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Beardsley and his world
From DJ. A forceful view of Beardsley's struggling creative existence within a basically philistine environment.
128 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1976
2 people are currently reading
9 people want to read
About the author
Brigid Brophy
40 books50 followersBrigid Antonia Brophy, Lady Levey (12 June 1929, in Ealing, Middlesex, England – 7 August 1995, in Louth, Lincolnshire, England) was an English novelist, essayist, critic, biographer, and dramatist. In the Dictionary of Literary Biography: British Novelists since 1960, S. J. Newman described her as "one of the oddest, most brilliant, and most enduring of [the] 1960s symptoms."
She was a feminist and pacifist who expressed controversial opinions on marriage, the Vietnam War, religious education in schools, sex (she was openly bisexual), and pornography. She was a vocal campaigner for animal rights and vegetarianism. A 1965 Sunday Times article by Brophy is credited by psychologist Richard D. Ryder with having triggered the formation of the animal rights movement in England.
Because of her outspokenness, she was labeled many things, including "one of our leading literary shrews" by a Times Literary Supplement reviewer. "A lonely, ubiquitous toiler in the weekend graveyards, she has scored some direct hits on massive targets: Kingsley Amis, Henry Miller, Professor Wilson Knight."
Brophy was married to art historian Sir Michael Levey. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1984, which took her life 11 years later at the age of 66.
She was a feminist and pacifist who expressed controversial opinions on marriage, the Vietnam War, religious education in schools, sex (she was openly bisexual), and pornography. She was a vocal campaigner for animal rights and vegetarianism. A 1965 Sunday Times article by Brophy is credited by psychologist Richard D. Ryder with having triggered the formation of the animal rights movement in England.
Because of her outspokenness, she was labeled many things, including "one of our leading literary shrews" by a Times Literary Supplement reviewer. "A lonely, ubiquitous toiler in the weekend graveyards, she has scored some direct hits on massive targets: Kingsley Amis, Henry Miller, Professor Wilson Knight."
Brophy was married to art historian Sir Michael Levey. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1984, which took her life 11 years later at the age of 66.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 24, 2025
Before reading this book, I always believed that Being a fujoshi, is a universal truth. Through the ages and eras, women have always adored men in love with other men and men who are fair, troubled and naughty.
This belief was truly cemented when I read Beardsley and his world by the late Brigid Brophy; or B.B, in tribute to her monstrous muse.
Miss Brophy is delighted by her subject matter to the extremists; almost rapturously when she muses about the stages of Beardsley’s short life through his letters, quotes from his associates and family and other sources; and she never shy from showing her sharp disdain to a few * rightfully, namely his parents, teachers, critics and sycophants* and her admiration to others, namely his sister Mable; not even Wilde and Boise * with a z.* were spared; in Beardsley’s own words: intolerable.
Back to the book, I came across it when I saw the late B.B being interviewed on the BBC regarding Beardsley and how she not subtly alluded to her theory that he was too Intimate with his sister, the masculine to his feminine, the hot headed to his passiveness; this is a seedy topic that delighted Fujoshi through the eras * of which, I’m one* but, to think she made this short, very ardently researched book about an obscure but influential artist who died too young so full of her opinionated ideas and theories was just too good to be true; so I had to get it a copy; and I wasn’t disappointed.
She relishes in the sensuality, the depravity of the grotesque that was Beardsley, she cheers when when rebuke an offense with a turn of phrase or an outrageous remake; breaks her pen and wails when he’s melancholic and wailing under the awfulness of the Victorian hypocrisy and his illness; and delights in shading everyone who came across him poorly; and I repeat it, rightfully so.
For a small book, it took me a month to finish it due to the sheer details and care she took in making it, the reproduction are exquisite, and her prose is sweet and venomous like that of Wilde and Rachilde.
So, if you’re into the aesthetic/ decadent movement and wanted to know about one of their greatest artist, look no further. This is a book to be savored.
This belief was truly cemented when I read Beardsley and his world by the late Brigid Brophy; or B.B, in tribute to her monstrous muse.
Miss Brophy is delighted by her subject matter to the extremists; almost rapturously when she muses about the stages of Beardsley’s short life through his letters, quotes from his associates and family and other sources; and she never shy from showing her sharp disdain to a few * rightfully, namely his parents, teachers, critics and sycophants* and her admiration to others, namely his sister Mable; not even Wilde and Boise * with a z.* were spared; in Beardsley’s own words: intolerable.
Back to the book, I came across it when I saw the late B.B being interviewed on the BBC regarding Beardsley and how she not subtly alluded to her theory that he was too Intimate with his sister, the masculine to his feminine, the hot headed to his passiveness; this is a seedy topic that delighted Fujoshi through the eras * of which, I’m one* but, to think she made this short, very ardently researched book about an obscure but influential artist who died too young so full of her opinionated ideas and theories was just too good to be true; so I had to get it a copy; and I wasn’t disappointed.
She relishes in the sensuality, the depravity of the grotesque that was Beardsley, she cheers when when rebuke an offense with a turn of phrase or an outrageous remake; breaks her pen and wails when he’s melancholic and wailing under the awfulness of the Victorian hypocrisy and his illness; and delights in shading everyone who came across him poorly; and I repeat it, rightfully so.
For a small book, it took me a month to finish it due to the sheer details and care she took in making it, the reproduction are exquisite, and her prose is sweet and venomous like that of Wilde and Rachilde.
So, if you’re into the aesthetic/ decadent movement and wanted to know about one of their greatest artist, look no further. This is a book to be savored.
February 14, 2023
These Thames & Hudson "…and his world" biographie are concise and well illustrated -
an excellent way of of learning about the lives of authors and artists.
Beardsley is an ideal candidate for such an approach. I have a slight issue with one aspect of Brophy's prose: her overuse of the phrase "I think" or "I surmise", an unnecessary authorial intrusion.
an excellent way of of learning about the lives of authors and artists.
Beardsley is an ideal candidate for such an approach. I have a slight issue with one aspect of Brophy's prose: her overuse of the phrase "I think" or "I surmise", an unnecessary authorial intrusion.
January 11, 2019
Has an excellent group of reproductions, but the biographical details were rudimentary and rather haphazard, often confusing.
April 2, 2025
Well written short book on a short life. Great selection of photographs and of his drawings.
February 9, 2022
Beautifully illustrated, this biography of gifted artist Aubrey Beardsley records his life up to his death from tuberculosis at the early age of 25 … informative and intriguing …
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews