HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Elizabeth Bowen
OR:
Elizabeth Bowen on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

Elizabeth Bowen
CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(; 7 June 1899 – 22 February 1973) was an Irish-British novelist and short story writer notable for her books about the "big house" of Irish landed Protestants as well her fiction about life in wartime London.


Life

Elizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen was born on 7 June 1899 at 15 Herbert Place in
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, daughter of barrister Henry Charles Cole Bowen (1862–1930), who succeeded his father as head of their Irish gentry family traced back to the late 1500s, of Welsh origin, and Florence Isabella Pomeroy (died 1912), daughter of Henry FitzGeorge Pomeroy Colley, of Mount Temple,
Clontarf, Dublin Clontarf () is a largely affluent coastal suburb on the Northside of Dublin in the city's Dublin 3 postal district. Historically there were two centres of population, one on the coast towards the city, and the fishing village of Clontarf Sheds, ...
, grandson of the 4th Viscount Harberton. Florence Bowen's mother was granddaughter of the 4th
Viscount Powerscourt Viscount Powerscourt ( ) is a title that has been created three times in the Peerage of Ireland, each time for members of the Wingfield family. It was created first in 1618 for the Chief Governor of Ireland, Richard Wingfield. However, this creat ...
. Elizabeth Bowen was baptised in the nearby St Stephen's Church on Upper Mount Street. Her parents later brought her to her father's family home,
Bowen's Court Bowen's Court was a historic country house or Anglo-Irish big house near Kildorrery in County Cork, Ireland. House The house was built in the 1770s by Henry Cole Bowen (died 1788). The Bowen family were minor Irish gentry, of Welsh origin- trace ...
at Farahy, near
Kildorrery Kildorrery () is a village in north County Cork, Ireland. It lies at the crossroads of the N73 road from Mallow to Mitchelstown and the R512 from Kilmallock to Fermoy. This hilltop village has views to the east of the Galtee Mountains and ...
,
County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...
, where she spent her summers. When her father became mentally ill in 1907, she and her mother moved to England, eventually settling in
Hythe Hythe, from Anglo-Saxon ''hȳð'', may refer to a landing-place, port or haven, either as an element in a toponym, such as Rotherhithe in London, or to: Places Australia * Hythe, Tasmania Canada *Hythe, Alberta, a village in Canada England * T ...
. After her mother died in September 1912 Bowen was brought up by her aunts; her father remarried in 1918. She was educated at
Downe House School Downe House School is a selective independent girls' day and boarding school in Cold Ash, a village near Newbury, Berkshire, for girls aged 11–18. The ''Good Schools Guide'' described Downe House as an "Archetypal traditional girls' full ...
under the headship of
Olive Willis Olive Margaret Willis (26 October 1877 – 11 March 1964) was an English educationist and headmistress. She founded Downe House School and was its head for nearly forty years, from 1907 to 1946. Early life Willis was born in 1877 at 65 Thistl ...
. After some time at art school in London she decided that her talent lay in writing. She mixed with the
Bloomsbury Group The Bloomsbury Group—or Bloomsbury Set—was a group of associated English writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the first half of the 20th century, including Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster and Lytton Strac ...
, becoming good friends with
Rose Macaulay Dame Emilie Rose Macaulay, (1 August 1881 – 30 October 1958) was an English writer, most noted for her award-winning novel ''The Towers of Trebizond'', about a small Anglo-Catholic group crossing Turkey by camel. The story is seen as a spiritua ...
who helped her seek out a publisher for her first book, a collection of short stories entitled ''Encounters'' (1923). In 1923 she married Alan Cameron, an educational administrator who subsequently worked for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. The marriage has been described as "a sexless but contented union." The marriage was reportedly never consummated. She had various extra-marital relationships, including one with Charles Ritchie, a Canadian diplomat seven years her junior, which lasted over thirty years. She also had an affair with the Irish writer
Seán Ó Faoláin Seán Proinsias Ó Faoláin (27 February 1900 – 20 April 1991) was one of the most influential figures in 20th-century Irish culture. A short-story writer of international repute, he was also a leading commentator and critic. Biography Ó ...
and a relationship with the American poet
May Sarton May Sarton was the pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton (May 3, 1912 – July 16, 1995), a Belgian-American poet, novelist and memoirist. Although her best work is strongly personalised with erotic female imagery, she resisted the label of ‘lesbi ...
. Bowen and her husband first lived near
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, where they socialised with
Maurice Bowra Sir Cecil Maurice Bowra, (; 8 April 1898 – 4 July 1971) was an English classical scholar, literary critic and academic, known for his wit. He was Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, from 1938 to 1970, and served as Vice-Chancellor of the Univer ...
,
John Buchan John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. After a brief legal career ...
and Susan Buchan, and where she wrote her early novels, including ''
The Last September ''The Last September'' is a 1929 novel by the Anglo-Irish writer Elizabeth Bowen, concerning life in Danielstown, Cork during the Irish War of Independence, at a country mansion. John Banville wrote a screenplay based on the novel; the film ada ...
'' (1929). Following the publication of ''To the North'' (1932) they moved to 2 Clarence Terrace,
Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...
,
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, where she wrote '' The House in Paris'' (1935) and ''
