Ella D'Arcy

Ella D'Arcy (Constance Eleanor Mary Byrne D'Arcy) (23 August 1857 – 5 September 1937)[1] was a short fiction writer in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Ella D'Arcy

Life

D'Arcy was born in London to Anthony Byrne Darcey and Sophia Anne Byrne Darcey (née Matthews). One of nine children, she was educated in London, Germany, France and the Channel Islands. Although a student of fine art, D'Arcy abandoned this career, allegedly on the grounds of poor eyesight, in favour of becoming an author.[2]

Living in London, and working as a contributor to, and unofficial editor of, alongside Henry Harland, the Yellow Book, D'Arcy's work is characterised by a psychologically realist style – often attracting comparisons with Henry James – and her determination to engage with themes such as marriage, the family, deception and imitation. Many of her stories also demonstrate the influence of her time in the Channel Islands, most notably "White Magic".

Primarily a writer of short stories, D'Arcy's output is limited. Best known for her short stories in the Yellow Book, recognition of D'Arcy's work grew after the publication of "Irremediable", with The Bookman among others, noting the story as praiseworthy. Alongside her work in the Yellow Book, D'Arcy also published in Argosy, Blackwood's Magazine, and Temple Bar. Her work on the Yellow Book bought her into contact with the publisher John Lane, who initially published her collection of short stories, Monochromes (1895), and went to publish her further works, Modern Instances (1898), and The Bishop’s Dilemma (1898), under the Bodley Head imprint.[2] As well as writing fiction, D'Arcy also translated into English André Maurois's biography of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ariel (1924).

D'Arcy was notorious for her inability to maintain contact with her friends, exacerbated by her love of travel, often appearing unannounced, earning her the nickname 'Goblin Ella.'[2]

Ella D'Arcy spent much of her life living alone, in relative poverty. Her writing, although demonstrating a real engagement with the changing and challenging artistic styles of the late nineteenth century, was motivated by need. She spent her final years living in Paris, until she returned to London in 1937 and died in a London hospital that year.[2]

Bibliography

Stories that appeared in The Yellow Book.

  • Volume One "Irremediable"[3]
  • Volume Two "Poor Cousin Louis"[4]
  • Volume Three "White Magic"[5]
  • Volume Five "The Pleasure-Pilgrim"[6]
  • Volume Eight "An Engagement"[7]
  • Volume Ten "Two Stories"[8]
  • Volume Eleven "A Marriage"[9]
  • Volume Twelve "At Twickenham"[10]
  • Volume Thirteen "Sir Julian Garve"[11]

Other
  • Monochromes (1895)[12]
  • Modern Instances (1898)
  • The Bishop's Dilemma (1898)
  • Ariel (1924) (trans)

Further reading
  • Beckson, Karl, "Ella D'Arcy, Aubrey Beardsley and the Crisis at The Yellow Book: A New Letter," Notes and Queries, 26 (1979), 331–33
  • Fisher, Benjamin Franklin, "The American Reception of Ella D'Arcy," Victorian Periodicals Review 28 (Fall 1995): 232–48
  • --- "Christianity in the Fiction of Ella D'Arcy," Xavier Review, 15 (1995), 29–37
  • --- "Ella D'Arcy: A Commentary with a Primary and Annotated Secondary Bibliography", English Literature in Transition, 35 (1992), 179–211
  • --- "Ella D’Arcy Reminisces", English Literature in Transition, 37 (1994), 28–32
  • Fisher, Benjamin Franklin, and Michael P. Dean, eds., "Ella D'Arcy, First Lady of the Decadents," University of Mississippi Studies in English, 10 (1992), 238–49
  • Maier, Sarah E., "Subverting the Ideal: The New Woman and the Battle of the Sexes in the Short Fiction of Ella D'Arcy", Victorian Review 20 (Summer 1994), 35–48
  • Mix, Katherine Lyon, A Study in Yellow: The Yellow Book and its Contributors (London: Constable, 1960)
  • Stetz, Margaret D., "Turning Points: Ella D'Arcy," Turn-of-the-Century Women, 3 (1986), 1–14
  • Stetz, Margaret D., and Mark Samuels Lasner, The Yellow Book: A Centenary Exhibition (Cambridge: The Houghton Library, 1994)
  • Windholz, Anne M., "The Woman Who Would Be Editor: Ella D'Arcy and the Yellow Book," Victorian Periodicals Review 29 (Summer 1996), 116–30.

References
  1. An application in her Royal Literary Fund Case File (British Library Loan 96 RLF 1/3448) lists her birth date as 23 August 1857; a letter from her sister in the same file gives her date of death as 5 September 1937. The birth record from the General Records Office has Constance Eleanor Mary Darcey born on 23 August 1857 to Anthony Byrne Darcey and Sophia Anne Byrne Darcey (formerly Matthews).
  2. "D'Arcy, Constance Eleanor Mary Byrne". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/38586. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. "The yellow book : an illustrated quarterly : Beardsley, Aubrey, 1872–1898 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive". Archive.org. 10 March 2001. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  4. "The yellow book : an illustrated quarterly : Beardsley, Aubrey, 1872–1898 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive". Archive.org. 10 March 2001. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  5. "The yellow book, an illustrated quarterly Volume 3 : Beardsley, Aubrey, 1872–1898 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive". Archive.org. 10 March 2001. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  6. "The yellow book : an illustrated quarterly : Beardsley, Aubrey, 1872–1898 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive". Archive.org. 10 March 2001. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  7. "The yellow book, an illustrated quarterly Volume 8 : Beardsley, Aubrey, 1872–1898 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive". Archive.org. 10 March 2001. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  8. "The yellow book : an illustrated quarterly Volume 10 : Beardsley, Aubrey, 1872–1898 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive". Archive.org. 10 March 2001. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  9. "The yellow book, an illustrated quarterly Volume 11 : Beardsley, Aubrey, 1872–1898 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive". Archive.org. 10 March 2001. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  10. "The yellow book, an illustrated quarterly Volume 12 : Beardsley, Aubrey, 1872–1898 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive". Archive.org. 10 March 2001. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  11. "The yellow book, an illustrated quarterly Volume 13 : Beardsley, Aubrey, 1872–1898 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive". Archive.org. 10 March 2001. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  12. "Monochromes : D'Arcy, Ella : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive". Archive.org. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
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