Aesthetic of Elizabeth Bowen’s Novels

Brought up in East Kent, Diana Hirst moved to London in the Swinging Sixties where she worked as PA to the Head of BBC World Service, Bob Gregson. Her late husband’s work then took them for two years to France, where he was a lecteur at the University of Tours. On their return she spent time bringing up their two sons before embarking on management work in the world of classical music. She was Director of the award-winning Mecklenburgh Opera for six years before freelancing, concentrating on event management and public relations: for this work she was dubbed the Thinking Person’s PR Consultant. On retirement, she turned first to writing poetry, often about the Kent landscape, becoming Deal and Dover Poet of the Year in 2008, before a chance encounter with Elizabeth Bowen’s work led to her study of the novelist. An Advanced Diploma at the Institute of Continuing Education, University of Cambridge, supervised by Dr Trudi Tate, was followed by a PhD at Canterbury Christ Church University, supervised by Dr Andrew Palmer and Dr Stefania Ciocia. Subsequently she has published a number of short essays and presented papers at Conferences, and a chapter, ‘Experimenting with Tradition: Elizabeth Bowen’s Literature Laboratory’, has appeared in Tradition and Experimentation in Irish Literature since Modernism (Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies Books New Series).

Focusing on Bowen’s use of a range of artistic techniques in her fiction, Diana Hirst’s The Aesthetic of Elizabeth Bowen’s Novels, with its nuanced and detailed analysis of Bowen’s writing, is a very welcome addition to the field of Bowen studies.- Dr Nicola Darwood, Director of RIMAP, University of Bedfordshire and Co-Editor of the Elizabeth Bowen ReviewHirst is the first to attend in detail to Bowen’s innovative and idiosyncratic style, meticulously tracing this to her social, cultural, artistic, and geographical context. In doing so, she captures Bowen’s work from a shimmering new angle, encouraging us to reflect anew on her contribution to the modernist literary scene.- Professor Jessica Gildersleeve, University of Southern QueenslandTrue art conceals the means by which it is achieved. In this revelatory book, Diana Hirst documents the techniques – light, atmosphere, pattern – that Elizabeth Bowen used to create some of the most memorable novels published in the twentieth century. Hirst’s is an eminently readable account of Bowen’s achievement as a writer.- Professor Allan Hepburn, McGill UniversityHirst draws on art, poetry and linguistics to ‘twist the imaginary kaleidoscope’ of Bowen’s sensory placemaking. This authoritative and innovative guide will send readers back to Bowen’s fiction and inspire writers to go and tackle their own white page.- Professor Carolyn W. de la L. Oulton, Canterbury Christ Church UniversityDiana Hirst’s book explores the kaleidoscopic shifts and pleasures of Bowen’s major writings. She is very good on effects of light and shadow, seeing and being, atmosphere and place (especially Kent), as well as on fragmentation, the peculiar power of what she calls Bowen’s ‘dyslocution.’- Professor Nicholas Royle, University of Sussex

• ForewordDr Heather IngmanPrefaceAcknowledgementsAbbreviationsIntroductionA brief autobiography Bowen in context Chapter 1‘The Process of Reading is Reciprocal’Genesis: Genesis of Ideas and Influences Process: Pattern and Plot; Scene; Characters; Technique An Experimental WriterThe Reader Must Take ResponsibilityChapter 2By the Light of her Eye Light: Reflection and Refraction; Light and its Cousins in the Novels The Eye: A Writer’s Eye; Characters and Their Eyes; Ocular Communication; Houses have EyesChapter 3‘Place Feeling’Origins of the Importance of Place for Bowen: Physical Place: Geology; Architectural Space; Archaeology; The Mobile Place; Atmosphere: The Liminal PlacePlace in the Novels: The Early Novels; The 1930s Novels; The War-time Novel; The Post-War NovelsChapter 4An Artist in her StudioAffinity with genres and artists Patterns, Shapes, Geometry of Relationships, Puzzles: Pattern; The Shape of the Novel; The Geometry of Relationships; PuzzlesTwo-dimensional work: Post-Impressionism; Surrealism; Futurism; Mirroring; Landscape; Chiaroscuro Three-dimensional work: Assemblage; Sculpture; Objet TrouvéChapter 5‘I Collect Scraps to Make Scrap Screens’Fairy TalesChildren’s StoriesBiblical and Liturgical CollageLiterary Collage Chapter 6‘A Camera at the Tip of Her Pen’The Techniques The 1930s Novels Developments During and After the Second World War War-time Short Stories: The Heat of the Day The Final Novels Chapter 7Dyslocution: Casting off the Superstition of SyntaxStyleDyslocution: Futurism; Fragmentation; Obliteration; Characteristics of Bowen’s SyntaxThe Influence of FrenchPoetic TechniquesCubismEnvoiIndex