English author Nancy Mitford was successful for her comic novels about the upper-class British society and for her popular biographies that include Voltaire and Frederick the Great. Her best novels include include The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate. She also became known for her ideas about the “U” (upper-class) and the “non-U” (non-upper-class) terms that brought great debate in class-consciousness.
Early Years of Nancy Mitford
Nancy Mitford was born of aristocracy in London on November 28, 1904. The eldest of seven children, her father, Baron Redesdale, was an eccentric British nobleman. Nancy and her sisters were unconventionally brought up at Asthall Manor in Oxfordsire and educated at home by governesses. The family had a reputation for not simply tolerating eccentricity but cultivating it.
Her sister, Jessica, was a Marxist, and Diana, married the Fascist Sir Oswald Mosely.
Nancy Mitford and Her Novels
As soon as she could manage, Mitford left home and lived for some time with prominent English novelist and her contemporary, Evelyn Waugh and his wife. She also began writing for Vogue and Harper’s Magazine.
Her first novel, Highland Fling, was published in 1931 when she was 27. Her reputation as a novelist began when she wrote four highly witty and amusing books, beginning with her famous The Pursuit of Love and followed by Love in Cold Climate. Her books recount with humour the lively activities and often irresponsible behaviour of a group of upper-class relatives, apparently based on her family. She satirized her father as “Uncle Matthew.”
Later Years of Mitford and Biography Writing
She was also referred to as The Hon. Mrs. Peter Rodd, when she married the Hon. Peter Rodd, youngest son of the 1st Baron Rennell. The marriage was unsuccessful. She moved to Paris in the 1940s, where she spent the rest of her life.
Mitford wrote the sequels to The Pursuit of Love and then turned to writing biographies including one of France’s King Louis XIV, Voltaire, and Frederick the Great, during her last years.
The Upper-Class (U) and Non-Upper-Class (Non-U) English Terms
A novelist and a biographer, Mitford was also an essayist. In 1955 she coined the terms “U” and “non-U” – “U” meaning “upper-class” which describes words with similar meanings that were (or were not) socially acceptable in British aristocratic circles. Some examples of these are: for upper-class: writing paper, napkin, looking glasses, as against non-upper-class: notepaper, serviette, mirror.
Mitford provided a glossary of terms used by the English upper-classes. Her essays evoked a great debate about English class-consciousness, in effect, snobbery. However, the terms she coined show her delicate and keen observation of people, which makes her characters alive and utterly believable in her novels.
An Insight to Nancy Mitford’s Life
Nancy Mitford died at the age of 68, June 30, 1973 in Versailles, France. She was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and an officer in the French Legion of Honour in 1972. He fame mainly lies in her witty novels, her popular biographies, and her essays, in particular, Noblesse Oblige.
Works by Nancy Mitford
- Highland Fling, 1932
- The Pursuit of Love, 1945
- Love in a Cold Climate, 1949
- The Blessing, 1951
- Madame de Pompadour, 1953
- Noblesse Oblige, 1956, Edited with A.S.C. Ross
- Voltaire in Love, 1957
- Don’t Tell Alfred, 1960
- The Water Beetle, 1962
- The Sun King, 1966
- Frederick the Great, 1970
Sources:
Goring, Rosemary, Ed. Larousse Dictionary of Writers. New York: Larousse, 1994
Ousby, Ian. The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Uglow, Jennifer, Compiler & Editor, revised by Maggy Hendry. The Macmillan Dictionary of Women's Biography, 3rd Edition. London: Macmillan Publishers, 1999
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