''Lady into Fox'' was

David Garnett David Garnett (9 March 1892 – 17 February 1981) was an English writer and publisher. As a child, he had a cloak made of rabbit skin and thus received the nickname "Bunny", by which he was known to friends and intimates all his life. Early ...

's first

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

using his own name, published in 1922. It won the

James Tait Black Memorial Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Un ...

, and the

Hawthornden Prize The Hawthornden Prize is a British literary award given annually to a British, Irish or British-based author for a work of "imaginative literature" – including poetry, novels, history, biography and creative non-fiction – published in the pre ...

a year later.

Plot summary

Silvia Tebrick, the 24-year-old wife of Richard Tebrick, suddenly becomes a

fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

while they are out walking in the woods. Mr. Tebrick sends away all the servants in an attempt to keep Silvia's new nature a secret, although Silvia's childhood nurse returns. While Silvia initially acts human, insisting on wearing clothing and playing piquet, her behaviour increasingly becomes that characteristic of a vixen, causing the husband a great deal of anguish. Eventually, Mr. Tebrick releases Silvia into the wild, where she gives birth to five kits, whom Tebrick names and plays with every day. Despite Tebrick's efforts to protect Silvia and her cubs, she is ultimately killed by dogs during a

fox hunt Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, normally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of hounds" ...

; Tebrick, who tried to save Silvia from the dogs, is badly wounded, but eventually recovers.

McSweeney's McSweeney's Publishing is an American nonprofit publishing house founded by Dave Eggers in 1998 and headquartered in San Francisco. The executive director is Amanda Uhle. McSweeney's first publication was the literary journal'' Timothy McSw ...

Collins Library The Collins Library is an imprint of McSweeney's Books that publishes unusual out-of-print books. The imprint is named for its editor, Paul Collins. Publications # ''English as She Is Spoke , commonly known by the name ''English as She Is Spok ...

imprint republished ''Lady into Fox'' in 2004.

Reception and influence

Rebecca West Dame Cecily Isabel Fairfield (21 December 1892 – 15 March 1983), known as Rebecca West, or Dame Rebecca West, was a British author, journalist, literary critic and travel writer. An author who wrote in many genres, West reviewed books ...

described ''Lady Into Fox'' as one of the "best imaginative productions" of the decade. The success of the novel resulted in several imitations. They included a parody by Christopher Ward (1868–1943) ''Gentleman Into Goose'' (1924), while Vercors' homage ''Sylva'' (1961), depicts a fox transforming into a woman.

Adaptation

In 1939, British choreographer Andrée Howard created a musical work of the same name based on Garnett's book for

Ballet Rambert Rambert (known as Rambert Dance Company before 2014) is a leading British dance company. Formed at the start of the 20th century as a classical ballet company, it exerted a great deal of influence on the development of dance in the United Kingd ...

Sally Gilmour Sarah Gilmour (2 November 1921 – 23 May 2004), was a British ballet dancer, and Ballet Rambert's "leading ballerina of the 1940s". The ''ODNB'' notes that she was "acclaimed in the 1940s as second only to Margot Fonteyn among British bal ...

dancing Silvia Tebrick assured the ballet's success. The music was an arrangement of piano pieces by

Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss-French composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. Honegger was a member of Les Six. For Halbreich, '' Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher'' is "more even ...

(''Sept pièces brèves'' and ''Toccata et variations''), setting and costumes designed by Nadia Benois.Deryck Lynham: ''Ballet Then and Now – A History of the Ballet in Europe'' (Sylvan Press, 1946) p. 154

References

External links

* * * 1922 British novels British fantasy novels Chatto & Windus books Hawthornden Prize–winning works Novels by David Garnett Novels about foxes Fiction about therianthropy {{1920s-fantasy-novel-stub