A last look at the depressing biography of Jean Rhys

The previous articles in the series inspired by Carole Angier's biography Jean Rhys: Life and Work have covered most of the book's content of particular interest to me and relevance to this blog.

The mining for inspiration has been resulting in diminishing returns. While there is still more material in the book that attracts my attention and inspires commentary, it is mostly more of the same: it enhances topics already covered and supports points already made; it provides further descriptions of Jean Rhys's attributes and deficiencies; it gives yet more depressing and exasperating examples of her infantile personality, lack of life skills, bad behaviour and failure to learn from experience. 

However, there is still a little more to say in the form of a few miscellaneous thoughts and connections before leaving the biography behind at last and moving on to other things.

More elements in common with other writers
The article about Jean Rhys and Antonia White lists many elements that these two novelists had in common; several other articles, including the one about feeling different, mention some more familiar names. 

In addition to all that, Jean Rhys resembles Ouida and several others in her lack of financial sense, common sense and sense of humour. Ouida lost many letters and cherished mementos during her frequent moves from hotel to hotel and villa to villa; it was much the same for Jean Rhys.

Reading about her appalling treatment of her unfortunate and long-suffering husbands and the terrible effect that this had on them reminded me of other writers whose husbands were much the worse for the relationship:  Alison Uttley, Mary Webb, Daphne du Maurier and L. M. Montgomery are some who come immediately to mind. 

Demons and no hope for the future
As previously mentioned, when Jean Rhys was aged 10 or so her mother told her:

“I've done my best, it's no use. You'll never learn to be like other people.“

Carole Angier tells us about Jean Rhys's reaction to this:

“And to her feeling then —

'that went straight as an arrow to the heart, straight as the truth. I saw the long road of isolation and loneliness stretching in front of me as far as the eye could see, and farther.' 

She'd been right; she was still on it.“

This immediately reminded me of something that I had read in Eoin Colfer's Lost Colony. The little imp and unhatched demon Number One, who like Jean Rhys was persecuted for being different, had a similar feeling:

“...but inside, his brain churned along with his stomach. Was this to be the whole extent of his life? Forever mocked, forever different. Never a moment of light or hope.”

However, there was a good outcome for Number One: unlike Jean Rhys, he did get onto a much better road.

By coincidence, the repetition compulsion syndrome, a major feature in Jean Rhys's life, has been described as the sign of an unexorcised demon!

Personal disempowerment
Carole Angier mentions Jean Rhys's lifelong inability to directly express her feelings – positive or negative – to the person who inspired them.

She was not alone in this. Just as feeling fundamentally different from the people around them is characteristic of many writers, so is putting things down on paper rather than speaking to people directly. Georgette Heyer for example hated and avoided confrontation. 

Jean Rhys was not the only one to use metaphysical methods or mind power to try to get what she wanted either. Many other writers did this rather than earn things by stating their position, negotiating and asserting themselves in the normal way. August Strindberg for example created a mental scenario designed to reunite him with his family rather than just letting his wife know that he missed her and his little daughter.

Finding the biography

For anyone who wants to follow up these articles and go direct to the source, the biography can be bought online - it is important not to mistake the short biographical sketch of 1985 for the detailed 1990 book. The hardback version costs a small fortune, but paperbacks are available and of course there is always the public library. 

Jean Rhys in the future
This may be the last of the articles directly inspired by Jean Rhys: Life and Work, but it may not be the end of references to Jean Rhys and her books: there may be more to say about aspects of her life that Carole Angier didn't cover or find explanations for, and Jean Rhys's very autobiographical novels may contain more inspiration, information and quotable material. 

I have not read all of her stories, and I am interested in them only for research purposes: just like Carole Angier's biography, they are not something that I would ever read for enjoyment!