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For decades, very little has been known about the author, among Victorian literature's most singular voices, who was once hailed as a genius by the famous playwright.

However, readers will get the chance to familiarize themselves with a writer whose pioneering work delved into the emancipation of women, the Jewish experience, and homosexual longing.

“Seldom nowadays for a coherent corpus of a Victorian-era author’s papers to come to light,” remarked a senior archivist. “We were determined to seize this chance to make her archive accessible in the place where she studied and where she spent time even in the final days of her life.”

A Pioneering Life

The author was born in 1861 into a bourgeois Jewish family in London and entered Newnham College in 1879, rising to become the second Jewish woman among Cambridge’s first generation of female undergraduates.

She wrote three volumes of poetry, three novels – featuring Reuben Sachs and The Romance of a Shop – many articles and a series of articles for the Jewish Chronicle. When she took her own life in 1889, at the age of 27, she was acknowledged by her fellow writers as an exceptional talent, with Oscar Wilde composing a tribute and praising the “sincerity, straightforwardness, and sadness” of her work.

A Multifaceted Persona

An expert researcher developing a literary analysis about Levy commented that she believed the documents would not only revolutionize scholarly research but also be of interest to a general readership.

“I encountered Amy’s poetry years ago and they have lingered in my mind ever since,” the scholar said. “Not only was she a accomplished and moving writer, but she was also so multifaceted. She asserted her Jewish roots, but she was also an non-believer. She seemed to interact positively with men, but she was a woman who loved women.”

The scholar noted that Levy had established a community at Newnham and also in her adult life, especially through the writer Vernon Lee “who was extremely networked to a wide circle including Wilde. Levy became part of Lee’s circle, in fact she developed feelings for her, a love that sadly was never returned.

“When Wilde was given a short manuscript from Levy for his magazine the Woman’s World, he was bowled over by the story and called Levy a prodigious talent.”

A Lasting Legacy

Experts believe Levy’s work connects meaningfully to modern discussions around feminism, homosexual narratives and Jewish culture and say she foreshadowed conversation that would come years after her death.

“She was progressive, which was possibly one of the reasons she struggled to find her role,” the scholar said. “She struggled with her same-sex attraction and how she fit into a traditional society. Matrimony was not an option for her, but neither was having a career like a educator, which she abandoned to become a full-time author.

“She has long been of interest to people who study Jewish women and their history. And today, when we have in the wake of the international epidemic so many young people battling depression, anxiety, psychological distress, even suicidality, understanding her might be of value and comfort to a wider public too,” the scholar said.

The Closing Chapter

The collection includes Levy’s 1889 appointment diary, in which gradually dwindling entries record the last months before her death from asphyxiation. A final, moving entry, written the day before she died, said: “Home by myself the entire day.” But the expert said Levy in many ways had “a rich, full, exciting existence” too.

“She could be humorous at times, which is evident in her writings. She did experience a trifecta of challenges, including nerve pain. She was growing increasingly deaf, which causes withdrawal from society and isolation. And she also suffered from despondency.

“Though she did not ultimately achieve happiness, it was always something she upheld: the freedom to experience bliss, even ecstatic.”