Ada Leverson


Ada Esther Leverson was a British writer who is known for her friendship with Oscar Wilde and for her work as a witty novelist of the fin-de-siècle.

Family

Leverson was born into a Jewish family. Her father was Samuel Henry Beddington, a wool merchant, and her mother's name was Zillah.
She had eight younger siblings, one of whom died in infancy. Her living siblings were named Evelyn, George, Charles, Sybil, Frank, Arthur and Violet. Sybil had a brief affair and long friendship with Giacomo Puccini. Violet turned down a marriage proposal from composer Arthur Sullivan and later married author Sydney Schiff.
At 19 Ada married Ernest Leverson without her parents' consent. The marriage broke up when he moved to Canada in 1905. It has been suggested that her trilogy, The Little Ottleys, is loosely based on her own marriage. Her daughter and biographer, Violet Leverson, married Guy Percy Wyndham in 1923 as his second wife. Her grandson was short story-writer and novelist Francis Wyndham. Ernest Leverson's cousins include actor Darrell Fancourt and, by marriage, actor-playwright Brandon Thomas.

Career

Leverson began writing during the 1890s, as a contributor to Black and White, Punch, The Yellow Book, St. Stephen's Review, Saturday Review, and Referee. She also worked as a drama critic, though when and what she wrote is unknown. Much of her work cannot be identified because she wrote anonymously, because she frequently befriended the people she parodied and critiqued.
She was known as a wit; her writing has been compared to the work of Max Beerbohm and the stories of Saki.
She was a loyal friend to Oscar Wilde, who called her Sphinx; Max Beerbohm; and George Moore. Osbert Sitwell wrote an anecdote in Great Morning in which she tries, unsuccessfully, to get Moore to see the young William Walton. Sacheverell Sitwell dedicated a poetry collection to her.
After publishing Love at Second Sight, Leverson stopped writing fiction. She worked on ever smaller projects, such as writing the preface to Whom You Should Marry, a book about astrology.

Friendship with Wilde

Leverson's friendship with Wilde helped her career to flourish. There was no separation between their personal relationship and their creative collaboration. Their work had many stylistic differences; for example, Leverson had a stronger interest in human nature. But the two shared many similarities; they were from the same cultural background, and they shared interests such as the love of conversation and the sense of fantasy. They quickly became fast friends.
The limits of their friendship were tested when Wilde's homosexuality was exposed and he went on trial. Leverson and her husband invited Wilde to stay in their nursery, because no hotel or inn would accept him as a guest. At her meeting him on a railway platform Wilde remarked "My dear Sphinx- only You would know exactly what to wear at this hour of the morning to greet a friend who has been away". Wilde's and Leverson's other friendships were seriously challenged by Leverson's "grand gesture", which, according to James Scanell, is "the dramatic act of welcoming back an outcast."
After Wilde left the Leversons' home, the two friends never saw each other in person again. Their friendship continued through telegrams and letters. Charles Burkhart believes that it is most fitting for Leverson's last piece of work to be a remembrance of the friend who expanded her career.

Reception

Leverson's work, though not extremely popular, has been critiqued and analyzed from the 19th century to the present.
Critics disagree on which of her novels is the best, some suggesting The Limit, others Tenterhooks, and others Love at Second Sight. She is often praised for her skilful dialogue and characterization, leading many to believe that she would have excelled in theatre. It is interesting that she never acted upon this beyond a single unfinished play; it is assumed that this is because, for Leverson, writing was a hobby rather than a means of financial security.
One critic in The Bookman commented on how her lack of characterization distracted the reader from understanding what The Twelfth Hour was about. Dennis Poupard says, "some have found Leverson's characters merely vehicles for her wit, others believe she conveys accomplished characterization deftly and swiftly in the epigrammatic dialogue". John Mason Brown recommended that Leverson's work be read by "those who find laughter no hardship, high comedy a delight, nonsense relaxing, and who are not made uncomfortable by worldlings both comfortable and conscienceless". Margaret Crosland summarized several critics' feelings toward Leverson and reports that she is seen "as a distant descendant of Jane Austen, sensitive to the hidden motives of behavior, ready to laugh at vanity, understanding of married couples, parents, and children, yet seemingly preoccupied with all that was going on in the world outside".
Over the years, her work has been more appreciated. Many readers have realized that her perspective was quite modern for her day. Her views are more accepted in today's society, especially as homosexuality is becoming more socially acceptable.

Portrayal in film

In the 1960 film The Trials of Oscar Wilde she is played by Maxine Audley.
In the 1997 film Wilde she is played by Zoë Wanamaker.

Selected works

Novels