Pass the Poison Separately by Oswell Blakeston

She also helped with finance for the Paris bookshop Shakespeare and Company (founded by Sylvia Beach) and certain publishing ventures. Her wealth enabled her to give financial support to struggling writers, including Joyce and Edith Sitwell. Bryher knew from an early age that she was lesbian. It was Bryher who took care of the finances of the group. Macpherson designed the Pool Group’s logo, which served as the cover of its catalog, showing concentric ripples in water.īryher's father was the shipowner and financier John Ellerman, who left her a very large inheritance. The Pool Group was launched in 1927, from Riant Chateau, Territet, Switzerland and consisted of Bryher, Kenneth Macpherson and Hilda Doolittle (better known by her initials, H.D.). The Pool Group were virtually forgotten for more than half a century after they broke up in the mid-1930s until the early 1980s when they were rediscovered by historians of 20th century arts and cinema. They also published a progressive and opinionated film journal called Close Up.

The group produced four films of which Borderline is perhaps its best known, featuring the African American activist and entertainer Paul Robeson in the lead role. Their work has been studied by poetry and film historians as well as by scholars of mysticism, feminism and psychoanalysis. The Pool Group were a trio of filmmakers and poets consisting of Hilda Doolittle, Kenneth Macpherson and Bryher (Annie Winifred Ellerman).

Pass the Poison Separately by Oswell Blakeston