The Death of the Heart ''The Death of the Heart'' is a 1938 novel by Elizabeth Bowen set in the interwar period. It is about a sixteen-year-old orphan, Portia Quayne, who moves to London to live with her half-brother Thomas and falls in love with Eddie, a friend of ...
'' (1938). In 1937, she became a member of the Irish Academy of Letters. In 1930 Bowen became the first (and only) woman to inherit Bowen's Court, but remained based in England, making frequent visits to Ireland. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
she worked for the British Ministry of Information, reporting on Irish opinion, particularly on the issue of neutrality. Bowen's political views tended towards Burkean conservatism. During and after the war she wrote among the greatest expressions of life in wartime London, ''The Demon Lover and Other Stories'' (1945) and ''
The Heat of the Day ''The Heat of the Day'' is a novel by Anglo-Irish Elizabeth Bowen, first published in 1948 in the United Kingdom, and in 1949 in the United States of America. ''The Heat of the Day'' revolves around the relationship between Stella Rodney and h ...
'' (1948); she was awarded the
CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
the same year. Her husband retired in 1952 and they settled in Bowen's Court, where he died a few months later. Many writers visited her at Bowen's Court from 1930 onwards, including
Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...
,
Eudora Welty Eudora Alice Welty (April 13, 1909 – July 23, 2001) was an American short story writer, novelist and photographer who wrote about the American South. Her novel ''The Optimist's Daughter'' won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty received numero ...
,
Carson McCullers Carson McCullers (February 19, 1917 – September 29, 1967) was an American novelist, short-story writer, playwright, essayist, and poet. Her first novel, ''The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter'' (1940), explores the spiritual isolation of misfits ...
,
Iris Murdoch Dame Jean Iris Murdoch ( ; 15 July 1919 – 8 February 1999) was an Irish and British novelist and philosopher. Murdoch is best known for her novels about good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. Her fi ...
, and the historian
Veronica Wedgwood Dame Cicely Veronica Wedgwood, (20 July 1910 – 9 March 1997) was an English historian who published under the name C. V. Wedgwood. Specializing in the history of 17th-century England and continental Europe, her biographies and narrative hist ...
. For years Bowen struggled to keep the house going, lecturing in the United States to earn money. In 1957 her portrait was painted at Bowen's Court by her friend, painter Patrick Hennessy. She travelled to Italy in 1958 to research and prepare ''A Time in Rome'' (1960), but by the following year Bowen was forced to sell her beloved Bowen's Court, which was demolished in 1960. In the following months, she wrote for
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
the narrative of the documentary titled ''Ireland the Tear and the Smile'' which was realised in collaboration with Bob Monks as camera man and associate producer. After spending some years without a permanent home, Bowen finally settled at "Carbery", Church Hill,
Hythe Hythe, from Anglo-Saxon ''hȳð'', may refer to a landing-place, port or haven, either as an element in a toponym, such as Rotherhithe in London, or to: Places Australia * Hythe, Tasmania Canada *Hythe, Alberta, a village in Canada England * T ...
, in 1965. Her final novel, '' Eva Trout, or Changing Scenes'' (1968), won the
James Tait Black Memorial Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Unit ...
in 1969 and was shortlisted for the
Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United King ...
in 1970. Subsequently, she was a judge (alongside her friend
Cyril Connolly Cyril Vernon Connolly CBE (10 September 1903 – 26 November 1974) was an English literary critic and writer. He was the editor of the influential literary magazine ''Horizon'' (1940–49) and wrote '' Enemies of Promise'' (1938), which combin ...
) that awarded the 1972 Man Booker Prize to
John Berger John Peter Berger (; 5 November 1926 – 2 January 2017) was an English art critic, novelist, painter and poet. His novel '' G.'' won the 1972 Booker Prize, and his essay on art criticism ''Ways of Seeing'', written as an accompaniment to the ...
for '' G''. She spent Christmas 1972 at
Kinsale Kinsale ( ; ) is a historic port and fishing town in County Cork, Ireland. Located approximately south of Cork City on the southeast coast near the Old Head of Kinsale, it sits at the mouth of the River Bandon, and has a population of 5,281 (a ...
, County Cork, with her friends, Major Stephen Vernon and his wife, Lady Ursula (daughter of the
Duke of Westminster Duke of Westminster is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created by Queen Victoria in 1874 and bestowed upon Hugh Grosvenor, 3rd Marquess of Westminster. It is the most recent dukedom conferred on someone not related to the ...
) but was hospitalised upon her return. Here she was visited by Connolly, Lady Ursula Vernon,
Isaiah Berlin Sir Isaiah Berlin (6 June 1909 – 5 November 1997) was a Russian-British social and political theorist, philosopher, and historian of ideas. Although he became increasingly averse to writing for publication, his improvised lectures and talks ...
, Rosamund Lehmann, and her literary agent, Spencer Curtis Brown, among others. In 1972 Bowen developed lung cancer. She died in
University College Hospital University College Hospital (UCH) is a teaching hospital in the Fitzrovia area of the London Borough of Camden, England. The hospital, which was founded as the North London Hospital in 1834, is closely associated with University College London ...
on 22 February 1973, aged 73. She is buried with her husband in St Colman's churchyard in Farahy, close to the gates of Bowen's Court, where there is a memorial plaque to the author (which bears the words of John Sparrow) at the entrance to St Colman's Church, where a commemoration of her life is held annually.


