Work
During the Second World War in London, Trefusis participated in the broadcasting of "La France Libre", which earned her a Legion d'Honneur after the war, and was also made a Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
Trefusis received mixed reviews on her books. Some critics credited Trefusis with an "excellent gift of observation" and also a "talent for mimicry and flair for decor in most of her books." These qualities were evident in her novels written in English and in French. Other critics stated that her books were not great literature, however they sold well enough, and her readers enjoyed them.
She made many appearances as a pivotal character in other writers' fiction, Nancy Mitford based, "Lady Montdore", a character in her novel Love in a Cold Climate on her. She was also featured in Cyril Connolly's The Rock Pool, Harold Acton's The Soul's Gymnasium as "Muriel," in several novels by Vita Sackville-West and in the well-known Virginia Woolf's Orlando: A Biography as the ravishing "Princess Sasha".
Although her writings spanned much of the twentieth century, many were unpublished. Virago the Publishing house devoted to recovering the forgotten work of women writers, including Trefusis. They set about putting matters right, bringing out two of her novels with introductions by Lorna Sage and Lisa St Aubin de Teran, but publishers were eventually defeated by copyright difficulties, and Lorna Sage, Trefusis great champion among British critics, died before she could accomplish what she planned.
Read more about this topic: Violet Trefusis
Famous quotes containing the word work:
“Art should exhilarate, and throw down the walls of circumstance on every side, awakening in the beholder the same sense of universal relation and power which the work evinced in the artist, and its highest effect is to make new artists.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The true finish is the work of time, and the use to which a thing is put. The elements are still polishing the pyramids.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“... work is only part of a man’s life; play, family, church, individual and group contacts, educational opportunities, the intelligent exercise of citizenship, all play a part in a well-rounded life. Workers are men and women with potentialities for mental and spiritual development as well as for physical health. We are paying the price today of having too long sidestepped all that this means to the mental, moral, and spiritual health of our nation.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)