page_title: Ouida
section_title: Literary career
hierarchical_section_title: Ouida / Literary career
caption_attribution_description: English: Blue plaque erected in 1952 by London County Council at 11 Ravenscourt Square, Hammersmith, London W6 0TW, London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
context_page_description: Ouida was the pseudonym of the English novelist Maria Louise Ramé. During her career, Ouida wrote more than 40 novels, as well as short stories, children's books and essays. Moderately successful, she lived a life of luxury, entertaining many of the literary figures of the day. Under Two Flags, one of her most famous novels, described the British in Algeria. It expressed sympathy for the French colonists—with whom Ouida deeply identified—and, to some extent, the Arabs. The novel was adapted for the stage, and was filmed six times. Her novel A Dog of Flanders is considered a children's classic in much of Asia. The American author Jack London cited her novel Signa, as one of the reasons for his literary success. Her lavish lifestyle eventually led her to penury, and her works were put up for auction to pay her debts. She died in Italy from pneumonia. Soon after her death, her friends organized a public subscription in Bury St Edmunds, where they had a fountain for horses and dogs installed in her name.
context_section_description: During her career, Ouida wrote more than 40 novels, children's books and collections of short stories and essays. Her work had several phases.
  In 1863, when she was 24, she published her first novel, Held in Bondage. (She later claimed to have written her well-received novel Idalia (1867) at the age of 16. It featured a rebellious ingenue heroine who was sympathetic to Italian independence.)
  In her early period, her novels were considered "racy" and "swashbuckling", a contrast to "the moralistic prose of early Victorian literature" (Tom Steele), and a hybrid of the sensationalism of the 1860s and the proto-adventure novels being published as part of the romanticisation of imperial expansion. Later her work was more typical of historical romance, though she never stopped commenting on contemporary society. She also wrote several stories for children.
  Under Two Flags, one of her most famous novels, described the British in Algeria. It expressed sympathy for the French colonists (called pieds noirs)—with whom Ouida deeply identified—and, to some extent, the Arabs. The novel was adapted for the stage, and was filmed six times. The American author Jack London cited her novel Signa, which he read at age eight, as one of the eight reasons for his literary success.
caption: Blue plaque erected in 1952 by London County Council at 11 Ravenscourt Square, Hammersmith, London W6
exif: {"Image Make": "SAMSUNG", "Image Model": "ST200 / ST200F / ST201 / ST201F / ST205F", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2015:05:15 17:27:49", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "COPYRIGHT, 2010", "Image Padding": "[]", "Image ExifOffset": "2348", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5118", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6418", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/90", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2015:05:12 19:10:17", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2015:05:12 19:10:17", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3847199/995328", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "13/2", "EXIF ApertureValue": "497/100", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "497/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "97/2", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1500", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2000", "EXIF RelatedSoundFile": "RelatedSound", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "4992", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "1", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "261", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4194"}