Notes. 1928 1929. Journey with Menié, Summer in Austria
Date
1929
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press
Abstract
Description
The second journal was written between 1928 and 1929, and is entitled "Notes and Journey with Menié, Summer in Austria." The first part of the journal takes place in London, where Ruck records a tense family Christmas. She also describes her current projects, the parties she attends, her visits to Wales, and, in March, another meeting with Rebecca West. That April, she embarks on a voyage to Egypt with her wealthy but physically fragile friend Menié Murial Norman (1867-1945), who under her maiden name Dowie had been a novelist at the turn of the century. Ruck records the details of her voyage from the south of France to Athens, Cairo, and Alexandria, including detailed descriptions of her surroundings and her fellow travelers. She returned through Venice, where she records a meeting with the writer Evelyn Waugh. She also notices "[b]lack shirts and young fascists in great evidence." Likewise, when she returns to Gneixendorf for the summer, she records: "Much anti-semitism." The journal also includes notes and drafts for Ruck's next novel, which she refers to as Enter Pet but which becomes Today's Daughter (1930). Among the ephemera that Ruck included in this journal are several items from her English life, including several Christmas cards and reports from her son's boarding school.