Amy Judith Levy (10 November 1861 – 9 September 1889) was an English essayist, poet, and novelist. One of the first Jewish students at both Cambridge University and Newnham College, she wrote on the situation of Jews in Europe and the challenges facing women who sought independence in male-dominated society. She maintained close relationships with other women living what would be called a "New Woman" life, some of whom were lesbians.

Biography

Early life and education

Levy was born in Clapham, an affluent district of London, on 10 November 1861, to Lewis and Isobel Levy. She was the second of seven children born into a Jewish family with a "casual attitude toward religious observance", who sometimes attended a Reform synagogue in Upper Berkeley Street, Both women went on to explore the themes of sapphic love in their works. Lee inspired Levy's poem "To Vernon Lee".

Literary career

The Romance of a Shop (1888), Levy's first novel, is regarded as an early "New Woman" novel and depicts four sisters who experience the difficulties and opportunities afforded to women running a business in 1880s London. Levy wrote her second novel, Reuben Sachs (1888), to fill the literary need for "serious treatment ... of the complex problem of Jewish life and Jewish character", which she identified and discussed in a 1886 article "The Jew in Fiction."

Sexuality

Levy remains a topic of discussion amongst scholars in terms of whether or not she is to be considered a Victorian Lesbian writer. She had sent several poems to her friend Violet Paget, also known as Vernon Lee, confessing her love. These poems include her famous works "To Vernon Lee" and "New Love, New Life." Both of these pieces express messages of unrequited love to another woman. Scholars continue to debate if these gestures were that of friendship or intense passion.

Death

Levy experienced episodes of major depression from an early age. In her later years, her depression worsened in connection to her distress surrounding her romantic relationships and her awareness of her growing deafness. On 9 September 1889, Oscar Wilde wrote an obituary for her in The Women's World in which he praised her gifts. The first Jewish woman to be cremated in England, her ashes were buried at Balls Pond Road Cemetery in London.

Legacy

In 1993, Melyvn New produced a compilation of Levy's works, published as The Complete Novels and Selected Writings of Amy Levy: 1861–1889. On November 13, 2025, University of Cambridge announced that they had acquired and unsealed Levy's personal archive, which includes letters, draft manuscripts, photographs and diary entries. The collection was previously owned by a private corporation.

Selected works

  • Xantippe and Other Verse (1881)
  • A Minor Poet and Other Verse (1884)
  • The Romance of a Shop (1888) novel (republished in 2005 by Black Apollo Press)
  • Reuben Sachs: A Sketch (1888) (republished in 2001 by Persephone Books)
  • A London Plane-Tree and Other Verse (1889)
  • Miss Meredith (1889; a novel)
  • The Complete Novels and Selected Writings of Amy Levy: 1861–1889 (1993)
  • The Collected Poems (Sublunary Editions, 2023)
  • Amy Levy: Collected Writings (Library of the Jewish People, 2023)

Notes

References

Further reading

  • Beckman, Linda Hunt. Amy Levy: Her Life and Letters. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2000. . At the Internet Archive
  • Jusová, Iveta. The New Woman and the Empire. Columbus : Ohio State University Press, 2005. . At the Internet Archive
  • Flanders, Judith. The Victorian house: domestic life from childbirth to deathbed. London: HarperCollins, 2003. . At the Internet Archive; published in the USA as Inside the Victorian Home: a Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England. New York: W. W. Norton, 2006. . At the Internet Archive
  • Susan Bernstein, ed., Reuben Sachs [with introduction and other readings by Levy and others]. Broadview Press, 2006.
  • Susan Bernstein, ed., The Romance of a Shop [with introduction and other readings by Levy and others]. Broadview Press, 2006.
  • , Rimbaud and Verlaine Foundation
  • Diniejko, Andrzej. Amy Levy: A Tragic Late Victorian Anglo-Jewish Poet and Novelist: A Biographical Note at The Victorian Web, last modified 20 May 2025 (created 22 May 2012).
  • Diniejko, Andrzej. Amy Levy: A Chronology at The Victorian Web, last modified 13 October 2016.
  • Beckman, Linda Hunt. Amy Levy at the Jewish Women's Archive, 7 July 2021.
  • Some Amy Levy poems on Cordula's Web.
  • Poems by Amy Levy.
  • MP3 recording of Levy's novel Reuben Sachs: A Sketch from Librivox.org.
  • Critical analysis of Levys's work at Enotes.
  • Saylor, Zia. Who Owns a Story? Uncovering the Archives of Amy Levy. Blog post at the Jewish Women's Archive, 10 March 2026.