We Are Michael Field

by Emma Donoghue

Biography of the aunt and niece who wrote together under the pseudonym of Michael Field.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Queer, History, LGBT, Poetry, Literary Criticism

152 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1998

About the author

Grew up in Ireland, 20s in England doing a PhD in eighteenth-century literature, since then in Canada. Best known for my novel, film and play ROOM, also other contemporary and historical novels and short stories, non-fiction, theatre and middle-grade novels.

Reviews

[Johanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a biography of two Victorian women (aunt & niece) who were in a relationship for over twenty years and who during that time wrote and published around 40 books under the pseudonym Michael Field. The book is based on their diary which records their lives, artistic friendships and occasionally dubious attitudes. Overall an intriguing look at two forgotten writers, although there is an interesting lack of attention paid to the fact that they are related....

[Priya Bhakta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never heard of Michael Field. I only read this because it I saw it was by Emma Donoghue and she picks some geeat stories as inspiration for her novels. This isn't a novel but it's a pretty interesting biography of two eccentric (a word I tend to loathe) women. I loved reading this and was telling friends all about it throughout the read.

[Alwynne · Rating 2 out of 5]

The subject matter for this sounded far more enticing than the reality of reading Donoghue's book, which is well-researched but sometimes a little 'laundry-list'. But this is still a fascinating glimpse at an obscure part of lesbian literary history.

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A comprehensive yet compact look at the lives of two women poets that shared a male pen name, and perhaps much more. Donoghue presents their work and lives in a thorough and compassionate way.

[Kathleen Jowitt]

I picked this up in Oxfam this afternoon. The combination of title and author caught my attention - Michael Field are of course two of the authors who posthumously had their birth names (Katherine Bradley and Edith Cooper; they each used several nicknames as well as their joint pseudonym) assigned to their literary work in the 'Reclaim Her Name' initiative, but I'd been aware of them before as poets, lovers, and aunt and niece.

I enjoy Emma Donoghue's fiction, so was interested to see how she'd approach a biography. She gives the impression of being thorough, detached, wry, and as respectful as one can be of two people who sound as if they must have been rather difficult. She gets the unfamiliar culture across well, establishing that a romantic friendship between two women, even an aunt and a niece, was nothing unusual, but that it was the sexual element that would have had to be concealed. She lets the facts, so far as they are known, speak for themselves and refrains from moralising, which felt like a good approach to me. The whole family set-up came across as being claustrophobic and unhealthy, and I ended up feeling most sorry for Edith's younger sister Amy, who seems to have been abandoned to deal with their possessive father much of the time.

It's a short book - 145 pages - and I raced through it in a couple of hours. Donoghue is frank about the amount of material she's had to leave out. There's a huge amount of material - the Michaels kept a joint diary for most of their life together, but some frustrating gaps (it's impossible to tell when the relationship became sexual as well as romantic). Donoghue includes plenty of their writing, heading each chapter with a poem as well as quoting from their plays.

Short but satisfying: I now know much more than I did before, and have a decent idea where to go to find out more should I wish to.

[Jackie Howell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A competent bio of the two female poets.

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovingly done!

[Jemma Forster · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a biography of two women I think I would completely detest, the ending made me quite emotional. Emma Donoghue writes so brilliantly.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of my ongoing effort to read everything Emma Donoghue has ever written. I'm not sure I would have read this otherwise. Though lovers and authors Katherine Bradley and Edith Cooper (who together make up author Michael Field) are an important part of queer history, they are also uhhhh related (aunt and niece), which squicks me the fuck out. But Emma Donoghue. So I read it.

It's a very short book, but as thorough as possible, and Donoghue is upfront about how much material there is and how much she had to leave out. She also situates them in their own time and circle, and explains how normal a romantic friendship between even two related women seemed at the time. The sexual element was squicky then too, don't worry, and not just because it was queer.

Bradley and Cooper don't seem like they were particularly easy to get along with, but Donoghue treats them with respect and fondness, while not glossing over their more difficult aspects. She also engages in a little literary analysis that distracts some from the book but is worth reading on its own. It's a good book, just... you know... UHHHHHH THEY'RE RELATED....

[Quinn da Matta · Rating 3 out of 5]

A summarized biography about Katharine Harris Bradley and her niece and ward Edith Emma Cooper. Two women who were forced to use the pseudonym, “Michael Field,” so they could get their writings published, and two women who had to keep their lesbian relationship a secret so society could accept them. “Michael Field” exists, and only achieved the fame from his work, because of these two incredible women — they created him, and he got all the recognition that they, as Katherine and Edith, deserved.