| The Constant Nymph | |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Novel |
| Publisher: | Heinemann |
| Media Type: | Print (Hardback and paperback) |
| Pages: | 344 pp |
| Followed By: | The Fool of the Family |
The Constant Nymph is a 1924 novel by Margaret Kennedy. It tells how a teenage girl, Tessa Sanger, falls in love with a family friend, who eventually marries her cousin.[1] It explores the protagonists' complex family histories, focusing on class, education and creativity.
The novel sold well from its first appearance, becoming the first novel of a genre sometimes called "Bohemian". Much of its success was due to its then-shocking sexual content, describing scenes of adolescent sexuality and of noble savagery in the Austrian Tyrol.
There is a complimentary allusion to the novel in the 1934 detective story The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers. Fifteen-year-old Hilary tells her father she aspires to write novels: "Best sellers. The sort that everybody goes potty over. Not just bosh ones, but like The Constant Nymph."[2] Sayers includes a positive mention by two characters in her 1930 epistolary novel, The Documents in the Case.[3]
The character and appearance of the composer Lewis Dodd was based on the artist Henry Lamb, who was a gifted pianist.[4] Kennedy's cousin George was one of Lamb's oldest friends. Attributes of Albert Sanger were taken from Augustus John, particular the artists' colony he set up in 1911 at Alderney Manor.[5] Kennedy may have been trying to protect herself against accusations of using her friends as models by transferring to both of them the talents of musicians rather than painters.[6]
See main article: article, The Constant Nymph (play), The Constant Nymph (1928 film), The Constant Nymph (1933 film) and The Constant Nymph (1943 film). Margaret Kennedy and Basil Dean adapted The Constant Nymph for a three-act play that was published by Doubleday, Page and Company (Garden City, N.Y.) in 1926. A differently treated, second stage adaptation of the play was published by William Heinemann (London) in 1926.[7] The play was performed on the London stage in 1926 and featured Noël Coward and Edna Best.[8]
The novel was first adapted as a silent film in 1928 by Adrian Brunel and Alma Reville and directed by Brunel and Basil Dean. This version starred Ivor Novello, Mabel Poulton and Benita Hume.[9] It was adapted again in 1933 by Dorothy Farnum and directed by Dean. It featured Victoria Hopper, Brian Aherne and Leonora Corbett.[9] A third film adaptation in 1943 featured Charles Boyer, Joan Fontaine, and Alexis Smith. It was adapted by Kathryn Scola and directed by Edmund Goulding.