Legacy

In 1977,
Victoria Glendinning Victoria Glendinning (''née'' Seebohm; born 23 April 1937) is a British biographer, critic, broadcaster and novelist. She is an Honorary Vice-President of English PEN and Vice-President of the Royal Society of Literature. She won the James Tait ...
published the first biography of Elizabeth Bowen. In 2009, Glendinning published a book about the relationship between Charles Ritchie and Bowen, based on his diaries and her letters to him. In 2012,
English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...
marked Bowen's Regent's Park home at Clarence Terrace with a
blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...
. A blue plaque was unveiled 19 October 2014 to mark Bowen's residence at the Coach House, The Croft,
Headington Headington is an eastern suburb of Oxford, England. It is at the top of Headington Hill overlooking the city in the Thames valley below, and bordering Marston to the north-west, Cowley to the south, and Barton and Risinghurst to the east. Th ...
, from 1925 to 1935.


Themes

Bowen was greatly interested in "life with the lid on and what happens when the lid comes off", in the innocence of orderly life, and in the eventual, irrepressible forces that transform experience. Bowen also examined the betrayal and secrets that lie beneath a veneer of respectability. The style of her works is highly wrought and owes much to literary modernism. She was an admirer of film and influenced by the filmmaking techniques of her day. The locations in which Bowen's works are set often bear heavily on the psychology of the characters and on the plots. Bowen's war novel ''
The Heat of the Day ''The Heat of the Day'' is a novel by Anglo-Irish Elizabeth Bowen, first published in 1948 in the United Kingdom, and in 1949 in the United States of America. ''The Heat of the Day'' revolves around the relationship between Stella Rodney and h ...
'' (1948) is considered one of the quintessential depictions of London’s atmosphere during the bombing raids of World War II. She was also a notable writer of ghost stories. Supernatural fiction writer
Robert Aickman Robert Fordyce Aickman (27 June 1914 – 26 February 1981) was an English writer and conservationist. As a conservationist, he co-founded the Inland Waterways Association, a group which has preserved from destruction and restored England's inl ...
considered Elizabeth Bowen to be "the most distinguished living practitioner" of ghost stories. He included her tale 'The Demon Lover' in his anthology ''The Second Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories''.


Selected works


Novels

*''The Hotel'' (1927) *''
The Last September ''The Last September'' is a 1929 novel by the Anglo-Irish writer Elizabeth Bowen, concerning life in Danielstown, Cork during the Irish War of Independence, at a country mansion. John Banville wrote a screenplay based on the novel; the film ada ...
'' (1929) *''Friends and Relations'' (1931) *''To the North'' (1932) *'' The House in Paris'' (1935) *''
The Death of the Heart ''The Death of the Heart'' is a 1938 novel by Elizabeth Bowen set in the interwar period. It is about a sixteen-year-old orphan, Portia Quayne, who moves to London to live with her half-brother Thomas and falls in love with Eddie, a friend of ...
'' (1938) *''
The Heat of the Day ''The Heat of the Day'' is a novel by Anglo-Irish Elizabeth Bowen, first published in 1948 in the United Kingdom, and in 1949 in the United States of America. ''The Heat of the Day'' revolves around the relationship between Stella Rodney and h ...
'' (1949) *''A World of Love'' (1955) *''The Little Girls'' (1964) *'' Eva Trout'' (1968)


