Florence Farr: Bernard Shaw's 'New Woman'

Florence Farr: Bernard Shaw's 'New Woman' is the first biography of an unjustly neglected figure. Florence Farr was a member of the occult Order of the Golden Dawn, and was closely connected with Bernard Shaw and W.B.Yeats; to the first she was a mistress and companion, in the second it was probably a spiritual relationship only. For years the unrevealed facts of her life have in part caused a void in both their biographies. She sought spiritual as well as physical independence, and she achieved intellectual recognition when it was unfashionable for women to do so. She was a mystic, and author, and a valiant although not superior actress in the years when it was not absolutely necessary to be the prototype of Ibsen's new woman. It is not so much her sentiments for Yeats and Shaw that appeal to us now, years after their deaths, but theirs for Florence Farr. This timely book fills a gap in the literary history of the turn of the century, and the author has been fortunate in being able to use hitherto unpublished correspondence and manuscripts by her subject.