part0020

Mary Webb (1881–1927) was a novelist and poet whose writing is characterised by a lyrical attention to nature, an interest in folklore and an inclination towards to the mystical. Although today her work is seldom read, she was a much heralded writer in her time. For John Buchan, “Mary Webb need fear no comparison with any writer who has attempted to capture the soul of nature in words”. Rebecca West reflected on the publication of Webb’s second novel Gone to Earth (1917) that she is a “genius, and I shouldn’t mind wagering that she is going to be the most distinguished writer of our generation”. Woodland is an essential part of Webb’s literary vision, often with a touch of the occult. Gone to Earth , for example, has the strikingly named protagonist Hazel Woodus linger in Hunter’s Spinney, a “deeply wooded” hill, “cowled in ancient legends”, particularly that of the Black Huntsman. Webb describes how “in November twilights, when the dumb birds cowered in the dark pines, you might hear from the summit a horn blown very clearly, with tuneful devilry, and a scattered sound of deep barking”.

Published in The English Review in 1921, ‘The Name-Tree’ is a darkly beautiful tale of a threatened cherry orchard. Webb’s work is associated overwhelmingly with her native Shropshire, where for the most part her novels take place. ‘The Name-Tree’ is located, rather more ambiguously, in the grounds of a “Bitterne Hall”. Although Webb gives little information about the location, the setting may be a reference to Bitterne in Hampshire, rather than to Shropshire. As the story’s central character Laura endeavours to come to terms with the loss of her beloved trees to the Hall’s new owner, the story brings ecological questions into dialogue with questions of gender politics in a way which emphasises Webb’s significance as a feminist writer.