Vernon Lee

Vernon Lee was the pseudonym of the British writer Violet Paget . She is remembered today primarily for her supernatural fiction and her work on aesthetics. An early follower of Walter Pater, she also wrote over a dozen volumes of essays on art, music, and travel. She was born at Château St Leonard, Boulogne, France to expatriate English parents. She was the half-sister of Eugene Lee-Hamilton, adapting her pseudonym from his surname. Although she primarily wrote for an English audience and made many visits to London, she spent the majority of her life on the continent, particularly in... Italy. Her longest residence was on the hillside just outside of Florence, in the Palmerino villa, from 1889 until her death, with a brief interruption during the war. Her library was left to the British Institute of Florence and can still be inspected by visitors. In Florence she knit lasting friendships with the painter Telemaco Signorini and the learned Mario Praz, and she encouraged his love of learning and English literature. An engaged feminist, she always dressed á la garçonne, and was a member of the Union of Democratic Control.
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