Short story collections

* ''Encounters'' (1923) * ''Ann Lee's and Other Stories'' (1926) * ''Joining Charles and Other Stories'' (1929) * ''The Cat Jumps and Other Stories'' (1934) * ''Look at All Those Roses'' (1941) * ''The Demon Lover and Other Stories'' (1945) * ''Ivy Gripped the Steps and Other Stories'' (1946, USA) * ''Stories by Elizabeth Bowen'' (1959) * ''A Day in the Dark and Other Stories'' (1965) * ''The Good Tiger'' (1965, children's book) - illustrated by M. Nebel (1965 edition) and
Quentin Blake Sir Quentin Saxby Blake, (born 16 December 1932) is an English cartoonist, caricaturist, illustrator and children's writer. He has illustrated over 300 books, including 18 written by Roald Dahl, which are among his most popular works. For his ...
(1970 edition) * ''Elizabeth Bowen’s Irish Stories'' (1978) * ''The Collected Stories of Elizabeth Bowen'' (1980) * ''The Bazaar and Other Stories'' (2008) - edited by Allan Hepburn


Nonfiction

* ''Bowen's Court'' (1942, 1964) * ''Seven Winters: Memories of a Dublin Childhood'' (1942) * ''English Novelists'' (1942) * ''Anthony Trollope: A New Judgement'' (1946) * ''Why Do I Write?: An Exchange of Views between Elizabeth Bowen, Graham Greene and V.S. Pritchett'' (1948) * ''Collected Impressions'' (1950) * ''The Shelbourne'' (1951) * ''A Time in Rome'' (1960) * ''Afterthought: Pieces About Writing'' (1962) * ''Pictures and Conversations'' (1975), edited by Spencer Curtis Brown * ''The Mulberry Tree: Writings of Elizabeth Bowen'' (1999), edited by Hermione Lee * ''"Notes on Éire": Espionage Reports to Winston Churchill by Elizabeth Bowen, 1940–1942'' (2008), edited by Jack Lane and Brendan Clifford * ''People, Places, Things: Essays by Elizabeth Bowen'' (2008) - edited by Allan Hepburn * ''Love's Civil War: Elizabeth Bowen and Charles Ritchie: Letters and Diaries, 1941–1973'' (2009), edited by Victoria Glendinning and Judith Robertson * ''Listening In: Broadcasts, Speeches, and Interviews by Elizabeth Bowen'' (2010), edited by Allan Hepburn * ''Elizabeth Bowen's Selected Irish Writings'' (2011), edited by Éibhear Walshe * ''The Weight of a World of Feeling: Reviews and Essays by Elizabeth Bowen'' (2016), edited by Allan Hepburn


