Comedy and the feminine middlebrow novel : Elizabeth von Arnim and Elizabeth Taylor / by Erica Brown.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brown, Erica, 1975- author.

Series:

Literary texts and the popular marketplace ; no. 3.

Literary texts and the popular marketplace ; 3

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Von Arnim, Elizabeth, 1866-1941--Criticism and interpretation--History--20th century.

Von Arnim, Elizabeth.

Taylor, Elizabeth, 1912-1975--Criticism and interpretation--History--20th century.

Taylor, Elizabeth.

Women in literature.

Middle class in literature.

Humor in literature.

Humorous stories, English--History and criticism.

Humorous stories, English.

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

English fiction.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 164 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Comedy & the Feminine Middlebrow Novel

Place of Publication:

London : Pickering & Chatto, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Elizabeth von Arnim (1866-1941) and Elizabeth Taylor (1912-75) wrote witty and entertaining novels about the domestic lives of middle-class women. Widely read and enjoyed, their work was often dismissed as middlebrow. Brown argues that their skilful use of comedy and irony worked as devices to provide the receptive reader with a subversive commentary on the cruelties and disappointments of life. She traces the critical reception of their novels from the publication of von Arnim's <i>Christopher and Columbus</i> (1919) to Taylor's <i>In a Summer Season</i> (1961). In doing so, she demonstrates that hostility to the 'feminine middlebrow', often supposed to be at its height between the wars, in fact intensified after World War II.<br> <br> <b>Shortlisted for the ESSE Book Awards, 2014 - Literatures in the English Language (Junior Scholars)</b><br>

Contents:

The middlebrow and comedy: Elizabeth Taylor and Elizabeth von Arnim's cultural and literary context

A comedic 'response' to war? Elizabeth von Arnim's Christopher and Columbus (1919) and Mr. Skeffington (1940)

'One begins to see what is meant by "They lived happily ever after"': Elizabeth von Arnim's Vera (1921) and Elizabeth Taylor's Palladian (1946)

'One shudders to think what a less sophisticated artist would have made of it': the comedy of age in Elizabeth von Arnim's Love (1925) and Elizabeth TAylor's In a summer season (1961).

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 02 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on metadata supplied by the publisher and other sources.

ISBN:

1-317-32073-5

1-315-65499-7

1-317-32074-3

1-84893-339-8

9781315654997

OCLC:

862050241