and author, known widely for her contribution to the consideration of women's writing.
. Sage was born at Hanmer
, Flintshire
, Wales
, and educated at the village school, then at the Girls' High School in Whitchurch, Shropshire
. Her childhood in the late 1940s and early 1950s is recalled in her last book Bad Blood
. Sage became pregnant when she was 16 but was able to continue her education and won a scholarship to read English at Durham University
, only after the university changed its admission rules to allow married couples to study there. Sage went on to receive an MA from Birmingham University for a thesis on seventeenth century poetry.
All of her academic career was spent at the University of East Anglia
, where she was Professor of English Literature from 1994. She edited The Cambridge Guide to Women's Writing in English (1999) which has become a standard work. In the Preface she wrote: "In concentrating on women's writing...you stress the extent and pace of change, for the scale of women's access to literary life has reflected and accelerated democratic, diasporic pressures in the modern world". At her death, she left behind the draft of the first part of a potentially excellent work on Plato and Platonism in literature.
Sage's book reviews appeared in the London Review of Books
, The Times Literary Supplement
, the New York Times Book Review and The Observer
, mentioning the works of Angela Carter
, as well as covering studies of works of numerous authors, including Christina Stead
, Doris Lessing
, Thomas Love Peacock
, John Milton
and Thomas Hardy
.
Her autobiographical memoir Bad Blood
was a tragic story of childhood disappointment in a family where warped behaviour is passed down the family from generation to generation. The book won the Whitbread Biography Award on 3 January 2001 a week before Sage died in London
, having suffered from emphysema
for most of her life. The book missed out on receiving the accolade of Whitbread Book of the Year at the award ceremony on 23 January 2001.
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
-born academic, as well as an award-winning literary critic and author, known widely for her contribution to the consideration of women's writing.
Biography
The eldest child of Valma and Eric Stockton, she was named after Lorna DooneLorna Doone
Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor is a novel by Richard Doddridge Blackmore. It is a romance based on a group of historical characters and set in the late 17th century in Devon and Somerset, particularly around the East Lyn Valley area of Exmoor....
. Sage was born at Hanmer
Hanmer
Hanmer is a village and a local government community, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. At the 2001 Census the population of the Hanmer community area, which includes Hanmer village itself, Horseman's Green and Arowry along with a number of small hamlets,...
, Flintshire
Flintshire
Flintshire is a county in north-east Wales. It borders Denbighshire, Wrexham and the English county of Cheshire. It is named after the historic county of Flintshire, which had notably different borders...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, and educated at the village school, then at the Girls' High School in Whitchurch, Shropshire
Whitchurch, Shropshire
Whitchurch is a market town in Shropshire, England on the border between England and Wales. It is the oldest continuously inhabited town in Shropshire. According to the 2001 Census, the population of the town is 8,673, with a more recent estimate putting the population of the town at 8,934...
. Her childhood in the late 1940s and early 1950s is recalled in her last book Bad Blood
Bad Blood (Lorna Sage)
Bad Blood is a 2000 work blending collective biography and memoir by the Welsh literary critic and novelist Lorna Sage.Set in post-war North Wales, it reflects on the dysfunctional generations of a family its problems, and their effect on Sage...
. Sage became pregnant when she was 16 but was able to continue her education and won a scholarship to read English at Durham University
Durham University
The University of Durham, commonly known as Durham University, is a university in Durham, England. It was founded by Act of Parliament in 1832 and granted a Royal Charter in 1837...
, only after the university changed its admission rules to allow married couples to study there. Sage went on to receive an MA from Birmingham University for a thesis on seventeenth century poetry.
All of her academic career was spent at the University of East Anglia
University of East Anglia
The University of East Anglia is a public research university based in Norwich, United Kingdom. It was established in 1963, and is a founder-member of the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities.-History:...
, where she was Professor of English Literature from 1994. She edited The Cambridge Guide to Women's Writing in English (1999) which has become a standard work. In the Preface she wrote: "In concentrating on women's writing...you stress the extent and pace of change, for the scale of women's access to literary life has reflected and accelerated democratic, diasporic pressures in the modern world". At her death, she left behind the draft of the first part of a potentially excellent work on Plato and Platonism in literature.
Sage's book reviews appeared in the London Review of Books
London Review of Books
The London Review of Books is a fortnightly British magazine of literary and intellectual essays.-History:The LRB was founded in 1979, during the year-long lock-out at The Times, by publisher A...
, The Times Literary Supplement
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, the New York Times Book Review and The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, mentioning the works of Angela Carter
Angela Carter
Angela Carter was an English novelist and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realism, and picaresque works...
, as well as covering studies of works of numerous authors, including Christina Stead
Christina Stead
Christina Stead was an Australian novelist and short-story writer acclaimed for her satirical wit and penetrating psychological characterisations.-Biography:...
, Doris Lessing
Doris Lessing
Doris May Lessing CH is a British writer. Her novels include The Grass is Singing, The Golden Notebook, and five novels collectively known as Canopus in Argos....
, Thomas Love Peacock
Thomas Love Peacock
Thomas Love Peacock was an English satirist and author.Peacock was a close friend of Percy Bysshe Shelley and they influenced each other's work...
, John Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
and Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
.
Her autobiographical memoir Bad Blood
Bad Blood (Lorna Sage)
Bad Blood is a 2000 work blending collective biography and memoir by the Welsh literary critic and novelist Lorna Sage.Set in post-war North Wales, it reflects on the dysfunctional generations of a family its problems, and their effect on Sage...
was a tragic story of childhood disappointment in a family where warped behaviour is passed down the family from generation to generation. The book won the Whitbread Biography Award on 3 January 2001 a week before Sage died in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, having suffered from emphysema
Emphysema
Emphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...
for most of her life. The book missed out on receiving the accolade of Whitbread Book of the Year at the award ceremony on 23 January 2001.
Personal life
Sage married Victor Sage while still in her teens and their daughter, Sharon, was born in 1959 just before they went up to Durham University. They were later divorced and Sage married Rupert Hodson in 1979.Publications
- Women in the House of Fiction (1992)
- Flesh and the Mirror; Essays on the Art of Angela Carter (1994)
- The Cambridge Guide to Women's Writing in English (1999)
- Bad BloodBad Blood (Lorna Sage)Bad Blood is a 2000 work blending collective biography and memoir by the Welsh literary critic and novelist Lorna Sage.Set in post-war North Wales, it reflects on the dysfunctional generations of a family its problems, and their effect on Sage...
(2000) - Moments of Truth: Twelve Twentieth century Women Writers (2001): a collection of her literary essays
- Good as her word: Selected Journalism (2004)