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. The authors tell these women's stories through their art and literature and in the context of the history and culture of gardens, constructed landscapes, and the countryside.

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.