Editing May Sinclair

{{Short description|English writer and suffragist (1863–1946)}}
{{similar names|Mary Sinclair (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2017}}
{{Infobox writer
| name        = May Sinclair
| image       = May Sinclair 001.jpg
| caption     = May Sinclair c. 1912
| birth_name  = Mary Amelia St. Clair
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1863|8|24|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Rock Ferry]], [[Cheshire]], England
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1946|11|14|1863|8|24|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Bierton]], [[Buckinghamshire]], England
| nationality = British
| occupation  = Novelist and poet
| genre       = 
| movement    = 
| signature   = 
| influences  = 
| influenced  = 
}}
'''May Sinclair''' was the [[pseudonym]] of '''Mary Amelia St. Clair''' (24 August 1863 – 14 November 1946), a popular British writer who wrote about two dozen novels, short stories and poetry.<ref>[http://www.bookrags.com/May_Sinclair Bookrags biography]</ref> She was an active [[suffragist]], and member of the Woman Writers' Suffrage League. She once dressed up as a demure, rebel [[Jane Austen]] for a suffrage fundraising event.<ref> {{Cite book|last=Looser|first=Devoney|title=The Making of Jane Austen|location=Baltimore, MD|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|year=2017|page=174|isbn=978-1421422824}}</ref> Sinclair was also a significant critic in the area of [[modernist poetry]] and [[modernist literature|prose]], and she is attributed with first using the term [[stream of consciousness (narrative mode)|'stream of consciousness']] in a literary context, when reviewing the first volumes of [[Dorothy Richardson]]'s [[novel sequence]] ''[[Pilgrimage (novel sequence)|Pilgrimage]]'' (1915–1967), in ''The Egoist'', April 1918.

==Early life==
{{Unreferenced section|date=April 2022}}
Sinclair was born in [[Rock Ferry]], [[Cheshire]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Zegger |first=Hrisey D. |title=May Sinclair |publisher=Boston: Twayne Publishers |year=1976 |isbn=9780805766660 |pages=16 |language=English}}</ref> Her mother, Amelia Sinclair, was strict and religious; her father, William Sinclair, was a [[Liverpool]] shipowner, who went bankrupt when Sinclair was seven years old and became an alcoholic.<ref name=":0" /> Her parents separated and Sinclair lived with her mother, moving around and relying on the help of relatives.<ref name=":0" /> At 18 years old, Sinclair was enrolled at [[Cheltenham Ladies College]], but her mother took her out after one year.<ref name=":0" /> She became obliged to look after her brothers, as four of the five, all older than she, were suffering from fatal congenital heart disease.<ref>{{Cite web |title=May Sinclair – Modernism Lab |url=https://campuspress.yale.edu/modernismlab/may-sinclair/#:~:text=Clair%20was%20born%20in%20Rock,that%20resulted%20in%20early%20death. |access-date=2024-11-29 |website=campuspress.yale.edu}}</ref>

==Career==
From 1896 Sinclair wrote professionally to support herself and her mother, who died in 1901. An active feminist, Sinclair treated a number of themes relating to the position of women and marriage.<ref name="gc">Gary Crawford, "May Sinclair" in  [[Jack Sullivan (literary scholar)|Jack Sullivan]] (ed) (1986) ''[[The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural]]'', Viking Press, 1986, {{ISBN|0-670-80902-0}} (pp. 387-8).</ref> Her works sold well in the [[United States]].
[[File:Mary Sinclair entering Kensington Women's Social & Political Union shop.jpg|thumb|Ma(r)y Sinclair entering Kensington's Women's Social & Political Union shop in 1910]]
Sinclair's suffrage activities were remembered by [[Sylvia Pankhurst]]. Photographs (as "Mary Sinclair" show her around the WSPU offices in [[Kensington]]. In 1912 the [[Women Writers' Suffrage League]] published her ideas on feminism. Here she de-bunked theories put forward by Sir [[Almroth Wright]] that the suffragists were powered by their sexual frustration because of the shortage of men. She said that suffrage and the class struggle were similar aspirations and the working woman should not be in competition with the ambitions of the male working class.<ref name="Wallace2000">{{cite book|author=D. Wallace|title=Sisters and Rivals in British Women's Fiction, 1914-39|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8U6GDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA79|date=21 June 2000|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|isbn=978-0-230-59880-5|pages=79–}}</ref>

Around 1913, she was a founding supporter of the Medico-Psychological Clinic in London which was run by Dr [[Jessie Murray]].<ref name="Wallace2000"/> Sinclair became interested in [[psychoanalytic]] thought, and introduced matter related to [[Sigmund Freud]]'s teaching in her novels.<ref name="gc" /> In 1914, she volunteered to join the [[Munro Ambulance Corps]], a charitable organization (which included [[Lady Dorothie Feilding]], [[Elsie Knocker]] and [[Mairi Chisholm]]) that aided wounded [[Belgian people|Belgian]] soldiers on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] in [[Flanders]]. She was sent home after only a few weeks at the front; she wrote about the experience in both prose and poetry. 

