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For over a hundred years, precious little has been documented about the author, a member of Victorian literature's most distinctive voices, who was once praised for her brilliance by the renowned wit.

However, readers will be able to become more deeply acquainted with a literary figure whose pioneering work delved into female autonomy, Jewish heritage, and queer love.

“Seldom nowadays for a complete collection of a 19th-century author’s papers to be discovered,” stated a senior archivist. “We aimed to seize this chance to make her archive available in the place where she was educated and where she visited even in the final days of her life.”

A Pioneering Life

Amy Levy entered the world in 1861 into a Jewish middle-class family in London and entered Newnham College in 1879, establishing herself as the second Jewish woman among Cambridge’s pioneering group of female students.

She produced three volumes of poetry, three novels – featuring Reuben Sachs and The Romance of a Shop – many articles and a series of articles for the Jewish Chronicle. When she took her own life in 1889, aged 27, she was acknowledged by her peers as an exceptional talent, with Oscar Wilde composing a tribute and commending the “authenticity, directness, and pensiveness” of her work.

A Multifaceted Persona

A leading scholar developing a biographical study about Levy expressed that she believed the documents would not only reshape literary criticism but also be of fascination to a broader audience.

“I encountered Amy’s poetry long ago and they have lingered in my mind ever since,” the professor said. “Not only was she a skilled and poignant writer, but she was also so complicated. She asserted her Jewish roots, but she was also an non-believer. She seemed to get along very well with men, but she was a queer woman.”

The scholar added that Levy had cultivated a social network at Newnham and also in her subsequent life, especially through Vernon Lee “who was highly sociable to a wide circle including Wilde. Levy joined Lee’s circle, in fact she became enamored with her, a love that sadly was never returned.

“When Wilde received a one-page manuscript from Levy for his magazine the Woman’s World, he was bowled over by the story and called Levy a young woman of brilliance.”

A Lasting Legacy

Researchers argue Levy’s work connects meaningfully to modern discussions around women's rights, homosexual narratives and Jewish culture and say she anticipated debate that would come years after her death.

“She was forward-thinking, which was perhaps one of the reasons she struggled to find her place,” the expert said. “She faced challenges with her same-sex attraction and how she belonged in a conventional world. Wedlock was not an option for her, but neither was having a profession like a educator, which she gave up to become a full-time author.

“She has long been interesting to people who study Jewish females and their history. And today, when we have in the aftermath of the global pandemic so many youth struggling with depression, nervousness, mental health issues, even self-harm, learning about her might be of value and comfort to a wider public too,” the scholar said.

The Final Year

The assemblage includes Levy’s 1889 appointment diary, in which increasingly sparse entries document the closing period before her death from asphyxiation. A final, moving entry, written the day before she died, said: “Home by myself the entire day.” But the scholar said Levy in many ways had “a rich, full, exciting existence” too.

“She could be witty at times, which is evident in her writings. She did endure a triple burden of difficulties, including neuralgia. She was becoming more and more hearing-impaired, which causes social alienation and isolation. And she also struggled with depression.

“Though she never quite found happiness, it was always something she upheld: the right to be happy, even elated.”