This study provides a concise, up to date critical account of Elizabeth Bowen’s work, setting it in the turbulent historical, political and social contexts in which she lived and wrote. / Heather Ingman discusses Bowen’s ten novels as well as her numerous short stories, her essays, reviews, interviews and broadcasts in order to give readers an idea of the range and diversity of her work. Bowen is recognised as one of the foremost short story writers of the twentieth century. / Recent scholarship has reshaped the way we view Bowen - taking her out of the previously confining categories of Big House novelist, middlebrow woman’s novelist, heir to Bloomsbury etc., in order to portray the sheer diversity and unnerving perspicacity of her work. / The focus of this study is on her Irish background as a guiding thread through interpretation of her work. It draws on recent research and linking these to the complexities of her Anglo-Irish identity. Feminist theories of female identity, writing and motherhood also feature. / Contents: Methodology. Organization. Timeline: key biographical and publication dates. Introduction: Reading Elizabeth Bowen. Ch.1: The Female Bildungsroman. Ch.2: Interwar Femininity. Ch.3: Widening the Scene. Ch.4: The Short Stories. Ch.5: War Writing. Ch.6: Time and Trauma. Conclusion.
