Mary Anne Lamb (3 December 1764 – 20 May 1847), was an English writer, the sister and collaborator of Charles Lamb. In 1796, Mary, who had suffered a breakdown from the strain of caring for her family, killed her mother with a kitchen knife, and from then on had to be kept under constant supervision. When their senile father died, her younger brother became her official guardian.

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  • 1847-05-20 (xsd:date)
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  • Mary Anne Lamb (3 December 1764 – 20 May 1847), was an English writer, the sister and collaborator of Charles Lamb. In 1796, Mary, who had suffered a breakdown from the strain of caring for her family, killed her mother with a kitchen knife, and from then on had to be kept under constant supervision. When their senile father died, her younger brother became her official guardian. They lived together and in 1823 they met and adopted an orphan, Emma Isola, who later married Charles's publisher Edward Moxon. In 1807, Mary collaborated with Charles on a children's book, Tales from Shakespeare, and they produced other popular works for children in later years. On her own, Mary Lamb published an epistolary work, Mrs Leicester's School, which the poet Samuel Coleridge believed would and should be "acknowledged as a rich jewel in the treasury of our permanent English literature. " It is with this book, concerning the tales of a variety of motherless and orphaned girls, that Mary Lamb seemed to deal with the personal themes of grief and guilt. Though her solo turn, critically acclaimed at the time, has not outlived its era, Tales from Shakespeare continues to be in print. It was first published by William Godwin and his second wife Mary Jane Godwin. Mary continued to suffer bouts of mental illness throughout her life. Notwithstanding these dramatic interruptions, Mary, along with her brother, was at the center of an ongoing artist's salon in London, entertaining many theatrical and literary luminaries of the day. Among other notables, Coleridge praised her for the sensibility and empathy that characterized extended periods in which she was free of the symptoms of the bipolar disorder that she battled, often valiantly. Although contemporaries had predicted that Mary would be the first to die, it was Charles who succumbed to complications of an infected wound in 1834. Biographers have noted the irony of her brother's relatively greater dependence on her and her seeming instinct for survival, but after his death, she grew increasingly frail, cared for at times by a family and at others in an asylum. On her death, she was buried next to her brother in the Edmonton Churchyard in Middlesex. Subsequently, Mary has been depicted as the central character in The Lambs of London (2004), a novel by Peter Ackroyd. She is also the subject of a recent biographical study by British writer Kathy Watson, The Devil Kissed Her. Ms. Watson credits Mary Lamb with the "better half" of the writing in Tales in terms of its vibrancy and skill.
  • Mary Ann Lamb war eine englische Schriftstellerin und Mitarbeiterin ihres ebenfalls schreibenden Bruders Charles Lamb. Als Kind einer wenig begüterten Familie erweiterte sie ihre bescheidene Schulbildung durch eifriges Studium in der Privatbibliothek Samuel Salts, eines Rechtsanwaltes, bei dem ihr Vater angestellt war. Durch Salts Tod 1792 geriet die Familie in wirtschaftliche Schwierigkeiten. Die Mutter erkrankte schwer an Rheuma und beim Vater begann sich allmählich Demenz einzustellen. Mary Lamb kümmerte sich um beide und trug durch Schneiderarbeiten zum Broterwerb der Familie bei. Am 22. September griff Mary Lamb in einem Zornanfall ein Mädchen, das für die Familie Hilfstätigkeiten verrichtete mit einem Messer an und tötete dabei die dazwischengehende Mutter. Die der Familie wohlgesinnte eingesetzte Untersuchungskommission erkannte auf einen Fall von Wahnsinn und Mary Lamb konnte bei der Familie verbleiben. Allmählich verbesserte sich die finanzielle Situation vor allem durch die Fortschritte des Bruders Charles Lamb, der als Sekretär bei der Ostindischen Kompanie arbeitete. Die beiden blieben auch nach dem Tod des Vaters 1799 zusammen und begannen unter dem Einfluss des Schriftstellers William Godwin gemeinsam Bücher für hauptsächlich jugendliches Publikum zu verfassen. 1805 entstand The King and Queen of Hearts ("Der König und die Königin der Herzen") und 1807 ihr bedeutendstes gemeinsames Werk Tales from Shakespeare (Nacherzählungen der Shakespearschen Dramen), das bis heute neu aufgelegt wird. Dazu kamen Mrs. Leicester's School (1809) und Poetry for Children, Entirely Original (1809). Dennoch unterbrachen immer wieder Anfälle ihres Nervenleidens die Schaffensperioden. Als 1834 ihr Bruder starb wurde sie zusehends zerbrechlich und verstarb schließlich 1847 in fremder Pflege.
  • Mary Anne Lamb – angielska pisarka, siostra Charlesa Lamba, z którym współpracowała. Wspólnie napisali Tales from Shakespeare. Chora psychicznie, zabiła swoją matkę.
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  • With her brother Charles.
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  • 3 December 1764
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  • 20 May 1847
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  • Lamb, Mary
  • Mary Lamb
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  • England writer, the sister and collaborator of Charles Lamb (writer)
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  • Mary Anne Lamb (3 December 1764 – 20 May 1847), was an English writer, the sister and collaborator of Charles Lamb. In 1796, Mary, who had suffered a breakdown from the strain of caring for her family, killed her mother with a kitchen knife, and from then on had to be kept under constant supervision. When their senile father died, her younger brother became her official guardian.
  • Mary Ann Lamb war eine englische Schriftstellerin und Mitarbeiterin ihres ebenfalls schreibenden Bruders Charles Lamb. Als Kind einer wenig begüterten Familie erweiterte sie ihre bescheidene Schulbildung durch eifriges Studium in der Privatbibliothek Samuel Salts, eines Rechtsanwaltes, bei dem ihr Vater angestellt war. Durch Salts Tod 1792 geriet die Familie in wirtschaftliche Schwierigkeiten. Die Mutter erkrankte schwer an Rheuma und beim Vater begann sich allmählich Demenz einzustellen.
  • Mary Anne Lamb – angielska pisarka, siostra Charlesa Lamba, z którym współpracowała. Wspólnie napisali Tales from Shakespeare. Chora psychicznie, zabiła swoją matkę.
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  • Mary Lamb
  • Mary Ann Lamb
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