Perdita Macpherson Schaffner

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Personal

Vocation

Lifestyle

Family

Anglo-American essayist and philanthropist, biological daughter of the Imagist poet Hilda Doolittle and adopted daughter of Doolittle's longtime female companion, Bryher. Her father's identity was a mystery for many years. She was originally named Frances Perdita Aldington, since, at the time of her birth, her mother was married to Richard Aldington. But in 1983 she identified him as Cecil Gray, a Scottish music critic and minor composer, who had had a brief affair with H.D. toward the end of World War I. Perdita's mother was good friends with Bryher and the three formed an extended family with Bryher's two husbands. Bryher and her second husband, Kenneth Macpherson, legally adopted Perdita in 1927. Perdita was educated at home by Bryher and tutor and became fluent in French, German and Italian. As a young servicewoman at the outset of World War II, she became a translator, decoding Nazi messages, ultimately working for the Office of Strategic Services as a spy-catcher. After the war, she moved to New York and worked as a secretary for John Valentine Schaffner, a literary agent. The two fell in love and married in 1950. The marriage produced four children, all of whom became writers: Valentine, Nicholas, Elizabeth Bryher and Timothy. When her husband died in 1983, Perdita began publishing her own essays in literary magazines. With an interest in theater, she became an active supporter of theaters and the dramatic arts and artists. She traveled widely as well throughout Europe, Africa, North America and the Caribbean, and included Turkey and the Falkland Islands in her travels. She suffered a massive heart attack in 1996 and wasn't expected to live. Upon her return home, she gave up smoking and hard liquor. Her health declined however and she died on December 26, 2001 at her home in East Hampton, N.Y. She was 82.