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Last edited by Doro Wynant
March 18, 2023 | History
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Jean Rhys

Jean Rhys, born Ella Gwendolyn Rees Williams in 1890, was a 20th-century novelist and writer of short stories. Born and raised on the Caribbean island of Dominica, she moved to England at age 16, became a chorus girl, and embarked on the life of a demimondaine there and in Europe. Her deep sense of being an outsider -- the descendant of white colonialists in the Caribbean, then a Creole in England -- never left her and deeply informed her work.

Rhys's evocative sketches in the 1920s caught the eye, and briefly earned the patronage, of Ford Madox Ford (her fraught relationship with him is explored in her debut novel, Quartet [1928]). She is best known for her novel Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), which examined the character of Bertha Rochester (in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre) from a different angle.

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Born 24 August 1890
Died 14 May 1979

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  • Cover of: Breads and Muffins (Cooking at a Glance)

    First published in 1995 1 edition
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  • Cover of: Early Novels

    First published in 1984 1 edition
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  • Cover of: Il ne faut pas tirer les oiseaux au repos

    First published in 1994 1 edition in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Jean Rhys letters, 1931-1966

    First published in 1984 1 edition in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Jean Rhys: The Complete Novels

    First published in 1985 1 edition in 1 language — 1 previewable
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  • Cover of: The letters of Jean Rhys

    First published in 1984 1 edition in 1 language — 1 previewable
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  • Cover of: Let them call it jazz and other stories

    First published in 1995 1 edition in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Los Tigres Son Mas Hermosos

    First published in 2004 1 edition in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Prelude to Poetry

    First published in 1971 1 edition in 1 language — 1 previewable
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  • Cover of: Quai des Grand Augustins

    First published in 1981 1 edition
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  • Cover of: Tales of the wide Caribbean

    First published in 1980 1 edition in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Tales of the Wide Caribbean

    First published in 1985 1 edition
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  • Cover of: Collected Short Stories

    First published in 2017 1 edition in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Till September Petronella

    First published in 2018 1 edition in 1 language
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  • Cover of: La Grosse Fifi

    First published in 2011 1 edition — 1 previewable
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  • Cover of: Meng hui zao hai

    First published in 2002 1 edition in 1 language — 1 previewable
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  • Cover of: The Virago Book of Ghost Stories: Volume 2 - The Twentieth Century

    First published in 1994 1 edition
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  • Cover of: Tigers are better-looking, with a selection from The Left Bank: stories.

    First published in 1968 1 edition in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Jean Rhys: letters 1931-1966

    First published in 1985 1 edition in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Jean Rhys letters: 1931-1966

    First published in 1984 1 edition in 1 language
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Photo of Jean Rhys

Born 24 August 1890
Died 14 May 1979
Subjects
Fiction, British and irish fiction (fictional works by one author), Fiction, general, Fiction, short stories (single author), Rhys, jean, 1894-1979, English Novelists, Novelists, English, Biography, Correspondence, English literature, Manners and customs, Social life and customs, Authors, Continental european fiction (fictional works by one author), English, English Short stories, English Women novelists, Fiction, classics, Fiction, women, Imprisonment, Large type books, Man-woman relationships, Married people, Paris (france), fiction, Short stories
Places
Paris (France), Caribbean Area, Dominica, England, West Indies, British West Indies, Caribbean, Coulibri, Europe, France, Granbois, Jamaica, London, London (England), Thornfield Hall
People
Jean Rhys, Jean Rhys (1894-1979), Antoinette, Christophine, Daniel, Mr. Mason, Pierre
Time
20th century, 1930s, 19th century, Siglo XX

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Alternative names

  • Jean Rhys
  • Rui Si (Rhys, Jean, 1894-1979)
  • Rhys Jean
  • Ella Gwendolyn Rees Williams

History

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March 18, 2023 Edited by Doro Wynant The wikipedia bio is too short and somewhat inaccurate. Wide Sargasso Sea was not written as a "prequel" to Jane Eyre; rather, Rhys identified with Bertha -- as a Creole and as an exploited woman -- and chose to write Bertha's story. I've studied Rhys's work for 30 yrs, and I know these biographical details very well.
September 27, 2020 Edited by MARC Bot add ISNI
February 27, 2020 Edited by Tom Morris Add AKA
February 12, 2020 Edited by Lisa merge authors
August 31, 2008 Created by ImportBot Imported from Talis MARC record.