Phyllis Bottome
Encyclopedia
Phyllis Forbes Dennis was a British novelist and short story writer who wrote under her birth name, Phyllis Bottome . She was born in Rochester, Kent to an American clergyman, Rev. William MacDonald Bottome and Mary (Leatham) Bottome.
In 1917, in Paris, she married Alban Ernan Forbes Dennis, a British diplomat working firstly in Marseilles and then in Vienna as Passport Control Officer, a cover for his real role as MI6 Head of Station with responsibility for Austria, Hungary and Yugoslavia. Her marriage to Forbes Dennis was to be a long and triumphant partnership. Forbes Dennis died in July 1972 in Brighton.
Bottome studied Individual psychology
under Alfred Adler
while in Vienna
. This would become useful in her work both as a teacher and a writer.
In 1924 she and her husband started a school in Kitzbühel
in Austria. Based on the teaching of languages, the school was intended to be a community, and an educational laboratory to determine how psychology and educational theory could cure the ills of nations. One of their more famous pupils was Ian Fleming
, author of the James Bond novels. In 1960, Fleming wrote to Bottome, "My life with you both is one of my most cherished memories, and heaven knows where I should be today without Ernan."
In 1935, her novel Private Worlds
was made into a film. Set in a psychiatric clinic, Bottome's knowledge of Individual psychology proved useful in creating a realistic scene. Bottome saw her share of trouble with Danger Signal
which the Hays Office forbade from becoming a Hollywood film. Germany became Bottome's home in the late 1930s, and it inspired her to pen The Mortal Storm
, a film which was the first to mention Hitler's name and be set in Nazi Germany
.
In total, four of her works – Private Worlds
, The Mortal Storm
, Danger Signal
, The Heart of a Child
– were adapted to film. In addition to fiction she is also known as an Adlerian
who wrote a biography of Alfred Adler
.
In 1917, in Paris, she married Alban Ernan Forbes Dennis, a British diplomat working firstly in Marseilles and then in Vienna as Passport Control Officer, a cover for his real role as MI6 Head of Station with responsibility for Austria, Hungary and Yugoslavia. Her marriage to Forbes Dennis was to be a long and triumphant partnership. Forbes Dennis died in July 1972 in Brighton.
Bottome studied Individual psychology
Individual psychology
Individual psychology is a term used specifically to refer to the psychological method or science founded by the Viennese psychiatrist Alfred Adler...
under Alfred Adler
Alfred Adler
Alfred Adler was an Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of the school of individual psychology. In collaboration with Sigmund Freud and a small group of Freud's colleagues, Adler was among the co-founders of the psychoanalytic movement as a core member of the Vienna...
while in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. This would become useful in her work both as a teacher and a writer.
In 1924 she and her husband started a school in Kitzbühel
Kitzbühel
-Demographic evolution:-Personalities:*Karl Wilhelm von Dalla Torre , entomologist and botanist*Alfons Walde , expressionist painter and architect*Peter Aufschnaiter , mountaineer and geographer...
in Austria. Based on the teaching of languages, the school was intended to be a community, and an educational laboratory to determine how psychology and educational theory could cure the ills of nations. One of their more famous pupils was Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...
, author of the James Bond novels. In 1960, Fleming wrote to Bottome, "My life with you both is one of my most cherished memories, and heaven knows where I should be today without Ernan."
In 1935, her novel Private Worlds
Private Worlds
Private Worlds is a drama film which tells the story of the staff and patients at a mental hospital, and the chief of the hospital who has problems dealing with a female psychiatrist. It stars Claudette Colbert, Charles Boyer, Joel McCrea, Joan Bennett, and Helen Vinson.The movie was written by...
was made into a film. Set in a psychiatric clinic, Bottome's knowledge of Individual psychology proved useful in creating a realistic scene. Bottome saw her share of trouble with Danger Signal
Danger Signal
Danger Signal is a 1945 film noir starring Faye Emerson and Zachary Scott. It was adapted from the novel of the same name by Phyllis Bottome.-Plot:...
which the Hays Office forbade from becoming a Hollywood film. Germany became Bottome's home in the late 1930s, and it inspired her to pen The Mortal Storm
The Mortal Storm
The Mortal Storm is a drama film from MGM starring Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart, and directed by Frank Borzage.-Production background:...
, a film which was the first to mention Hitler's name and be set in Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
.
