The Constant Nymph (novel)
The Constant Nymph is a 1924 novel by Margaret Kennedy. It tells how a teenage girl falls in love with a family friend, who eventually marries her cousin. It explores the protagonists' complex family histories, focusing on class, education and creativity.
 | |
| Author | Margaret Kennedy |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Heinemann |
Publication date | 1924 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 344 pp |
| Followed by | The Fool of the Family |
Reception and influence
The novel sold well from its first appearance, becoming the first novel of a genre sometimes called "Bohemian". Much of its success was due to its then-shocking sexual content, describing scenes of adolescent sexuality and of noble savagery in the Austrian Tyrol.
There is a complimentary allusion to the novel in the 1934 detective story The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers. Fifteen-year-old Hilary tells her father she aspires to write novels: "Best sellers. The sort that everybody goes potty over. Not just bosh ones, but like The Constant Nymph."[1] Sayers includes a positive mention by two characters in her 1930 epistolary novel, The Documents in the Case.[2]
The character and appearance of the composer Lewis Dodd was based on the artist Henry Lamb, who was a gifted pianist.[3] Kennedy's cousin George was one of Lamb's oldest friends. Attributes of Albert Sanger were taken from Augustus John, particular the artists' colony he set up in 1911 at Alderney Manor.[4] Kennedy may have been trying to protect herself against accusations of using her friends as models by transferring to both of them the talents of musicians rather than painters.[5]
Adaptations
Margaret Kennedy and Basil Dean adapted The Constant Nymph for a three-act play that was published by Doubleday, Page and Company (Garden City, N.Y.) in 1926. A differently treated, second stage adaptation of the play was published by William Heinemann (London) in 1926.[6] The play was performed on the London stage in 1926 and featured Noël Coward and Edna Best.[7]
The novel was first adapted as a silent film in 1928 by Adrian Brunel and Alma Reville and directed by Brunel and Basil Dean. This version starred Ivor Novello, Mabel Poulton and Benita Hume.[8] It was adapted again in 1933 by Dorothy Farnum and directed by Dean. It featured Victoria Hopper, Brian Aherne and Leonora Corbett.[8] A third film adaptation in 1943 featured Charles Boyer, Joan Fontaine, and Alexis Smith. It was adapted by Kathryn Scola and directed by Edmund Goulding.
References
- Paperback reissue (London: New English Library, 1968), p. 79.
- Extract
- William Amos. The Originals: Who's Who in Fiction (1985), pp. 455-456
- Hammill, Faye. Women, Celebrity, and Literary Culture between the Wars (2009), p. 144
- Violet Powell. The Constant Novelist: a study of Margaret Kennedy, 1896-1967 (1983), pp. 57-68
- 20th-Century American Bestsellers.
- "New Theatre", The Times, 15 September 1926, p. 10
- Life. "Movie of the Week: The Constant Nymph". August 2, 1943. p. 38
External links
- Full text of The Constant Nymph at the Internet Archive