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From the Archive
Friendship has always been the foundation of the Library community, as proven by British writer Rebecca West and American singer Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson (1898-1976) was one of the most famous Black singers, actors and activists of the early 20th century. Born in Princeton, New Jersey, his father was a former slave who became a preacher. Robeson excelled academically from an early age and won a scholarship to Rutgers University, where he studied law and became a star of the football team (he briefly turned professional before showbusiness called). And, in 1934, Robeson became a member of The London Library.
He first performed in Britain in 1922, but his big West End break came in 1928, in Show Boat. The musical was a hit. Robeson’s rendition of Ol’ Man River became his signature song, and its success enabled him to buy a house in Hampstead. London literary society, including the writers Aldous Huxley, H G Wells, and George Bernard Shaw all sought out Robeson’s company.
Huxley, Wells and Shaw were all members of the Library, but it was the journalist, novelist and critic Rebecca West (1892-1983) who nominated Robeson to join in 1934, not long after seeing him in a revival of Eugene O’Neill play, All God’s Chillun Got Wings. West wrote that he “gave one of the most thrilling performances I have ever seen. He put all the forces of his vitality behind the role and built a character so vast that in the memory one sees him as larger than life-size.”
Robeson and West remained friends for many years. They shared a love of theatre, reading and books. In the early 1900s West, whose real name was Cicily Fairfield, had trained as an actress, and took her pen name from a character in Ibsen’s play Rosmersholm. During Robeson’s time in London he enrolled at the School of Oriental and African Studies to study phonetics and Swahili.
The 1930s also marked Robeson’s emergence as a leading voice in the struggle against racism, and he became a fervent socialist. West was a firm supporter of Robeson’s activism, accompanying him to his 1937 speech at the Royal Albert Hall in support of the Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War. It was there that he gave one of his most famous speeches to the assembled intelligentsia: “Every artist, every scientist, every writer must decide now where he stands. He has no alternative.”
West also joined Robeson and his wife Eslanda on holidays. West was self-confident and opinionated, and unafraid to criticise Robeson’s many extramarital affairs. He once described the English actress Yolande Jackson, who he fell for in the 1930s and wanted to marry, as “the love of his life”. In West’s opinion she was “vaguely shady”.
Robeson returned to the US just before the Second World War. As for West, by 1945 she was a major figure of London literary society. Her reputation would only grow with the reports she made about the trial of Nazi war criminals in Nuremburg for The New Yorker, later collected in the book A Train of Powder. She was a prolific user of the Library, and went on to become a VicePresident in 1967. •
Members can refer a friend to the Library to receive £50 off their annual renewal. Visit londonlibrary.co.uk/members/member-offers
Above: Rebecca West. Below: Robeson's Library joining form
Photo: Madame Yévonde.
Elaine Stabler is a contributing editor of this magazine
