Women, Literature, and the Arts of the Countryside in Early Twentieth-Century England

Focusing on eight writers and artists, this book examines the centrality of the countryside to women''s work, creativity, and aspirations in early-twentieth-century England. The authors introduce us to figures who should be better known today: educators, artists, novelists, poets, and memoirists. Divided into four sections, with foci on professions and education, the transformation of the countryside, arts and crafts, and dislocation and loss, this book by a literature scholar and an art historian brings an interdisciplinary perspective, providing a unique view of women''s responses to such major issues of the twentieth century as war, industrialization, modernist ideology, and gender. From Mary Watts''s remarkable pottery to Beatrix Potter''s work as a children''s author and environmentalist to Dora Carrington''s haunting paintings and Vita Sackville-West''s Sissinghurst Castle Garden, this book challenges readers to rethink the early twentieth century through the lens of their work.