Jean Rhys, Smile Please: An Unfinished Autobiography

Peter Hulme (University of Essex)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 4.1.1: Anglophone Writing and Culture of Central America and the Caribbean.
Vol. editors: Ronald Cummings (McMaster University), Delphine Munos (Université de Liège), Melanie Otto (Trinity College Dublin), Jak Peake (University of Essex), Abigail Ward (University of Nottingham)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1979

Places

Dominica (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Autobiography (literary)

Resources

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As Diana Athill, Rhys’s editor and friend, explains in her foreword to this work, Rhys was not particularly attracted to the autobiographical form but felt impelled to correct certain misapprehensions which had angered and hurt her. The process proved long and arduous: many of her memories had already been transmuted in writing her fiction; she was fastidious about not making things up; she was increasingly inclined towards reworking and rewriting; and fundamentally she continued to believe that it was the work that mattered, not the person.

There were also physical difficulties in writing as she moved into her mid-80s. Several people helped, none more attentively, in his own account, than the writer David Plante, who spent much time during the three winters of 1976, 1977, and 1978

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1226 words

Citation: Hulme, Peter. "Smile Please: An Unfinished Autobiography". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 January 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=2014, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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