Webb, Mary (Meredith)

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Mary (Meredith) Webb, 1881–1927, English novelist. Her native Shropshire is the scene of all her novels, which are somber, passionate, and infused with an intense feeling for the countryside. Although her work was little known in her lifetime, her literary reputation grew after her death. The emotional intensity of such novels as Gone to Earth (1917) and Precious Bane (1924) compensates for their lack of originality in plot and characterization. An anthology of her writings was published in 1940.

See study by D. P. H. Wrenn (1964).

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