Fay Weldon (1931–2023)
Author of The Life and Loves of a She Devil
About the Author
Fay Weldon was born in Worcester, England on September 22, 1931. She read economics and psychology at the University of St. Andrews. She worked as a propaganda writer for the British Foreign Office and then as an advertising copywriter for various firms in London before making writing a full-time show more career. Her work includes over twenty novels, five collections of short stories, several children's books, non-fiction books, and a number of plays written for television, radio and the stage. Her collections of short stories include Mischief and Nothing to Wear and Nowhere to Hide. She wrote a memoir entitled Auto Da Fay and non-fiction book entitled What Makes Women Happy. She wrote the pilot episode for the television series Upstairs Downstairs. Her first novel, The Fat Woman's Joke, was published in 1967. Her other novels include Praxis, The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, Puffball, Rhode Island Blues, Mantrapped, She May Not Leave, The Spa Decameron, Habits of the House, Long Live the King, and The New Countess. Wicked Women won the PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award. She was awarded a CBE in 2001. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Fay Weldon
The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians (The Pocket Canons Bible) (1998) 43 copies, 1 review
A Good Sound Marriage [short story] 5 copies
The Collected Novels Volume One: The Life and Loves of a She Devil, The Hearts and Lives of Men, and Praxis (2018) 4 copies
The Collected Novels Volume Two: Letters to Alice, Worst Fears, and The Heart of the Country (2018) 2 copies
Madame Bovary: Breakfast With Emma 2 copies
Weekend 2 copies
Upstairs Downstairs: First Season - Volume I [TV series, 1971] — Writer; Writer — 1 copy
Mixed Doubles (AYCKBOURN) 1 copy
The Collected Novels Volume Three: The Fat Woman's Joke, Down Among the Women, Growing Rich, and Darcy's Utopia (2018) 1 copy
Sveitasæla 1 copy
Die Teufelin 1 copy
HLe Iamiche del cuore 1 copy
Upstairs, Downstairs: Second Season - Volume II [TV series, 1972] — Writer — 1 copy
Associated Works
A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen (2009) — Contributor — 413 copies, 18 reviews
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Women Writers Explore Their Favorite Fairy Tales (1998) — Contributor — 312 copies, 4 reviews
Bram Stoker's Dracula Omnibus: Dracula/the Lair of the White Worm/Dracula's Guest (1992) — Introduction — 102 copies, 1 review
Literary Traveller: An Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction (1994) — Contributor — 55 copies, 1 review
Take My Advice: Letters to the Next Generation from People Who Know a Thing or Two (2002) — Contributor — 50 copies
Make Mine a Double: Why Women Like Us Like to Drink (Or Not) (2011) — Contributor — 23 copies, 12 reviews
The Cloning of Joanna May [1992 TV mini series] — Original book — 1 copy
Urlaubsträume. Geschichten für die schönste Zeit des Jahres — Author — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Birkinshaw, Franklin
- Other names
- Birkinshaw, Franklin (birth name)
- Birthdate
- 1931-09-22
- Date of death
- 2023-01-04
- Gender
- female
- Education
- University of St Andrews (MA|1952)
- Occupations
- advertising copywriter
novelist
short story writer
essayist
university professor
playwright - Organizations
- Brunel University
The Savoy Hotel, London
Ogilvy, Benson & Mather
Crawford's Advertising Agency
British Foreign Office
Bath Spa University - Awards and honors
- Order of the British Empire (Commander, 2001)
Royal Society of Literature (Fellow, 1986) - Relationships
- Jepson, Margaret (mother)
Jepson, Edgar (grandfather) - Short biography
- Fay Weldon's body of work includes more than 20 novels, five collections of short stories, several children's books, non-fiction books, magazine articles and a number of plays written for television, radio and the stage (including the pilot episode of the hit TV series Upstairs Downstairs). Her fiction, much of which is satiric in tone, often focuses on women and gives voice to their inner thoughts and feelings. She married Roy Weldon in 1962 (they later divorced) and the couple had three sons in addition to Fay's older child. After a successful career in advertising, she began writing fiction and published her first novel in 1967.
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Alvechurch, Worcestershire, England, UK
- Places of residence
- Auckland, New Zealand
London, Middlesex, England, UK
Dorset, England, UK
Coromandel, New Zealand - Place of death
- Northampton, England, UK
- Map Location
- England, UK
Members
Reviews
A Screwtape for Eng Lit undergraduates: Aunt Fay, the experienced novelist, writes to her (fictional) green-haired and rebellious niece Alice, trying to convince her of the joys of serious literature in general and Jane Austen in particular. Meanwhile, Alice seems to be getting on quite well with her own life without ever opening the pages of Persuasion.
There’s a lot of fun stuff here about what fiction is for and why we read — and write — novels, about how unpleasant the world was, show more especially for women, in Jane Austen’s day, about the realities of being a writer and making things up for a living, about why Austen wrote the sort of novels she did, and much else, all set out in a very droll, down-to-earth way. Certainly one of the funniest serious books of literary criticism you’re likely to come across, and it may make you regret the dullness of the set of real-life aunts nature issued you with… show less
There’s a lot of fun stuff here about what fiction is for and why we read — and write — novels, about how unpleasant the world was, show more especially for women, in Jane Austen’s day, about the realities of being a writer and making things up for a living, about why Austen wrote the sort of novels she did, and much else, all set out in a very droll, down-to-earth way. Certainly one of the funniest serious books of literary criticism you’re likely to come across, and it may make you regret the dullness of the set of real-life aunts nature issued you with… show less
Re-read - a dark, funny, fable of revenge, and what it means to be a woman, what happens if someone who's always played by the rules (good wife, good mother, good woman) is given permission to break every rule in the book, and what they do with the power this brings! Fay Weldon writes brilliantly and whilst the setting may have dated a little the tensions in sex and gender relations remain.
I bought this when my favourite used book store (call out for Russel Books in Victoria, BC!) didn't have Fay Weldon's Booker-nominated Praxis, but this caught my eye. It opens with:
Doris Dubois is twenty-three years younger than I am. She is slimmer than I am, and more clever. She has a degree in economics, and hosts a TV arts programme. She lives in a big house with a swimming pool at the end of a country lane. It used to be mine...I tried to kill her once, but failed.
And from there we're show more off on a satirical, fast-paced romp through wealthy London circa 2000. Grace has survived having her world yanked out from under her feet and a stint in prison, but maybe now the winds will blow her way. In her mid-fifties (and poorer than she expected to be at this age) she's not about to get riled by her ex-husband's new wife, "Britain's sweetheart," who is gunning for her. A younger man is smitten with Grace, and their relationship gives him the mature gravitas he craves, and Grace shocks everyone with her increasing youthfulness. In the meantime, despite all their efforts, things aren't going so well for the Ex- and his new Mrs.
This story is undoubtedly slanted in Grace's favour, but the author makes interesting shifts in points of view, and sometimes in unexpected places. Sort of like when you're watching a movie and the camera quickly catches a secondary-character's reaction to something that the main character might not see. It was odd, but it worked.
The other thing that was odd was the names: Doris Dubois (she pulled this surname out of her butt, it's actually something Eastern European) and the young lover-artist Walter Wells -- these two are around 30, which means they are slightly younger than me (in 2000), and "Doris" and "Walter" read much older. It turns out there was a literary reason for Doris, and I guess the Walter character just really wanted to be older. It took some adjusting from me though. And then there was a secondary character in the same age range named "Ethel." All very odd. The weirdest name, by far, was the ex-husband. Barley Salt. I first read it as "Bailey," but then realized, no, it's Barley. Okay, never heard that given name. And the surname Salt is not exactly common. Now put them together. They are both things we eat. Oats Pepper. Rice Nutmeg. Like I said, odd.
Recommended for: People who like social satire. Readers who don't like to read about rich people will hate this. show less
Doris Dubois is twenty-three years younger than I am. She is slimmer than I am, and more clever. She has a degree in economics, and hosts a TV arts programme. She lives in a big house with a swimming pool at the end of a country lane. It used to be mine...I tried to kill her once, but failed.
And from there we're show more off on a satirical, fast-paced romp through wealthy London circa 2000. Grace has survived having her world yanked out from under her feet and a stint in prison, but maybe now the winds will blow her way. In her mid-fifties (and poorer than she expected to be at this age) she's not about to get riled by her ex-husband's new wife, "Britain's sweetheart," who is gunning for her. A younger man is smitten with Grace, and their relationship gives him the mature gravitas he craves, and Grace shocks everyone with her increasing youthfulness. In the meantime, despite all their efforts, things aren't going so well for the Ex- and his new Mrs.
This story is undoubtedly slanted in Grace's favour, but the author makes interesting shifts in points of view, and sometimes in unexpected places. Sort of like when you're watching a movie and the camera quickly catches a secondary-character's reaction to something that the main character might not see. It was odd, but it worked.
The other thing that was odd was the names: Doris Dubois (she pulled this surname out of her butt, it's actually something Eastern European) and the young lover-artist Walter Wells -- these two are around 30, which means they are slightly younger than me (in 2000), and "Doris" and "Walter" read much older. It turns out there was a literary reason for Doris, and I guess the Walter character just really wanted to be older. It took some adjusting from me though. And then there was a secondary character in the same age range named "Ethel." All very odd. The weirdest name, by far, was the ex-husband. Barley Salt. I first read it as "Bailey," but then realized, no, it's Barley. Okay, never heard that given name. And the surname Salt is not exactly common. Now put them together. They are both things we eat. Oats Pepper. Rice Nutmeg. Like I said, odd.
Recommended for: People who like social satire. Readers who don't like to read about rich people will hate this. show less
Weldon's imaginary niece, Alice, wants to write a novel. What she doesn't want to do, despite doing a college course in English Literature, is read Jane Austen. Weldon sets out to show her why she should.
Weldon, as a novelist, has a rather different take on some of the received wisdom about Austen. She refers to James Austen-Leigh's famous comment about Austen covering her work when others entered the room, which has led some to speculate that she was ashamed of her work. Weldon notes that show more "[m]ost writers choose to cover their work when someone else comes into the room", not wanting to answer questions such as "And who is this Mr. Knightley?" One of the most delightful things about this book is to read a writer's take on Austen and her work and works.
But that's not all. Her description of Literature as a "City of Invention" is one of the best things I've read in a long time. Books are the buildings, writers the architects. I'm sure we can all name a few books that fit this description: Sometimes you'll find quite a shoddy building so well placed and painted that it quite takes the visitor in, and the critics as well - and all cluster round, crying, 'Lo, a masterpiece!' and award it prizes. But the passage of time, the peeling of paint, the very lack of concerned visitors, reveals it in the end for what it is: a house of no interest or significance. show less
Weldon, as a novelist, has a rather different take on some of the received wisdom about Austen. She refers to James Austen-Leigh's famous comment about Austen covering her work when others entered the room, which has led some to speculate that she was ashamed of her work. Weldon notes that show more "[m]ost writers choose to cover their work when someone else comes into the room", not wanting to answer questions such as "And who is this Mr. Knightley?" One of the most delightful things about this book is to read a writer's take on Austen and her work and works.
But that's not all. Her description of Literature as a "City of Invention" is one of the best things I've read in a long time. Books are the buildings, writers the architects. I'm sure we can all name a few books that fit this description: Sometimes you'll find quite a shoddy building so well placed and painted that it quite takes the visitor in, and the critics as well - and all cluster round, crying, 'Lo, a masterpiece!' and award it prizes. But the passage of time, the peeling of paint, the very lack of concerned visitors, reveals it in the end for what it is: a house of no interest or significance. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 95
- Also by
- 42
- Members
- 9,266
- Popularity
- #2,599
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 171
- ISBNs
- 1,034
- Languages
- 18
- Favorited
- 21