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the easy assumptions regarding Whitman's religion (a combination ofQuakerism and deism, as Reynolds notes) might have been more deeply assessed. But ironically , the very excellence of the Guide engenders these objections: had Reynolds and his contributors not produced such a fine work, we might not have desired equally dynamic discussions on other topics. % Linda Hunt Beckman. Amy Levy: Her Life andLetters. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2000. Marianne Golding Southern Orf.gon University Linda Hunt Beckman's biography ofAmy Levy breaks down into chapters concerning the important periods in Amy Levy's life: her childhood, her years at boarding school, her experience at Newham, Cambridge's second college for women, and her life as a renown writer, until her untimely death at the age of27. The recounting of her life is followed by all her letters, which were for the first time made available to the public in 1990. The most fascinating part ofthis book is definitely the prologue and first chapter in which we discover the difficulties of beingJewish in 19lh-century England. This book is therefore not valuable to Victorian literature experts alone, but also to those interested in British and Jewish cultures in Victorian times. Amy Levy, a well-educated and depressive young Jewish lesbian poet of the Victorian era who takes her own life a few months short ofher 28th birthday, is at the same time representative or her era and at odds with it. Beckman's enthusiastic style and deep knowledge ofthe topic makes the reader eager to find out more about her and her family, who, supportive of her intellectual endeavor, also excites our curiosity. Beckman succeeds in developing a vivid portrait of the poet as a child and adolescent, for example capturing a lively and witty personality. The author also offers interesting facts about Levy's upbringing, which is described as being typical of most Jewish people of her generation living in England, who shared the difficult task ofholding on to their culture while trying to fit into English Gentry. Beckman makes it quite clear, though, that Levy doesn't fit the stereotype of either a Victorian orJewess ofher time: she is indeed described as a feminist who, because ofher beliefs and actions, qualifies as a New Woman. Beckman defines the New Woman as striving "for an autonomous, achievement-oriented existence" instead of"centering her attention on home and family" (7). Levy sensed "an ap108 -r ROCKV MOUNTAIN REVIEW * FALL 2001 Reviews prehension ofthe devaluation ofwomen and the need to widen their opportunities " (6). Along with participating in redefining the role of the women ofher era, Levy tried to cope with the contradictions stemming from being aJew in the world of English Gentry. This conflict seems to have triggered an identity crisis in Levy that must have surely been felt by many other youngJews. Amy, ofdark skin and unmistakable roots, suffered herwhole life from her people's appearance and conduct . Her description ofJews led her to be accused of anti-Semitism. Her most famous novel, Reuben Sachs, that addressesJewish self-hatred, created such a negative reaction that Beckman believes it to be, with the general treatment ofVictorian women poets in these days, the cause for the darkness in which her literature was thrown. Her love for women also sets her apart from the mainstream, although homoeroticism was not systematically condemned at the time. Beckman does add, though, that it was difficult "to structure one's life around romantic relationships between women, especially for aJewish woman" (7). Levy first fell in a love with her heterosexual school teacher, whom she adored "without return," as she wrote in one ofher letters to her sister. She later had several unhappy relationships with women artists who never seemed to reciprocate her passionate feelings for them. Her disastrous love life, along with her identity crisis and her depression, led her to commit suicide in 1889. The author's approach to Amy's writings is consistently rich and enlightening. Her best poems are reproduced, contextualized, and analyzed. Beckman deplores the fact that most critics have focused primarily on A MinorPoet, completely leaving aside Levy's last volume ofpoems. She sets out to revalorize these later works, and succeeds in...

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