Mary Renault
, 1905 - 1983
'Mary Renault' is the pseudonym of Eileen Mary Challans. She was a prolific British-born writer known for her historical fiction set in classical antiquity. Following World War One she attended the Bristol boarding school, Clifton Girls School, where she studied ancient languages and excelled in history and literature. Despite opposition from her parents, she attended St. Hugh’s College at Oxford University, planning to become a teacher. Her study included classical culture and ancient Greek and she spent a lot of time in the ancient Greek galleries of the Ashmolean Museum. She received encouragement from JRR Tolkien, then literature professor, and she aspired to become a novelist. She graduated in English Literature in 1928. She began publishing short articles and book reviews. In 1936 she completed nurse's training at Oxford's Radcliffe Infirmary and she served as a nurse throughout the Second World War.
She continued to write and took the pen name 'Renault' with the publication of her first novel. Most of Renault's early novels featured romances in contemporary hospital settings, although they include frequent references to ancient Greek culture. Renault was a lesbian and several of her novels depicted lesbian romances, such as the romantic comedy, The Friendly Young Ladies (1943). Her novel, Return to Night (1947) about a female doctor and her younger male lover, was a great commercial success. Renault moved to South Africa in its wake. She published The Charioteer (1953), a contemporary novel exploring male homosexuality and Platonic theory. She then began focusing on the historical fiction that she became more famous for. These included The Last of the Wine (1956) set during the Peloponnesian War, The King Must Die (1958) and its sequel The Bull from the Sea (1962) exploring the myth of Theseus, and a trilogy about Alexander the Great (1972-1981). She wrote two non-fiction works, The Lion in the Gateway: The Heroic Battles of the Greeks and Persians at Marathon, Salamis, and Thermopylae (1964), written for children, and The Nature of Alexander (1975). Initially Renault was a controversial figure because of her positive depictions of homosexuality; in time she became controversial for criticising aspects of the gay rights movement. Renault was an active member of the anti-apartheid Women's Defence of the Constitution League (from 1956) and protested against the South African government's imposition of legal restrictions on homosexuality. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (1959) and became an Honorary Fellow of St. Hugh's College (1982). She died of lung cancer in South Africa in 1983.
Sources:
britannica.com (accessed: February 5, 2020);
"Renault, Mary (1905–1983), "Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia.com (accessed: February 5, 2020).
Bio prepared by Sonya Nevin, University of Roehampton, sonya.nevin@roehampton.ac.uk
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