Critical studies of Bowen

* Jocelyn Brooke: ''Elizabeth Bowen'' (1952) * William Heath: ''Elizabeth Bowen: An Introduction to Her Novels'' (1961) * Edwin J. Kenney: ''Elizabeth Bowen'' (1975) *
Victoria Glendinning Victoria Glendinning (''née'' Seebohm; born 23 April 1937) is a British biographer, critic, broadcaster and novelist. She is an Honorary Vice-President of English PEN and Vice-President of the Royal Society of Literature. She won the James Tait ...
: ''Elizabeth Bowen: Portrait of a Writer'' (1977) *
Hermione Lee Dame Hermione Lee, (born 29 February 1948) is a British biographer, literary critic and academic. She is a former President of Wolfson College, Oxford, and a former Goldsmiths' Professor of English Literature in the University of Oxford and Pr ...
: ''Elizabeth Bowen: An Estimation'' (1981) * Patricia Craig: ''Elizabeth Bowen'' (1986) *
Harold Bloom Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was described as "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking wor ...
(editor): ''Elizabeth Bowen'' (1987) * Allan E. Austin: ''Elizabeth Bowen '' (1989) * Phyllis Lassner: ''Elizabeth Bowen'' (1990) * Phyllis Lassner: ''Elizabeth Bowen: A Study of the Short Fiction'' (1991) * Heather Bryant Jordan: ''How Will the Heart Endure?: Elizabeth Bowen and the Landscape of War'' (1992) * Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royle: ''Elizabeth Bowen and the Dissolution of the Novel: Still Lives'' (1994) * Renée C. Hoogland: ''Elizabeth Bowen: A Reputation in Writing'' (1994) * John Halperin: ''Eminent Georgians: The Lives of King George V, Elizabeth Bowen, St. John Philby, and Lady Astor'' (1995) * Éibhear Walshe (editor): ''Elizabeth Bowen Remembered: The Farahy Addresses'' (1998) * John D. Coates: ''Social Discontinuity in the Novels of Elizabeth Bowen: The Conservative Quest'' (1998) * Lis Christensen: ''Elizabeth Bowen: The Later Fiction'' (2001) * Maud Ellmann: ''Elizabeth Bowen: The Shadow Across the Page'' (2003) * Neil Corcoran: ''Elizabeth Bowen: The Enforced Return'' (2004) * Éibhear Walshe (editor): ''Elizabeth Bowen: Visions and Revisions'' (2008) * Susan Osborn (editor): ''Elizabeth Bowen: New Critical Perspectives'' (2009) * Lara Feigel: ''The Love-charm of Bombs Restless Lives in the Second World War'' (2013) * Jessica Gildersleeve: ''Elizabeth Bowen and the Writing of Trauma: The Ethics of Survival'' (2014) * Nels Pearson: ''Irish Cosmopolitanism: Location and Dislocation in James Joyce, Elizabeth Bowen, and Samuel Beckett'' (2015) * Jessica Gildersleeve and Patricia Juliana Smith (editors): ''Elizabeth Bowen: Theory, Thought and Things'' (2019)


