Elizabeth Bowen by Patricia Laurence
Elizabeth Bowen: A Literary Life reinvents Bowen as a public intellectual, propagandist, spy, cultural ambassador, journalist, and essayist as well as a writer of fiction. Patricia Laurence counters the popular image of Bowen as a mannered, reserved Anglo-Irish writer and presents her as a bold, independent woman who took risks and made her own rules in life and writing. This biography distinguishes itself from others in the depth of research into the life experiences that fueled Bowen’s writing: her espionage for the British Ministry of Information in neutral Ireland, 1940-1941, and the devoted circle of friends, lovers, intellectuals and writers whom she valued: Isaiah Berlin, William Plomer, Maurice Bowra, Stuart Hampshire, Charles Ritchie, Sean O’Faolain, Virginia Woolf, Rosamond Lehmann, and Eudora Welty, among others. The biography also demonstrates how her feelings of irresolution about national identity and gender roles were dispelled through her writing. Her vivid fiction, often about girls and women, is laced with irony about smooth social surfaces rent by disruptive emotion, the sadness of beleaguered adolescents, the occurrence of cultural dislocation, historical atmosphere, as well as undercurrents of violence in small events, and betrayal and disappointment in romance. Her strong visual imagination—so much a part of the texture of her writing—traces places, scenes, landscapes, and objects that subliminally reveal hidden aspects of her characters. Though her reputation faltered in the 1960s-1970s given her political and social conservatism, now, readers are discovering her passionate and poetic temperament and writing as well as the historical consciousness behind her worldly exterior and writing.“Bowen is a difficult writer who attracts complex arguments and sophisticated theorisingThe great asset of this biography, however, is its readability. Laurence writes clearly and accessibly, sharing a great amount of often complex material in a way that easily engages the reader: this is a real plus, especially for those new to Bowen’s work. … Elizabeth Bowen: A Literary Life is a timely, readable book, which will create added interest in Bowen’s life and work.” (Nick Turner, The Elizabeth Bowen Society, bowensociety.com, Vol. 3, September, 2020)
Patricia Laurence is Professor Emerita of English, City College of New York, USA. She has published widely on transnational modernism, Bloomsbury and women writers including The Reading of Silence: Virginia Woolf in the English Tradition (1991); Lily Briscoe’s Chinese Eyes: Bloomsbury, Modernism and China (2001); Julian Bell: The Violent Pacifist (2005).
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9783030264147 |
| ISBN 10 | 3030264149 |
| Title | Elizabeth Bowen |
| Author | Patricia Laurence |
| Series | Literary Lives |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Springer Nature Switzerland AG |
| Year published | 2019-12-16 |
| Number of pages | 357 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |