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New Readings of Elizabeth von ArnimThe Unexpected Modernist

Edited by Jennifer Shepherd and Noreen O'Connor

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Published 31 January 2027

About this book

Establishes Elizabeth von Arnim as an important figure in literary modernism

  • Brings together leading researchers in the field with emerging scholarly voices
  • Explores new contexts and critical debates within the field of von Arnim studies
  • Introduces previously neglected novels and unseen archival materials

New Readings of Elizabeth von Arnim: The Unexpected Modernist consolidates the growing field of Elizabeth von Arnim studies and points to new trajectories for further research. Bringing together recognised and emerging scholarly voices and featuring previously unseen archival materials, this volume introduces key contexts for reading von Arnim’s work at an important point in her re-appraisal as a writer. Its eleven chapters highlight critical debates related to modernism, feminism and the middlebrow and explore new contexts such as fashion and material culture, medical humanities, ageing studies, music and the visual arts. By focusing on neglected novels from von Arnim’s oeuvre and examining better-known work from new perspectives, the volume paves the way for the next decade of von Arnim studies and beyond.

Reviews

This is a hugely exciting addition to the world of Elizabeth von Arnim studies, tracing the wealth of research on this important author and providing brilliant new readings of her work. This is a major step forward in von Arnim scholarship, and a valuable contribution – and challenge – to modernist literary history.
Table of contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements

Introduction: : The Unexpected Modernist
Noreen O’Connor and Jennifer Shepherd

Part I. Returning to Elizabeth: Gender, Politics and Genre
1. Women Who Take to the Sofa: Rewriting Narratives of Marriage and Motherhood in Elizabeth von Arnim’s The Pastor’s Wife
Noreen O’Connor
2. Writing Women’s 'Second Half’: Discourses of Ageing in Elizabeth von Arnim’s The Enchanted April, Love and Mr Skeffington
Jennifer Shepherd
3. Feminism and Conservatism in Elizabeth von Arnim's Fiction: The Edwardian Novels
Kate Macdonald
4. ‘This Secret Treasure’: Suppression of Female Identity in An Introduction to Sally
Charlotte Fiehn

Part II. Reimagining Elizabeth: New Critical Directions
5. ‘It was the Clothes that Wore Out the Woman’: Fashion, Mobility and New Constructions of Womanhood in the Work of Elizabeth von Arnim
Stacy Sivinski and Trish Bredar
6. The Business of Elizabeth
Ann Herndon Marshall
7. Kinderszenen and the Kindergarten: Elizabeth von Arnim’s The April Baby’s Book of Tunes
Sally Horovitz
8. ‘No Eye for Nature and Frozen Seas’: Baltic Landscapes and Female Self-expression in Elizabeth von Arnim’s Early Works
Claire McKeown

Part III. Reading Elizabeth, Reading Others
9. ‘Neither Art Itself Nor Life Itself’: The New Biographies of Virginia Woolf and Elizabeth von Arnim
Juliane Römhild
10. ‘If She Must See, To See in Silence’: Catching Up with the Victorians in The Caravaners and The Enchanted April
Carolyn W. de la L. Oulton
11. ‘Women on the Move’: Elizabeth von Arnim, Elizabeth Bowen and the Search for Home
Nick Turner

Notes on Contributors
Index

About the contributors

Jennifer Shepherd

Jennifer Shepherd is Senior Lecturer in the Department of English Literature and Creative Writing at The Open University. Jennifer was a founding member of the International Elizabeth von Arnim Society and serves on its steering group. Her research interests include women’s writing of the early twentieth century, especially as it relates to genre and material culture; the history of middlebrow culture; and discourses of ageing. She has published work on Elizabeth von Arnim, Edith Wharton, the New Woman, imperial romance novels and the history of the motoring movement.

Noreen O'Connor

Noreen O’Connor is Professor of English at King’s College, Pennsylvania. Currently president of the International Elizabeth von Arnim Society, Noreen was a founding member of the society. She co-organized the joint Elizabeth von Arnim and Katherine Mansfield Conference, held in 2017 at the Huntington Library in California. Her research focuses on women modernists, narrative and war trauma, and she has scholarly publications on Edith Wharton, Elizabeth von Arnim, Katherine Mansfield, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Virginia Woolf and Santa Claus.