For decades, precious little has been known about the author, among Victorian literature's most distinctive voices, formerly praised for her brilliance by the famous playwright.
Today, readers will be able to learn more with a literary figure whose pioneering work examined women’s independence, Jewish identity, and queer love.
“Seldom nowadays for a complete collection of a 1800s author’s papers to emerge,” stated a chief librarian. “Our goal was to act on this to make her archive accessible in the place where she attended university and where she returned to even in the last months of her life.”
A Pioneering Life
Levy was born in 1861 into a middle-class Jewish family in London and enrolled at Newnham College in 1879, establishing herself as the second Jewish woman among Cambridge’s first generation of women scholars.
She authored three poetry collections, three novels – including Reuben Sachs and The Romance of a Shop – a wealth of essays and a collection of writings for the Jewish Chronicle. When she ended her life in 1889, at the age of 27, she was acknowledged by her fellow writers as an extraordinary gift, with Oscar Wilde writing her obituary and lauding the “sincerity, candor, and melancholy” of her work.
A Complex Identity
A noted academic developing a literary analysis about Levy expressed that she believed the archival materials would not only reshape literary criticism but also be of appeal to a general readership.
“I encountered Amy’s poetry long ago and they have haunted me ever since,” the scholar said. “Not only was she a skilled and poignant writer, but she was also so complex. She asserted her Jewish roots, but she was also an non-believer. She seemed to get along very well with men, but she was a homosexual woman.”
The expert explained that Levy had cultivated a social network at Newnham and also in her later years, notably through Violet Paget “who was extremely networked to a wide circle including Wilde. Levy entered Lee’s circle, in fact she fell in love with her, a love that unfortunately was never returned.
“When Wilde was given a short manuscript from Levy for his magazine the Woman’s World, he was astonished by the story and called Levy a young woman of brilliance.”
A Lasting Legacy
Experts contend Levy’s work speaks directly to modern discussions around gender equality, queer writing and the Jewish plight and say she predated debate that would come long after her death.
“She was progressive, which was possibly one of the reasons she failed to secure her place,” the researcher said. “She grappled with her same-sex attraction and how she belonged in a traditional society. Wedlock was not an option for her, but neither was having a vocation like a educator, which she gave up to become a professional writer.
“She has long been interesting to people who study Jewish women and their history. And today, when we have in the aftermath of the worldwide health crisis so many youth struggling with despair, worry, psychological distress, even suicidal thoughts, understanding her might be of interest and solace to a broader audience too,” the scholar said.
The Last Months
The assemblage includes Levy’s 1889 appointment diary, in which increasingly sparse entries trace the final months before her death from carbon monoxide poisoning. A last, poignant entry, written the day before she died, said: “Spent the day alone at home.” But the scholar said Levy in many ways had “a vibrant, complete, thrilling existence” too.
“She could be witty at times, which can be seen in her writings. She did suffer from a trifecta of challenges, including nerve pain. She was growing increasingly deaf, which causes isolation from others and isolation. And she also suffered from despondency.
“Though she did not ultimately achieve happiness, it was always something she demanded: the entitlement to joy, even overjoyed.”
