Search Results - Brazil, Angela, 1869-1947

Angela Brazil

Angela Brazil (pronounced "brazzle")}} (30 November 186813 March 1947). She was born on St. Andrew's Day, 30 November. That she was born in 1868 is confirmed from the registry of births, census entries, and from the date of birth she gave for the 1939 Register. The error appears to have arisen as, while she was born in 1868, her birth was only registered by her father in Preston on 9 January 1869. This was a longer interval between birth and registration than was normal, but there may have been domestic factors that led to delay.}} was one of the first British writers of "modern schoolgirls' stories", written from the characters' point of view and intended primarily as entertainment rather than moral instruction. In the first half of the 20th century she published nearly 50 books of girls' fiction, the vast majority being boarding school stories. She also published numerous short stories in magazines.

Her books were commercially successful, widely read by pre-adolescent girls, and influenced them. Though interest in girls' school stories waned after World War II, her books remained popular until the 1960s. They were seen as disruptive and a negative influence on moral standards by some figures in authority during the height of their popularity, and in some cases were banned, or indeed burned, by headmistresses in British girls' schools.

While her stories have been much imitated in more recent decades, and many of her motifs and plot elements have since become clichés or the subject of parody, they were innovative when they first appeared. Brazil made a major contribution to changing the nature of fiction for girls. She presented a young female point of view which was active, aware of current issues and independent-minded; she recognised adolescence as a time of transition, and accepted girls as having common interests and concerns which could be shared and acted upon. Provided by Wikipedia