Her 1913 novel ''The Combined Maze'', the story of a London clerk and the two women he loves, was highly praised by critics, including [[George Orwell]], while [[Agatha Christie]] considered it one of the greatest English novels of its time.

She wrote early criticism on [[Imagism]] and the poet [[H. D.]] (1915 in ''[[The Egoist (periodical)|The Egoist]]''); she was on social terms with H. D. (Hilda Doolittle), [[Richard Aldington]] and [[Ezra Pound]] at the time. She also reviewed in a positive light the poetry of [[T. S. Eliot]] (1917 in the ''[[Little Review]]'') and the fiction of [[Dorothy Richardson]] (1918 in ''The Egoist''). 
Some aspects of Sinclair's subsequent novels have been traced as influenced by modernist techniques, particularly in the autobiographical ''Mary Olivier: A Life'' (1919). She was included in the 1925 ''Contact Collection of Contemporary Writers''.

Sinclair wrote two volumes of [[supernatural fiction]], ''Uncanny Stories'' (1923) and ''The Intercessor and Other Stories'' (1931).<ref name="gc" /> [[E. F. Bleiler]] called Sinclair "an underrated writer" and described ''Uncanny Stories'' as "excellent".<ref>E. F. Bleiler, ''The Guide to Supernatural Fiction'', Kent State University Press, 1983</ref> [[Gary William Crawford|Gary Crawford]] has stated Sinclair's contribution to the supernatural fiction genre, "small as it is, is notable".<ref name="gc" /> [[Jacques Barzun]] included Sinclair among a list of supernatural fiction writers that "one should make a point of seeking out".<ref>Jacques Barzun, "Introduction" to ''The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural'', (p. xxviii).</ref> [[Brian Stableford]] has stated that  Sinclair's "supernatural tales are written with uncommon delicacy and precision, and they are among the most effective examples of their fugitive kind".<ref>[[Brian Stableford]], "Sinclair, May" in [[David Pringle]], ed., ''St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost and Gothic Writers''. (Detroit: St. James Press, 1998) {{ISBN|1558622063}} (pp. 538-539)</ref> Andrew Smith has described ''Uncanny Stories'' as "an important contribution to the ghost story".<ref>Andrew Smith, ''Gothic Literature''. Edinburgh; Edinburgh University Press, 2007 {{ISBN|0748623701}}  (p. 130)</ref>
 
From the late 1920s, she was suffering from the early signs of [[Parkinson's disease]], and ceased writing. She settled with a companion in [[Buckinghamshire]] in 1932.

She is buried at [[St John-at-Hampstead]]'s churchyard, London.<ref>Wilson, Scott. ''Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons'', 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 43586-43587). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.</ref>

==Philosophy==

Sinclair also wrote non-fiction based on studies of philosophy, particularly [[idealism]]. She defended a form of idealistic [[monism]] in her book ''A Defence of Idealism'' (1917).<ref>Anonymous. (1918). ''A Defence of Idealism: Some Questions and Conclusions''. ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' 100: 342-343.</ref>

Sinclair was interested in [[parapsychology]] and [[Spiritualism (movement)|spiritualism]], she was a member of the [[Society for Psychical Research]] from 1914.<ref name="gc" /><ref>Boll, Theophilus Ernest Martin. (1973). ''Miss May Sinclair: Novelist: A Biographical and Critical Introduction''. Associated University Presses, Inc. p. 105. {{ISBN|0-8386-1156-7}}</ref>

