Mark Rutherford (William Hale White)
‘Mark Rutherford‘ was the pseudonym of William Hale White (1831-1913). Rutherford is generally classed as a minor Victorian novelist, and noted for his depiction of provincial dissenting life, and of the ’loss of faith’ of the Victorian period. There is much more to Hale White than this. Despite working for over thirty years as a civil servant, he wrote over a thousand newspaper articles, translated works by Spinoza, and wrote various works of literary criticism.
He has never had a wide following, but writers such as Andre Gide, D.H. Lawrence, and Arnold Bennett have all praised his work. The aim of this site is to make Mark Rutherford‘s work more widely known (particularly his journalism), and to act as a forum for discussions about Mark Rutherford.
Comments, criticisms, and especially contributions, are always welcome to David French
March 2013 saw the one hundredth anniversary of William Hale White's death, A symposium has been arranged in June 2013 to commemorate this.
Recent updates
August 2012
Michael Brealey, a member of the Society, has published a book about Mark Rutherford: Bedford's Victorian Pilgrim. It is available from the publisher's web site and from Amazon.
January 2012
Irvin Stock, author of a critical study of Hale White, has died aged 91. His obituary in the Boston Globe includes the following: "There is, of course, a sense in which any serious writer is sincere — honesty is a basic condition of his profession and some kind of truth its necessary raw material,'' he wrote in the book, "but we are rarely impelled, except perhaps in mitigation of the charge of failure, to place that word in the centre of a critical portrait. With Hale White, however, it must in fact go in the centre: It is the chief distinction of his work and the source of his finest effects.''
October 2011
Hale White's poem "This is the Night.." was on Poetry Please on Sunday 2nd October.
February 2010
Nick Wilde has done an excellent job of transcribing the letters from William Hale White to Mrs Colenutt, which were recently obtained by the Society.
December 2008
The following items have been added:
June 2008
The following changes have been made:
|
.