In total, four of her works – Private Worlds
Private Worlds
Private Worlds is a drama film which tells the story of the staff and patients at a mental hospital, and the chief of the hospital who has problems dealing with a female psychiatrist. It stars Claudette Colbert, Charles Boyer, Joel McCrea, Joan Bennett, and Helen Vinson.The movie was written by...
, The Mortal Storm
The Mortal Storm
The Mortal Storm is a drama film from MGM starring Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart, and directed by Frank Borzage.-Production background:...
, Danger Signal
Danger Signal
Danger Signal is a 1945 film noir starring Faye Emerson and Zachary Scott. It was adapted from the novel of the same name by Phyllis Bottome.-Plot:...
, The Heart of a Child
The Heart of a Child
The Heart of a Child is a 1915 British silent drama film directed by Harold M. Shaw and starring Edna Flugrath, Edward Sass and Hayford Hobbs. It is based on a novel by Frank Danby. A girl from the slums is injured by an aristocrat's car...
– were adapted to film. In addition to fiction she is also known as an Adlerian
Adlerian
Pertaining to the theory and practice of Alfred Adler , whose school of psychoanalysis is called Individual Psychology . Central to the Adlerian approach is to see the personality as a whole and not as the mere net result of component forces. Thus the term individual psychology...
who wrote a biography of Alfred Adler
Alfred Adler
Alfred Adler was an Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of the school of individual psychology. In collaboration with Sigmund Freud and a small group of Freud's colleagues, Adler was among the co-founders of the psychoanalytic movement as a core member of the Vienna...
.
Books
She wrote her first novel when she was just seventeen.- Alfred AdlerAlfred AdlerAlfred Adler was an Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of the school of individual psychology. In collaboration with Sigmund Freud and a small group of Freud's colleagues, Adler was among the co-founders of the psychoanalytic movement as a core member of the Vienna...
– Apostle of Freedom. London 1939, Faber & Faber, 3rd Ed. 1957 - The Dark Tower, 1916
- Kingfisher, 1922
- The Perfect Wife, 1924
- Life of Olive SchreinerOlive SchreinerOlive Schreiner was a South African author, anti-war campaigner and intellectual. She is best remembered today for her novel The Story of an African Farm which has been highly acclaimed ever since its first publication in 1883 for the bold manner in which it dealt with some of the burning issues...
, 1924 - Old Wine, 1926
- The Belated Reckoning, 1926
- Windlestraws, 1929
- The Advances of Harriet, 1933
- Private WorldsPrivate WorldsPrivate Worlds is a drama film which tells the story of the staff and patients at a mental hospital, and the chief of the hospital who has problems dealing with a female psychiatrist. It stars Claudette Colbert, Charles Boyer, Joel McCrea, Joan Bennett, and Helen Vinson.The movie was written by...
, 1934 - Murder in the Bud
- Level Crossing, 1936
- The Mortal StormThe Mortal StormThe Mortal Storm is a drama film from MGM starring Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart, and directed by Frank Borzage.-Production background:...
, 1938 - Danger SignalDanger SignalDanger Signal is a 1945 film noir starring Faye Emerson and Zachary Scott. It was adapted from the novel of the same name by Phyllis Bottome.-Plot:...
, 1939 - Masks and Faces, 1940
- Formidable to Tyrants, 1941
- London Pride, 1941
- Mansion House of Liberty, 1941
- The Heart of a Child, 1942
- Within a Cup, 1943
- Survival, 1943
- From the Life, 1944, London, Faber & Faber. Six studies of the author's friends Alfred Adler, Max Beerbohm, Ivor Novello, Sara Delano Roosevelt, Ezra Pound, Margaret MacDonald Bottome.
- The Lifeline, 1946
- Innocence and Experience, 1947
- Search for a Soul, 1947
- Fortune's Finger, 1950
- Under the Skin – Love Drew no Color Line when a White Woman entered a Negro's World, 1950
- The Challenge, 1953
- The Secret Stair, 1954
- Against Whom? 1954. By chance a patient is brought to a Sanatorium on the verge of death, how he not only recovers but manages to influence the lives of the scientists who have observed him is the subject of this novel. In the course of the book the principal characters find that they must either think of others and put that thought into practise or those same 'others' will become their enemy, and destroy, one by one, his most intimate relationships.
- Eldorado Jane, 1956
- Walls of Glass, 1958
- The Goal, 1962 – her autobiography
- Our New Order or Hitler's? A Selection of Speeches by Winston Churchill, Archbishop of Canterbury, Anthony Eden & Others, ed. by Ph. Bottome, Penguin Books Middlesex 1943