Critical essays on Bowen

* The Bellman (
Seán Ó Faoláin Seán Proinsias Ó Faoláin (27 February 1900 – 20 April 1991) was one of the most influential figures in 20th-century Irish culture. A short-story writer of international repute, he was also a leading commentator and critic. Biography Ó ...
): "Meet Elizabeth Bowen" in '' The Bell'' Vol. 4 (September 1942) * David Daiches: "The Novels of Elizabeth Bowen" in ''The English Journal'' Vol. 38, No. 6 (1949) * Elizabeth Hardwick: "Elizabeth Bowen’s Fiction" in ''Partisan Review'' Vol. 16 (1949) * Bruce Harkness: "The Fiction of Elizabeth Bowen" in ''The English Journal'' Vol. 44, No. 9 (1955) * Gary T. Davenport: "Elizabeth Bowen and the Big House" in ''Southern Humanities Review'' Vol. 8 (1974) * Martha McGowan: "The Enclosed Garden in Elizabeth Bowen’s ''A World of Love''" in ''Éire-Ireland'' Vol. 16, Issue 1 (Spring 1981) *
Seán Ó Faoláin Seán Proinsias Ó Faoláin (27 February 1900 – 20 April 1991) was one of the most influential figures in 20th-century Irish culture. A short-story writer of international repute, he was also a leading commentator and critic. Biography Ó ...
: "A Reading and Remembrance of Elizabeth Bowen" in ''London Review of Books'' (4–17 March 1982) * Antoinette Quinn: "Elizabeth Bowen’s Irish Stories: 1939-45" in ''Studies in Anglo-Irish Literature'' (1982) * Harriet S. Chessman: "Women and Language in the Fiction of Elizabeth Bowen" in ''Twentieth Century Literature'' Vol. 29, No. 1 (1983) * Brad Hooper: "Elizabeth Bowen’s 'The Happy Autumn Fields': A Dream or Not?" in ''Studies in Short Fiction'' Vol. 21 (1984) * Margaret Scanlan: "Rumors of War: Elizabeth Bowen’s ''The Last September'' and J. G. Farrell’s ''Troubles''" in ''Éire-Ireland'' Vol. 20, Issue 2 (Summer 1985) * Phyllis Lassner: "The Past is a Burning Pattern: Elizabeth Bowen’s ''The Last September''" in ''Éire-Ireland'' Vol. 21, Issue 1 (Spring 1986) * John Coates: "Elizabeth Bowen’s ''The Last September'': The Loss of the Past and the Modern Consciousness" in ''Durham University Journal'', Vol. LXXXII, No. 2 (1990) * Roy F. Foster: "The Irishness of Elizabeth Bowen" in ''Paddy & Mr Punch: Connections in Irish and English History'' (1993) * John Halperin: "The Good Tiger: Elizabeth Bowen" in ''Eminent Georgians: The Lives of King George V, Elizabeth Bowen, St. John Philby, and Nancy Astor'' (1995) *
Julian Moynahan Julian Lane Moynahan (March 21, 1925 – March 21, 2014) was an American academic, librarian, literary critic, poet, and novelist. Much of Moynahan's academic work was focussed on D. H. Lawrence and Vladimir Nabokov. He was active as a book rev ...
: "Elizabeth Bowen" in ''Anglo-Irish: The Literary Imagination in a Hyphenated Culture'' (Princeton University Press, 1995) *
Declan Kiberd Declan Kiberd (born 24 May 1951) is an Irish writer and scholar with an interest in modern Irish literature, both in the English and Irish languages, which he often approaches through the lens of postcolonial theory. He is also interested in th ...
: "Elizabeth Bowen: The Dandy in Revolt" in Éibhear Walshe: ''Sex, Nation and Dissent in Irish Writing'' (1997) * Carmen Concilio: "Things that Do Speak in Elizabeth Bowen’s The Last September" in ''Moments of Moment: Aspects of the Literary Epiphany'' edited by Wim Tigges (1999) * Neil Corcoran: "Discovery of a Lack: History and Ellipsis in Elizabeth Bowen’s ''The Last September''" in ''Irish University Review'' Vol. 31, No. 2 (2001) * Elizabeth Cullingford: "'Something Else': Gendering Onliness in Elizabeth Bowen's Early Fiction" in ''MFS Modern Fiction Studies'' Vol. 53, No. 2 (2007) * Elizabeth C. Inglesby: "'Expressive Objects': Elizabeth Bowen's Narrative Materializes" in ''MFS Modern Fiction Studies'' Vol. 53, No. 2 (2007) * Brook Miller: "The Impersonal Personal: Value, Voice, and Agency in Elizabeth Bowen's Literary and Social Criticism" in ''Modern Fiction Studies'', Vol. 53, No. 2 (Summer 2007) * Sinéad Mooney: "Unstable Compounds: Bowen's Beckettian Affinities" in ''Modern Fiction Studies'', Vol. 53, No. 2 (Summer 2007) * Victoria Stewart: "'That Eternal Now': Memory and Subjectivity in Elizabeth Bowen's ''Seven Winters''" in ''MFS Modern Fiction Studies'' Vol. 53, No. 2 (2007) * Keri Walsh: "Elizabeth Bowen, Surrealist" in ''Éire-Ireland'' Vol. 42, No. 3-4 (2007) * Heather Bryant Jordan: "A Bequest of Her Own: The Reinvention of Elizabeth Bowen" in ''New Hibernia Review'' Vol. 12, No. 2 (2008) * Céline Magot: "Elizabeth Bowen’s London in ''The Heat of the Day'': An Impression of the City in the Territory of War" in ''Literary London'' (2008) * Éibhear Walshe: "No abiding city." ''The Dublin Review'' No. 36 (2009) * Jessica Gildersleeve: "An Unnameable Thing: Spectral Shadows in Elizabeth Bowen’s ''The Hotel'' and ''The Last September''" in ''Perforations'' * John D. Coates: "The Misfortunes of Eva Trout" in ''Essays in Criticism'' 48.1 (1998) * Karen Schaller: "'I know it to be synthetic but it affects me strongly': 'Dead Mabelle' and Bowen's Emotion Pictures" in ''Textual Practice'' 27.1 (2013) * Patricia J. Smith: "'Everything to Dread from the Dispossessed': Changing Scenes and the End of the Modernist Heroine in Elizabeth Bowen's ''Eva Trout''" in ''Hecate'' 35.1/2 (2009) * James F. Wurtz: "Elizabeth Bowen, Modernism, and the Spectre of Anglo-Ireland" in ''Estudios Irlandeses'' No. 5 (2010) * Patrick W. Moran: "Elizabeth Bowen's Toys and the Imperatives of Play" in ''Éire-Ireland'' Vol. 46, Issue 1&2 (Spring/Summer 2011) * Kathryn Johnson:"'Phantasmagoric Hinterlands': Adolescence and Anglo-Ireland in Elizabeth Bowen’s ''The House in Paris'' and ''The Death of the Heart''" in ''Irish Women Writers: New Critical Perspectives'', ed. Elke d’Hoker, et al. (2011) * Tina O’Toole: "Unregenerate Spirits: The Counter-Cultural Experiments of George Egerton and Elizabeth Bowen" in ''Irish Women Writers: New Critical Perspectives'', ed. Elke d’Hoker, et al. (2011) * Lauren Elkin: "Light's Language: Sensation and Subjectivity in Elizabeth Bowen's Early Novels." Réfléchir (sur) la sensation, ed. Marina Poisson (2014) *
Gerry Smyth Gerry Smyth (born 14 September 1961) is an academic, musician, actor and playwright born in Dublin, Ireland. He works in the Department of English at Liverpool John Moores University, where he is Professor of Irish Cultural History. His early pub ...
, "A Spy in the House of Love: Elizabeth Bowen's ''
The Heat of the Day ''The Heat of the Day'' is a novel by Anglo-Irish Elizabeth Bowen, first published in 1948 in the United Kingdom, and in 1949 in the United States of America. ''The Heat of the Day'' revolves around the relationship between Stella Rodney and h ...
'' (1949)" in ''The Judas Kiss: Treason and Betrayal in Six Modern Irish Novels'' (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2015), 115-34


