The work of English modernists in the 1920s and 1930s - particularly D.H. Lawrence, John Cowper Powys, Mary Butts and Virginia Woolf - often expresses a fundamental ambivalence towards the social, cultural and technological developments of the period. These writers collectively embody the tensions and contradictions which infiltrate English modernism as the interwar period progresses, combining a profound sense of attachment to rural place and traditions with a similarly strong attraction to metropolitan modernity - the latter being associated with transience, possibility, literary innovation, cosmopolitanism, and new developments in technology and transportation. In this book, Sam Wiseman analyses key texts by these four authors, charting their respective attempts to forge new identities, perspectives and literary approaches that reconcile tradition and modernity, belonging and exploration, the rural and the metropolitan. This analysis is located within the context of ongoing critical debates regarding the relationship of English modernism with place, cosmopolitanism, and rural tradition; Wiseman augments this discourse by highlighting stylistic and thematic connections between the authors in question, and argues that these links collectively illustrate a distinctive, place-oriented strand of interwar modernism. Ecocritical and phenomenological perspectives are deployed to reveal similarities in their sense of human interrelationship with place, and a shared interest in particular themes and imagery; these include archaeological excavation, aerial perspectives upon place, and animism. Such concerns stem from specific technological and socio-cultural developments of the era. The differing engagements of these four authors with such changes collectively indicate a distinctive set of literary strategies, which aim to reconcile the tensions and contradictions inherent in their relationships with place.

The Reimagining of Place in English Modernism (Clemson University Press w/ LUP)

Literature & Fiction

Wiseman, Sam

British & Irish

Clemson University Press w/ LUP

Locating the Gothic in British Modernity (Clemson University Press w/ LUP)

The late-Victorian era hasbeen extensively researched as a period of Gothic literature, and this studyseeks to build upon this body of work by connecting the content of such studiesto the early decades of the twentieth century, which are less often seen interms of Gothic or supernatural literature. Beginning with the quintessentially urbanGothic space of fin de siècle London, as represented in classic texts such as Dracula and Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan, the study proceeds toask how the themes and energies which emerge in this moment evolve throughoutthe early twentieth century. In the ghost stories of authors like M.R. James,the Edwardian era witnesses an uncanny return to the rural English landscape,in which modernity encounters the re-emergence of suppressed fears and forces.After World War One, London again experiences a renewal of Gothic themes, withfigures such as D.H. Lawrence and T.S. Eliot representing the city as astricken and desolate space, haunted by the trauma and ghosts of the recentconflict. That legacy of violence and loss is also evident in rural representationsof place in the 1920s and 1930s, along with a renewed interest insupernaturalism and paganism found in authors like Sylvia Townsend Warner andMary Butts. Ultimately, this study argues, this period of dramatic social andcultural change is shadowed by a corresponding evolution in Gothic literaryrepresentation, whether that is expressed through modernist experimentation ormore conventional narrative forms.

The late-Victorian era has been extensively researched as a period of Gothic literature, and this study seeks to build upon this body of work by connecting the content of such studies to the early decades of the twentieth century, which are less often seen in terms of Gothic or supernatural literature. Beginning with the quintessentially urban Gothic space of fin de si�cle London, as represented in classic texts such as Dracula and Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan, the study proceeds to ask how the themes and energies which emerge in this moment evolve throughout the early twentieth century. In the ghost stories of authors like M.R. James, the Edwardian era witnesses an uncanny return to the rural English landscape, in which modernity encounters the re-emergence of suppressed fears and forces. After World War One, London again experiences a renewal of Gothic themes, with figures such as D.H. Lawrence and T.S. Eliot representing the city as a stricken and desolate space, haunted by the trauma and ghosts of the recent conflict. That legacy of violence and loss is also evident in rural representations of place in the 1920s and 1930s, along with a renewed interest in supernaturalism and paganism found in authors like Sylvia Townsend Warner and Mary Butts. Ultimately, this study argues, this period of dramatic social and cultural change is shadowed by a corresponding evolution in Gothic literary representation, whether that is expressed through modernist experimentation or more conventional narrative forms.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Wiseman, Sam. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Wiseman, Sam

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Wiseman, Sam. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Reimagining of Place in English Modernism (Clemson University Press w/ LUP)

Locating the Gothic in British Modernity (Clemson University Press w/ LUP)

Locating the Gothic in British Modernity (Clemson University Press w/ LUP)