Review of Magnificent Rebel: Nancy Cunard in Jazz Age Paris by Anne de Courcy

*Magnificent Rebel: Nancy Cunard in Jazz Age Paris* by Anne de Courcy (2023). Published by St. Martin’s Press.

I’ve written about this on multiple times throughout my blog and book reviews, but some of the best books I’ve ever randomly found out about have been through simply wandering the aisles of the new section or of the library in search of something new.

Until recently my local library has had the same layout, so I simply know where to go when I want a memoir or history book versus literary criticism. I will also give another caveat about what I like: 1920s is my favorite era to study. My graduate thesis is on 1920s Korean women’s literature, but Hollywood, US, or even Egypt have been topics I’ve delved into in this era.

That’s why when I saw Magnificent Rebel on the shelves in front of me I knew I had found something that would fit right into my area of expertise. I had no idea who Nancy Cunard was, but I knew about the people she supposedly had interacted with that were listed on the synopsis. So I checked the book out and went to town—I read the book over the course of four days.

Let’s get into the review!

Nancy Cunard was the object of affections for many in 1920s Paris.

This book begins in the earlier years of Cunard’s life, as she was born into a very wealthy family in England to people who probably should not have had kids once we reflect on that fact. She was initially raised in Leicestershire with her parents, but when her parents divorced, she took Nancy to London, where the beginnings of her wild child act began.

There’s discussion in the book about George Moore, who is technically her mother’s admirer, but there’s no doubt this man played an important role in her life before she moved to France.

Nancy liked to go out to the cafes and bars when she was young, and that was where she met her first husband, Sydney, at. He was drafted back into the war though, and not even three years after they had gotten married, the decision was made to get a divorce.

She also found a new lover during this time, even when she was married to him, but he unfortunately died in the war literally right before it was about to end.

Then, when she gets bored of living in London, Nancy decided to move to Paris just as it was starting to become a place where it was bursting with immigrants, writers, and artists who were all trying to make it in the post-war world.

The book describes her various relationships with several of the leading writers of their time, such as Ezra Pound and Aldous Huxley, and I found it absolutely fascinating that Huxley was so deeply in love with her and thought of Cunard of a muse; this was a point that would even manifest in his later novels.

However, one of the most interesting things that de Courcy does in this biography is that she doesn’t hold back in showing that Cunard is quite vapid and doesn’t seem to care in the slightest for other people.

Sure, she made some interesting contributions to Paris’ literary scene at the time and used her money in ways that supported some of the other writers we know and love today, but she’s also described doing some pretty awful things to other people.

This biography kind of becomes a list of people whose hearts she broke, and although she grew up in some ways to fight against racism and fascism, she still doesn’t seem to realize how she’s impacting people on a personal level.

Considering how much money she had to do better, it’s kind of shocking to read about as someone who didn’t really know anything about her before this.

Overall Thoughts

This was such an interesting read, and I honestly would recommend this to anyone interested in the period, especially when it comes to what was going on in the arts circles around Paris at the time. I think Cunard isn’t exactly a saint, but she also didn’t come from the greatest background (minus the money), so that might explain why she ended up the way she did.

This certainly isn’t a flattering portrait of who she was as a person, but it certainly shows how she had impact throughout her life and work.

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