==Works==
[[File:Portrait of Miss May Sinclair.jpg|thumb|240px|Portrait of May Sinclair, by E. Huggins]]
{{div col|colwidth=26em}}
*''Nakiketas and other poems'' (1886) as Julian Sinclair
*''Essays in Verse'' (1892)
*''[https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20130705 Audrey Craven]'' (1897)
*''Mr and Mrs Nevill Tyson'' (1898) also ''The Tysons''
*''Two Sides Of A Question'' (1901)
*''The Divine Fire'' (1904)
*''The Helpmate'' (1907)
*''The Judgment of Eve'' (1907) stories
*''The Immortal Moment'' (1908)
*''Kitty Tailleur'' (1908)
*''Outlines of Church History'' by [[Rudolph Sohm]] (1909) translator
*''The Creators'' (1910)
*''Miss Tarrant's Temperament'' (1911) in Harper's Magazine
*''The Flaw in the Crystal'' (1912)
*''The Three Brontes'' (1912)
*''Feminism'' (1912) pamphlet for Women's Suffrage League
*''The Combined Maze'' (1913)
*''The Three Sisters'' (1914)
*''The Return of the Prodigal'' (1914)
*''A Journal of Impressions in Belgium'' (1915)
*''The Belfry'' (1916)
*''Tasker Jevons: The Real Story'' (1916)
*''The Tree of Heaven'' (1917)
*[https://archive.org/details/defenceofidealis00sinc ''A Defence of Idealism: Some Questions & Conclusions''] (1917)
*''[[Mary Olivier: A Life]]'' (1919)
*''The Romantic'' (1920)
*''Mr. Waddington of Wyck'' (1921)
*''[[Life and Death of Harriett Frean]]'' (1922)
*''Anne Severn and the Fieldings'' (1922)
*[https://archive.org/details/newidealism01sinc ''The New Idealism''] (1922)
*''Uncanny Stories'' (1923)
*''A Cure of Souls'' (1924)
*''The Dark Night: A Novel in Unrhymed Verse'' (1924)
*''[[Arnold Waterlow]]'' (1924)
*''The Rector of Wyck'' (1925)
*''Far End'' (1926)
*''The Allinghams'' (1927)
*''History of Anthony Waring'' (1927)
*''Fame'' (1929)
*''Tales Told by Simpson'' (1930) stories
*''[https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20200332 The Intercessor, and Other Stories]'' (1931)
*''[https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20130705 Villa Désirée]'' (1932)
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Sources==

*Theophilus Ernest Martin Boll (1973) ''Miss May Sinclair: Novelist; A Biographical and Critical Introduction''
*Suzanne Raitt (2000) ''May Sinclair: A Modern Victorian''
*George M. Johnson (2006) "May Sinclair: The Evolution of a Psychological Novelist" in Dynamic Psychology in Modern British Fiction. Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. pp.&nbsp;101–143.

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[http://www.maysinclairsociety.com May Sinclair Society]
*[http://www.maysinclairsociety.com/may-sinclair-and-stream-of-consciousness An essay on May Sinclair, Dorothy Richardson, and 'Stream of Consciousness']
*[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4086 A 2001 essay by Leigh Wilson] ([[University of Westminster]]), from ''[[The Literary Encyclopedia]]''
* {{LCAuth|n50023565|May Sinclair|65|ue}}
* {{isfdb name|14934}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=3004| name=May Sinclair}}
* {{FadedPage|id=Sinclair, May|name=May Sinclair|author=yes}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=May Sinclair}}
* {{Librivox author |id=3383}}
*[https://archive.org/stream/cellarhouseofper00mittuoft#page/n7/mode/2up ''The Cellar-House of Pervyse'' (1917)] at [[Internet Archive]]
*[http://www.greatwardifferent.com/Great_War/Nurses_6/Sinclair_01.htm ''We Brought Succour to Belgium'' (1914)] at 'A Nurse at the War'
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120229140917/http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/ideasv62/raitt.htm ''May Sinclair and the First World War'' (Part 1) (1999)] at National Humanities Center
*[http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/images/raitt3.jpg&imgrefurl=http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/ideasv62/raittb.htm&usg=__SWgYljo1LOSSU7LCvvFzPLwFi1g=&h=379&w=203&sz=11&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=G67OI7aj7ZmPtM:&tbnh=134&tbnw=71&prev=/images%3Fq%3DMay%2BSinclair%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26biw%3D1257%26bih%3D694%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=381&vpy=23&dur=85&hovh=303&hovw=162&tx=90&ty=155&ei=qImVTK6AGoj0swPa9oHlBA&oei=qImVTK6AGoj0swPa9oHlBA&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=35&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0 ''May Sinclair and the First World War'' (Part 2) (1999)] at National Humanities Center
*[http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/ead/detail.html?id=EAD_upenn_rbml_MsColl184 May Sinclair papers] Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinclair, May}}
[[Category:1863 births]]
[[Category:1946 deaths]]
[[Category:British parapsychologists]]
[[Category:British ghost story writers]]
[[Category:British women in World War I]]
[[Category:English women short story writers]]
[[Category:English feminists]]
[[Category:English short story writers]]
[[Category:English spiritualists]]
[[Category:English women poets]]
[[category:Idealists]]
[[Category:Members of the Women Writers' Suffrage League]]
[[Category:Modernist women writers]]
[[Category:People educated at Cheltenham Ladies' College]]
[[Category:People from Ilford]]
[[Category:Writers from Birkenhead]]