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Dame Cicely Isabel Fairfield DBE (21 December 1892 – 15 March 1983), known as Rebecca West, or Dame Rebecca West, was a British author, journalist, literary critic and travel writer. An author who wrote in many genres, West reviewed books for ''The Times'', the ''New York Herald Tribune'', the ''Sunday Telegraph'', and the ''New Republic'', and she was a correspondent for ''The Bookman''. Her major works include ''Black Lamb and Grey Falcon'' (1941), on the history and culture of Yugoslavia; ''A Train of Powder'' (1955), her coverage of the Nuremberg trials, published originally in ''The New Yorker''; ''The Meaning of Treason'', later ''The New Meaning of Treason'', a study of the trial of the British Fascist William Joyce and others; ''The Return of the Soldier'', a modernist World War I novel; and the "Aubrey trilogy" of autobiographical novels, ''The Fountain Overflows'', ''This Real Night'', and ''Cousin Rosamund''. ''Time'' called her "indisputably the world's number one woman writer" in 1947. She was made CBE in 1949,〔(The London Gazette Publication date:3 June 1949 Supplement:38628 Page:2804 )〕 and DBE in 1959,〔(The London Gazette Publication date:30 December 1958 Supplement:41589 Page:10 )〕 in each case, the citation reads 'writer and literary critic'. ==Biography== Rebecca West was born Cicely Isabel Fairfield in 1892 in Kerry and grew up in a home full of intellectual stimulation, political debate, lively company, books and music. Her mother, Isabella, a Scotswoman, was an accomplished pianist but did not pursue a musical career after her marriage to Charles Fairfield. Charles, an Anglo-Irish journalist of considerable reputation but financial incompetence, deserted his family when Cicely was 8 years old. He never rejoined them and died impoverished and alone in a boarding house in Liverpool in 1906, when Cicely was 14. The rest of the family moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, where Cicely was educated at George Watson's Ladies College. She had to leave school in 1907 due to a bout of tuberculosis. Cicely did not have any formal schooling after the age of 16, due to lack of funds. She had two older sisters. Letitia ("Lettie"), who was the best educated of the three, became one of the first fully qualified female doctors in Britain, as well as a barrister at the Inns of Court. Winifred ("Winnie"), the middle sister, married Norman Macleod, Principal Assistant Secretary in the Admiralty, and eventually director general of Greenwich Hospital. Winnie's two children, Alison and Norman, became closely involved in Rebecca's life as she got older; Alison Macleod would achieve a literary career of her own. West trained as an actress in London, taking the name 'Rebecca West' from the rebellious young heroine in ''Rosmersholm'' by Henrik Ibsen. She and Lettie became involved in the women's suffrage movement, participating in street protests. Meanwhile, West worked as a journalist for the feminist weekly ''Freewoman'' and the ''Clarion'', drumming up support for the suffragette cause. In September 1912 West accused the famously libertine writer H.G. Wells of being "the Old Maid among novelists" in a provocative review in ''Freewoman'' of his novel ''Marriage''. The review attracted Wells's interest and an invitation to lunch at his home. The two writers became lovers in late 1913.〔Gordon N. Ray, ''H.G. Wells & Rebecca West'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1974), pp. 1–32.〕 Their ten-year affair produced a son, Anthony West, born on 4 August 1914; their friendship lasted until Wells's death in 1946. West is also said to have had affairs with Charlie Chaplin and newspaper magnate Lord Beaverbrook. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rebecca West」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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