Sutcliff, Rosemary (1920–1992)

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Sutcliff, Rosemary (1920–1992)

English novelist and children's writer. Born on December 14, 1920, in West Clandon, Surrey, England; died on July 23, 1992; daughter of a naval officer; educated privately and at Bideford School of Art, 1935–39.

Selected fiction for adults:

Lady in Waiting (1956); The Rider of the White Horse (1959); Sword at Sunset (1963); The Flowers of Adonis (1969); Blood and Sand (1987).

Selected fiction for children and young adults:

The Chronicles of Robin Hood (1950); The Armourer's House (1951); Brother Dusty-Feet (1952); Simon (1953); The Eagle of the Ninth (1954); Outcast (1955); The Shield Ring (1956); The Silver Branch (1957); Warrior Scarlet (1958); The Bridge-Builders (1959); The Lantern Bearers (1959); Knight's Fee (1960); Dawn Wind (1961); The Mark of the Horse Lord (1965); The Chief's Daughter (1967); A Circlet of Oak Leaves (1968); The Witch's Brat (1970); The Truce of the Games (1971); Heather, Oak, and Olive: Three Stories (1972); The Capricorn Bracelet (1973); The Changeling (1974); We Lived in Drumfyvie (1975); Blood Feud (1976); Shifting Sands (1977); Sun Horse, Moon Horse (1977); Song for a Dark Queen (1978); Frontier Wolf (1980); Three Legions: A Trilogy (1980); Eagle's Egg (1981); Bonnie Dundee (1983); Flame-Coloured Taffeta (1985); The Roundabout Horse (1986); Little Hound Found (1989); A Little Dog Like You (1990); The Shining Company (1990); The Minstrel and the Dragon Pup (1993).

Selected nonfiction for children and young adults:

The Chronicles of Robin Hood (1950); The Queen Elizabeth Story (1950); Houses and History (1960); Beowulf (1961, also issued as Dragon Slayer: The Story of Beowulf [1966]); The Hound of Ulster (Cuchulain Saga, 1963); Heroes and History (1965); A Saxon Settler (1965); The High Deeds of Finn MacCool (1967); Tristan and Iseult (1971); The Light Beyond the Forest: The Quest for the Holy Grail (1979); The Sword and the Circle: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (1981); The Road to Camlann: The Death of King Arthur (1981); Black Ships before Troy (1993).

Selected other:

Rudyard Kipling (1960); Ghost Story (screenplay, 1975); (editor, with Monica Dickens ) Is Anyone There? (1978); Blue Remembered Hills (autobiography, 1983); Mary Bedell (play, 1986).

Born in England on December 14, 1920, Rosemary Sutcliff was only two years old when she contracted the physically debilitating Still's disease, an arthritic condition that ultimately restricted her to a wheelchair. She was schooled at home by her mother, who often read aloud to her, and was particularly captivated by the legends of King Arthur and Robin Hood, the tales of Rudyard Kipling, and especially the true stories of adventure told to her by her naval officer father. Sutcliff did not receive formal schooling until she was nine and her family settled in Devon, but she left school at age 14 to study painting at the Bide-ford School of Art. Prevented, however, by her disability from working on any project larger than the miniatures at which she excelled, she turned to writing as a creative outlet.

Steeped in the history and archaeology of ancient Britain, Sutcliff felt a particular fondness for the Roman period. "I think that I am happiest of all in Roman Britain," she said in a 1986 interview with Raymond H. Thompson. "I feel very much at home there." Although her first efforts involved the retelling of the British legend of Robin Hood, she produced her breakthrough work in 1954 with The Eagle of the Ninth. Set in Roman times, it describes the journey of former centurion Marcus Aquila to recover the eagle standard of his father's 9th Hispana Legion after the legion vanished mysteriously in the country north of Hadrian's Wall. Presented by the BBC on its "Children's Hour" series, the work was followed by other novels that focused on later generations of the Aquila family, including The Silver Branch (1957), The Lantern Bearers (1959), and Frontier Wolf (1980).

Sutcliff's historical novels are set in times of violent upheaval in which warring nations must inevitably adapt to changing political landscapes. Within this larger framework, Sutcliff frequently positions a character who must also adapt to personal upheaval. A common theme is that of a young boy's initiation into manhood, often as an orphan surviving among strangers. Outcast, written in 1955, chronicles the struggles of the orphan Beric to adapt in the warring world of early Roman Britain. Similarly, the leading figures of The Shield Ring (1955) are orphans caught in the attempts of Viking settlers to combat a Norman invasion in England's Lake District. In Dawn Wind (1962), the young Owain slowly comes to terms with life in an Anglo-Saxon world after the death of his family.

Sutcliff's distinguished retelling of traditional British and Celtic hero tales, which also emphasize endurance and heroic struggle against great odds, include stories of Beowulf, Finn MacCool, Cuchulain, Robin Hood, Tristan and Iseult, and King Arthur. Convinced of the historical existence of King Arthur, Sutcliff began to write a trilogy about him in 1979 with The Light Beyond the Forest: The Quest for the Holy Grail. In 1981, she completed the series with The Sword and the Circle: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and The Road to Camlann: The Death of King Arthur. Researching the known history of the Dark Ages, Sutcliff worked what she believed to be true about Arthurian legend into this setting. "It was very strange because I have never written a book which was so possessive," Sutcliff told Thompson about beginning this series. "It was extraordinary—almost frightening. It took me about 18 months to write, and it absolutely rode me throughout the entire time." Feeling almost possessed by the character of Arthur and the male experience throughout the writing of the series, she also admitted that it took her a long time to return to what she described as "getting back into a woman's skin" after its completion.

Although some of Sutcliff's work focuses on female protagonists, such as the tragic tale of Boadicea (Boudica ) in Song for a Dark Queen in 1978, the traditional domestic roles that were open to women of the ancient world held little interest for her. With a keen understanding of military tactics, Sutcliff cast most of her central characters as male, especially soldiers. However, as Thompson points out, the soldiers in Sutcliff's work often experience a softening or a deepening sensitivity to the human condition. Sutcliff seldom evoked the element of romantic love in her work, preferring instead to explore deep and enduring friendships and familial ties within the context of conflicting loyalties.

Considered one of the most important writers of historical fiction for young people, Sutcliff told Thompson that her books "are for children of all ages, from nine to ninety." Despite the scant documentation of the early historical eras of which she wrote, Sutcliff set the standard for the genre with the depth of her research and the power of her artistic ingenuity. Her skill at vivifying the past and its physical and political landscapes in more than 50 books earned her several Carnegie Medal commendations—Britain's highest award for young adult fiction—and numerous "notable book" honors by the American Library Association. In addition, she was named a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1982. She recalled her own early years of struggle and physical impairment in a 1983 autobiography, Blue Remembered Hills. Named an officer in 1975 and then a commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1992, Rosemary Sutcliff died on July 23 of that year.