Mary Butts

Overview

Mary Frances Butts born Parkstone, Dorset, England December 13, 1890 (d. 1937). British modernist author. Socialist, pacifist, social worker. Opposed first World War in National Council Against Conscription and National Council for Civil Liberties.

Quotations

On World War I: "[This is a] collective insanity that has come over the world…Not till the end of the war will there be any time for art or love or magic again. Perhaps never again." (from her diary, in Nathalie Blondel, “Mary Butts: Scenes from the Life”, New York Times, “Speed the Plough” 1923 story of shell-shocked soldier.)

“For watching death, and above all, after death; not death in battle, but death after battle, brings one to certain indifferences that are also a form of death.” (photo Treadwell’s)