Television and film adaptations

* ''The House in Paris'' (BBC, 1959) starring Pamela Brown,
Trader Faulkner Ronald "Trader" Faulkner (7 September 1927 – 14 April 2021) was an Australian actor, raconteur and flamenco dancer, best known for his work in the UK on the stage and television. Early life Faulkner was born in Manly, Australia, the son of ...
, Clare Austin and
Vivienne Bennett Vivian (and variants such as Vivien and Vivienne) is a given name, and less often a surname, derived from a Latin name of the Roman Empire period, masculine ''Vivianus'' and feminine '' Viviana'', which survived into modern use because it is the n ...
* ''
The Death of the Heart ''The Death of the Heart'' is a 1938 novel by Elizabeth Bowen set in the interwar period. It is about a sixteen-year-old orphan, Portia Quayne, who moves to London to live with her half-brother Thomas and falls in love with Eddie, a friend of ...
'' (1987) starring
Patricia Hodge Patricia Ann Hodge, OBE (born 29 September 1946) is an English actor. She is known on-screen for playing Phyllida Erskine-Brown in '' Rumpole of the Bailey'' (1978–1992), Jemima Shore in ''Jemima Shore Investigates'' (1983), Penny in '' Mira ...
,
Nigel Havers Nigel Allan Havers (born 6 November 1951) is an English actor. His film roles include Lord Andrew Lindsay in the 1981 British film ''Chariots of Fire'', which earned him a BAFTA nomination; as Dr. Rawlins in the 1987 Steven Spielberg war drama ...
,
Robert Hardy Timothy Sydney Robert Hardy (29 October 1925 – 3 August 2017) was an English actor who had a long career in theatre, film and television. He began his career as a classical actor and later earned widespread recognition for roles such as Sieg ...
,
Phyllis Calvert Phyllis Hannah Murray-Hill (née Bickle; 18 February 1915 – 8 October 2002), known professionally as Phyllis Calvert, was an English film, stage and television actress. She was one of the leading stars of the Gainsborough melodramas of the 1 ...
,
Wendy Hiller Dame Wendy Margaret Hiller, (15 August 1912 – 14 May 2003) was an English film and stage actress who enjoyed a varied acting career that spanned nearly 60 years. Writer Joel Hirschorn, in his 1984 compilation ''Rating the Movie Stars'', desc ...
and
Miranda Richardson Miranda Jane Richardson (born 3 March 1958) is an English actress. She made her film debut playing Ruth Ellis in '' Dance with a Stranger'' (1985) and went on to receive Academy Award nominations for ''Damage'' (1992) and ''Tom & Viv'' (1994). ...
* ''
The Heat of the Day ''The Heat of the Day'' is a novel by Anglo-Irish Elizabeth Bowen, first published in 1948 in the United Kingdom, and in 1949 in the United States of America. ''The Heat of the Day'' revolves around the relationship between Stella Rodney and h ...
'' (Granada Television, 1989) starring
Patricia Hodge Patricia Ann Hodge, OBE (born 29 September 1946) is an English actor. She is known on-screen for playing Phyllida Erskine-Brown in '' Rumpole of the Bailey'' (1978–1992), Jemima Shore in ''Jemima Shore Investigates'' (1983), Penny in '' Mira ...
,
Michael Gambon Sir Michael John Gambon (; born 19 October 1940) is an Irish-English actor. Regarded as one of Ireland and Britain's most distinguished actors, he is known for his work on stage and screen. Gambon started his acting career with Laurence Olivi ...
,
Michael York Michael York OBE (born Michael Hugh Johnson; 27 March 1942) is an English film, television and stage actor. After performing on-stage with the Royal National Theatre, he had a breakthrough in films by playing Tybalt in Franco Zeffirelli's ''Ro ...
,
Peggy Ashcroft Dame Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft (22 December 1907 – 14 June 1991), known professionally as Peggy Ashcroft, was an English actress whose career spanned more than 60 years. Born to a comfortable middle-class family, Ashcroft was deter ...
and
Imelda Staunton Imelda Mary Philomena Bernadette Staunton (born 9 January 1956) is an English actress and singer. After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Staunton began her career in repertory theatre in 1976 and appeared in various theatre produ ...
* ''
The Last September ''The Last September'' is a 1929 novel by the Anglo-Irish writer Elizabeth Bowen, concerning life in Danielstown, Cork during the Irish War of Independence, at a country mansion. John Banville wrote a screenplay based on the novel; the film ada ...
'' (1999) starring
Maggie Smith Dame Margaret Natalie Smith (born 28 December 1934) is an English actress. With an extensive career on screen and stage beginning in the mid-1950s, Smith has appeared in more than sixty films and seventy plays. She is one of the few performer ...
,
Michael Gambon Sir Michael John Gambon (; born 19 October 1940) is an Irish-English actor. Regarded as one of Ireland and Britain's most distinguished actors, he is known for his work on stage and screen. Gambon started his acting career with Laurence Olivi ...
,
Fiona Shaw Fiona Shaw (born Fiona Mary Wilson; 10 July 1958) is an Irish film and theatre actress. She is known for her roles as Petunia Dursley in the ''Harry Potter'' film series (2001–2010), Marnie Stonebrook in the fourth season of the HBO serie ...
,
Jane Birkin Jane Mallory Birkin, Order of British Empire, OBE (born 14 December 1946) is an English-French singer and actress. She attained international fame and notability for her decade-long musical and romantic partnership with Serge Gainsbourg. She als ...
,
Lambert Wilson Lambert Wilson (born 3 August 1958) is a French actor, singer and activist. He is best known internationally for his portrayal of The Merovingian in ''The Matrix Reloaded'', ''The Matrix Revolutions'' and ''The Matrix Resurrections''. Biograph ...
,
David Tennant David John Tennant (''né'' McDonald; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He rose to fame for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor (2005–2010 and 2013) in the BBC science-fiction TV show '' Doctor Who'', reprising the rol ...
,
Richard Roxburgh Richard Roxburgh (born 23 January 1962) is an Australian actor, writer, producer, and director. He is the recipient of a number of accolades across film, television, and theatre, including three AACTA Awards (including AFI), three Logie Awards, ...
and
Keeley Hawes Claire Julia Hawes (born 10 February 1976), known professionally as Keeley Hawes, is an English actress. After beginning her career in a number of literary adaptations, including ''Our Mutual Friend'' (1998) and ''Tipping the Velvet'' (2002), Haw ...


