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For over a hundred years, not much has been understood about the author, a member of Victorian literature's most unique voices, who was once celebrated as a prodigy by the renowned wit.

But now, audiences will have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with a writer whose pioneering work explored women’s independence, Jewish identity, and same-sex desire.

“Seldom nowadays for a organized set of a Victorian-era author’s papers to emerge,” noted a lead archivist. “We were determined to take the opportunity to make her archive accessible in the place where she attended university and where she returned to even in the final days of her life.”

A Trailblazing Existence

Amy Levy entered the world in 1861 into a Jewish middle-class family in London and enrolled at Newnham College in 1879, becoming only the next Jewish woman among Cambridge’s first generation of women scholars.

She authored three poetry collections, three novels – such as Reuben Sachs and The Romance of a Shop – many articles and a set of pieces for the Jewish Chronicle. When she died by suicide in 1889, just 27 years old, she was recognized by her peers as an remarkable ability, with the playwright penning her eulogy and praising the “authenticity, directness, and sadness” of her work.

A Multifaceted Persona

A noted academic currently authoring a book project about Levy expressed that she was convinced the papers would not only revolutionize literary criticism but also be of fascination to a wider public.

“I studied Amy’s poetry years ago and they have haunted me ever since,” the scholar said. “Not only was she a accomplished and moving writer, but she was also so complex. She asserted her Jewish roots, but she was also an atheist. She seemed to have good relationships with men, but she was a queer woman.”

The professor explained that Levy had established a community at Newnham and also in her later years, notably through the writer Vernon Lee “who was extremely networked to everybody including Wilde. Levy entered Lee’s circle, in fact she developed feelings for her, a love that sadly was never returned.

“When Wilde obtained a brief piece from Levy for his magazine the Woman’s World, he was deeply impressed by the story and called Levy a young woman of brilliance.”

A Lasting Legacy

Experts argue Levy’s work speaks directly to modern discussions around women's rights, homosexual narratives and Jewish culture and say she predated discourse that would come well after her death.

“She was progressive, which was possibly one of the reasons she struggled to find her place,” the researcher said. “She struggled with her homosexuality and how she belonged in a heteronormative society. Wedlock was not an option for her, but neither was having a vocation like a instructor, which she gave up to become a writer full-time.

“She has long been fascinating to people who examine Jewish women and their history. And today, when we have in the aftermath of the global pandemic so many the younger generation facing melancholy, anxiety, mental health issues, even suicidal thoughts, studying her life might be of benefit and consolation to a broader audience too,” the expert said.

The Last Months

The assemblage includes Levy’s 1889 personal diary, in which increasingly sparse entries document the closing period before her death from carbon monoxide poisoning. A final, moving entry, written the day before she died, said: “Alone at home all day.” But the expert said Levy in many ways had “a dynamic, fulfilling, stimulating existence” too.

“She could be humorous at times, which is evident in her writings. She did suffer from a set of three hardships, including facial pain. She was becoming more and more hearing-impaired, which results in social alienation and isolation. And she also suffered from despondency.

“Though she did not ultimately achieve happiness, it was always something she upheld: the entitlement to joy, even overjoyed.”