British Interwar Women Writers - by Clara Jones (Hardcover)

About the Book

Uncovers the intimate connections that existed between interwar women writers' political affiliations and their aesthetic decisions.

Book Synopsis

British Interwar Women Writers explores the relationship between the political and literary commitments of five women writers - Sylvia Townsend Warner, Ellen Wilkinson, Rosamond Lehmann, Elizabeth Bowen and Amabel Williams-Ellis. The book has two aims. Firstly, to offer more precisely contextualised accounts of these writers' class and gender politics by situating their treatment of maternity, marriage, work, sex and domesticity in terms of contemporary socio-political debates, as well as their own involvement with organisations like the Labour Party, the National Federation of Women's Institutes and the Communist Party of Great Britain. Secondly, by focusing on their shared preference for mid-and-low-status genres, such as romance and thrillers, and exploring the potential of cross-generic close readings, the book shows how these writers' work with genre was responsive to, and in some cases contiguous with, their extra-literary commitments and political engagements.

Review Quotes

Combining an expansive understanding of the political with the precision of archival research, Clara Jones's brilliant, nuanced and incisive book is an exciting contribution to modernist studies. Jones reads interwar women authors with acumen and sensitivity, writes about them in a style both crisp and engaging, and shows the generative potential of a feminist approach.--Daniela Caselli, University of Manchester