References


External links


1956 recording: Elizabeth Bowen discusses the importance of character to novels
(Video, 11 mins)
Elizabeth Bowen at Irish Writers Online
*
Elizabeth Bowen Collection
at the
Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the pur ...
at the
University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Elizabeth Bowen in ''Encyclopædia Britannica''


(1957),
Crawford Municipal Art Gallery The Crawford Art Gallery ( ga, Áiléar Crawford) is a public art gallery and museum in the city of Cork, Ireland. Known informally as the Crawford, it was designated a 'National Cultural Institution' in 2006. It is "dedicated to the visual arts ...
,
Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...
, Ireland
Blue plaque to Elizabeth Bowen in Headington, Oxford

"Notes on Writing a Novel,"
an essay, at
Narrative Magazine ''Narrative'' is an online magazine and website that is dedicated to advancing the literary arts in the digital age and publishes fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, and art. It was founded in 2003. History and profile Founded in 2003, the l ...
. *
Elizabeth Bowen
at the
Internet Speculative Fiction Database The Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB) is a database of bibliographic information on genres considered speculative fiction, including science fiction and related genres such as fantasy, alternate history, and horror fiction. The ISFDB ...
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowen, Elizabeth 1899 births 1973 deaths 20th-century Anglo-Irish people Bisexual women Bisexual writers LGBT writers from Ireland LGBT novelists Writers from Dublin (city) People from Hythe, Kent People educated at Downe House School Irish Anglicans Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Deaths from lung cancer in England Ghost story writers James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients 20th-century British women writers Irish women novelists 20th-century Irish novelists Irish women short story writers 20th-century Irish short story writers British women novelists 20th-century British novelists British short story writers British women short story writers 20th-century British short story writers British horror writers Irish horror writers People with speech impediment Women horror writers 20th-century LGBT people