British women short story writers : the new woman to now / edited by Emma Young and James Bailey.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Young, Emma (Learning development tutor), editor.

Bailey, James (Writer of British women short story writers), editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English fiction--Women authors--History and criticism.

English fiction.

English fiction--Women authors.

Short stories, English--History and criticism.

Short stories, English.

Literature and society--Great Britain.

Literature and society.

Politics and literature--Great Britain.

Politics and literature.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

x, 206 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, [2015]

Summary:

New critical essays on modern British women short story writers, What is the relationship between the British woman writer and the short story? This collection examines what this versatile genre offers women writers, and what this can tell us about the society and culture they inhabit. From the rise of the modern printing press at the end of the nineteenth century through to the present digital age, these essays examine how the short story has been deployed and reworked by women writers and how they have influenced and shaped the genre's development. Considering the effect of literary inheritances, societal and cultural change, and shifting publishing demands, this collection traces the evolution of the genre through to its continued appeal to women writing today. From the New Woman to contemporary feminisms, women's anthologies to microfiction, modernist writers to the contemporary works of Ali Smith and Helen Simpson, the chapters in this collection investigate a crucial yet under-examined field of British literature. Key Features, 11 new chapters which discuss a range of gender and genre issues from the fin-de-siècle to the present day, together with an Introduction by the editors and a Postscript by Clare Hanson, Provides the background to the genre's development giving readers a unique insight into a largely neglected aspect of women's writing, Includes new readings of women authors such as 'George Egerton', E. Nesbit, May Sinclair, Dorothy Richardson, Katherine Mansfield, Elizabeth Bowen, Muriel Spark, Angela Carter, Michèle Roberts, Helen Simpson, Tessa Hadley and Holly Howitt-Dring, Uses recent critical approaches to explore themes such as haunting and trauma, class and feminist politics, and women's experimentation with form Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction / Emma Young Young, Emma, James Bailey Bailey, James 1

2 The Elusive Melody: Music and Trauma in New Woman Short Stories / Maura Dunst Dunst, Maura 15

3 Beyond the Haunted House? Modernist Women's Ghost Stories and the Troubling of Modernity / Emma Liggins Liggins, Emma 32

4 Potboilers or 'Glimpses' of Reality? The Cultural and the Material in the Modernist Short Story / Rebecca Bowler Bowler, Rebecca 50

5 War and the Short Story: Elizabeth Bowen / Adam Piette Piette, Adam 66

6 'Haunted, whether we like it or not': The Ghost Stories of Muriel Spark / James Bailey Bailey, James 81

7 Disaggregative Character Identity and the Politics of Aesthetic In-betweenness in Angela Carter's Short Narratives / Michelle Ryan-Sautour Ryan-Sautour, Michelle 96

8 New Wave's of Interest: Women's Short Story Writing in the Late Twentieth Century / Ailsa Cox Cox, Ailsa 114

9 Feminist F(r)iction: Short Stones and Postfeminist Politics at the Millennial Moment / Emma Young Young, Emma 133

10 Class as Destiny in the Short Stories of Tessa Hadley / Sue Vice Vice, Sue 148

11 Address, Temporality and Misdelivery: The Postal Effects of All Smith's Short Stones / Ben Davies Davies, Ben 163

12 Housewives and Half-Stories; A Question of Genre and Gender in Microfiction / Holly Bowitt-Dring Bowitt-Dring, Holly 179

13 Postscript: British Women's Short Story Writing / Clare Hanson Hanson, Clare 193.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781474401388

1474401384

OCLC:

907131270