Elinor Glyn

The Visits of Elizabeth Elinor Glyn

Elinor Glyn, born Elinor Sutherland, was an English novelist and scriptwriter who pioneered mass-market women's erotic fiction. She coined the use of the word 'It' as a euphemism for sex appeal. Elinor was schooled by her grandmother (a minor French aristocrat) in the ways of upper-class society. This training led her to be considered an authority on style and breeding when she worked in Hollywood in the 1920s. She was the celebrated author of such early 20th century bestsellers as It, Three Weeks, Beyond the Rocks, and other novels which were then considered quite racy. (By the standards of this moment, of course, they're fairly tame stuff -- what's visible now is more Glyn's talent than it is the things she was once known for.) She was also a scriptwriter for early films, and had a brief career as a film director.

The Visits of Elizabeth is told as a series of letters to her mother, in which she recounts her times in the great country houses of the English and French aristocracy. Life is a round of house parties and entertainments, told with with and wonder at the follies of the aristocracy by an utterly guileless heroine.