British Women Writers 1914-1945
Subtitle: Professional Work and Friendship
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2017
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 194
ISBN-13: 9781315261256
Subjects: English literature; Women authors; History and criticism; Feminism and literature; History; Women and literature; Female friendship; Authorship; Collaboration; English Authors; Biography; English Women authors; Écrits de femmes anglais; Histoire et critique; Femmes et littérature; Histoire; Amitié féminine; Littérature anglaise; Coauteurs; Écrivains anglais; Biographies; Écrivaines anglaises; Time and tide
Description: "Catherine Clay's persuasively argued and rigorously documented study examines women's friendships during the period between the two world wars. Building on extensive new archival research, the book's organizing principle is a series of literary-historical case-studies that explore the practices, meanings and effects of friendship within a network of British women writers, who were all loosely connected to the feminist weekly periodical Time and Tide. Clay considers the letters and diaries, as well as fiction, poetry, autobiographies and journalistic writings, of authors such as Vera Brittain, Winifred Holtby, Storm Jameson, Naomi Mitchison, and Stella Benson, to examine women's friendships in relation to two key contexts: the rise of the professional woman writer under the shadow of literary modernism and historic shifts in the cultural recognition of lesbianism crystallized by The Well of Loneliness trial in 1928. While Clay's study presents substantial evidence to support the crucial role close and enduring friendships played in women's professional achievements, it also boldly addresses the limitations and denials of these relationships. Producing 'biographies of friendship' untold in existing author studies, her book also challenges dominant accounts of women's friendships and advances new ways for thinking about women's friendship in contemporary debates."--Provided by publisher.
Table of contents: title: Chapter Introduction: Biographies of Friendship; title: chapter 1 Women's Friendship in Inter-War Britain; title: chapter 2 Vera Brittain and Winifred Holtby: a 'Trade in Work and Desire'; title: chapter 3 Winifred Holtby and Lady Rhondda: A Romance of Business; title: chapter 4 Vera Brittain and Storm Jameson: 'A Passionate Beckoning'; title: chapter 5 Stella Benson and Laura Hutton: Representing the Lesbian Body; title: chapter 6 Stella Benson, Naomi Mitchison and Winifred Holtby: A Triadic Model of Friendship and Desire.