The Influence of Yorkshire on the Work of May Sinclair

This article investigates the influence of the geography of Yorkshire on the work of May Sinclair. Taking a geocritical perspective alongside the inspiration of the Brontës, Sinclair's fiction and non-fiction output will be examined to demonstrate how she incorporated this influence into her work of 1910–1919. As Sinclair's interests in women's suffrage and psychoanalysis developed throughout the decade, Yorkshire became the important setting for a new type of Sinclairian character; an unrestricted woman with the freedom to physically and psychologically engage with the wildness of the countryside. The representation of North Yorkshire in Sinclair's novels also gives an insight into the impact of her writing retreats to Reeth, especially upon the novels The Three Sisters and Mary Olivier: A Life, where the main protagonists’ attachment to the physical landscape of Yorkshire shapes and develops their characters on the page.