Book Talk – A Woman Named Edith, by Daria Santini

A Woman Named Edith is Daria Santini’s new biography of Edith Tudor Hart and the first in English. Shedding light on the life of a remarkably talented Austrian photographer and committed communist activist, Santini illustrates how – after fleeing the collapse of ‘Red Vienna’ for London in the early 1930s – Tudor Hart became immersed in some of the most significant artistic and political events of her era. In London, she moved at the heart of left-wing circles where progressive ideas across fields as diverse as architecture, photojournalism and children’s education coexisted with the secrecy of clandestine communist activities. She also played a vital role in the Cambridge spy network, and was responsible for recruiting Kim Philby. Yet despite being kept under close observation by the British Secret Service for decades, she was never caught and never confessed. Situating Tudor Hart’s choices within the defining pressures of the twentieth century – fascism, displacement, war, and the moral urgencies of the 1930s and 1940s – Santini offers fresh insights into her subject’s formidable personality, her pioneering work behind the lens, and her extraordinary double life as a Soviet agent. About the speaker Daria Santini was born in Rome and educated in Italy and Germany. She holds a PhD in German Literature from the University of Pisa, was an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow at the University of Munich, and taught German Language and Literature at the University of Oxford for fifteen years. She now lives between London and Puglia, Southern Italy, and works as an independent scholar and writer. She has written books and articles on the literary reception of Classical mythology, modern German drama, opera libretti, literature and the visual arts, the literature of the Third Reich, and exile studies.