British Women Short Story Writers : The New Woman to Now

Essays tracing the evolving relationship between British women writers and the short story genre from the late Nineteenth Century to the present day. What is the relationship between the British woman writer and the short story? This collection examines what this versatile genre offers women writers, and what this can tell us about the society and culture they inhabit. From the rise of the modern printing press at the end of the Nineteenth Century through to the present digital age, these essays examine how the short story has been deployed and reworked by women writers and how they have influenced and shaped the genre’s development. Considering the effect of literary inheritances, societal and cultural change, and shifting publishing demands, this collection traces the evolution of the genre through to its continued appeal to women writing today. From the New Woman to contemporary feminisms, women's anthologies to microfiction, modernist writers to the contemporary works of Sarah Hall and Helen Simpson, the chapters in this collection investigate a crucial yet under-examined field of British literature. Key Features and Benefits * 12 chapters discussing a range of gender and genre issues since the fin-de-siècle to the present day. * Sets out a clear trajectory to map both the historical and literary connections and divergences between British women short story writers. * Offers a comprehensive account of the genre’s development to provide scholars with a unique insight into a largely neglected aspect of women’s writing. * Includes new readings of canonical authors alongside more recent theoretical approaches, innovations and lesser-discussed writers. New critical essays on modern British women short story writers, What is the relationship between the British woman writer and the short story? This collection examines what this versatile genre offers women writers, and what this can tell us about the society and culture they inhabit. From the rise of the modern printing press at the end of the nineteenth century through to the present digital age, these essays examine how the short story has been deployed and reworked by women writers and how they have influenced and shaped the genre's development. Considering the effect of literary inheritances, societal and cultural change, and shifting publishing demands, this collection traces the evolution of the genre through to its continued appeal to women writing today. From the New Woman to contemporary feminisms, women's anthologies to microfiction, modernist writers to the contemporary works of Ali Smith and Helen Simpson, the chapters in this collection investigate a crucial yet under-examined field of British literature. Key Features, 11 new chapters which discuss a range of gender and genre issues from the fin-de-sicle to the present day, together with an Introduction by the editors and a Postscript by Clare Hanson, Provides the background to the genre's development giving readers a unique insight into a largely neglected aspect of women's writing, Includes new readings of women authors such as 'George Egerton', E. Nesbit, May Sinclair, Dorothy Richardson, Katherine Mansfield, Elizabeth Bowen, Muriel Spark, Angela Carter, Michle Roberts, Helen Simpson, Tessa Hadley and Holly Howitt-Dring, Uses recent critical approaches to explore themes such as haunting and trauma, class and feminist politics, and women's experimentation with form Introduction / Emma Young And James Bailey -- The Elusive Melody: Music And Trauma In New Woman Short Stories / Maura Dunst -- Beyond The Haunted House? Modernist Women's Ghost Stories And The Troubling Of Modernity / Emma Liggins -- Potboilers Or 'glimpses' Of Reality? The Cultural And The Material In The Modernist Short Story / Rebecca Bowler -- War And The Short Story: Elizabeth Bowen / Adam Piette -- 'haunted, Whether We Like It Or Not': The Ghost Stories Of Muriel Spark / James Bailey -- Disaggregative Character Identity And The Politics Of Aesthetic In-betweenness In Angela Carter's Short Narratives / Michelle Ryan-sautour -- New Waves Of Interest: Women's Short Story Writing In The Late Twentieth Century / Ailsa Cox -- Feminist F(r)iction: Short Stories And Postfeminist Politics At The Millennial Moment / Emma Young -- Class As Destiny In The Short Stories Of Tessa Hadley / Sue Vice -- Address, Temporality And Misdelivery: The Postal Effects Of Ali Smith's Short Stories / Ben Davies -- Housewives And Half-stories: A Question Of Genre And Gender In Microfiction / Holly Howitt-dring -- Postscript: British Women's Short Story Writing / Clare Hanson. Edited By Emma Young And James Bailey. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Title page Copyright Contents Acknowledgements Foreword Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 The Elusive Melody: Music and Trauma in New Woman Short Stories Chapter 3 Beyond the Haunted House? Modernist Women’s Ghost Stories and the Troubling of Modernity Chapter 4 Potboilers or ‘Glimpses’ of Reality? The Cultural and the Material in the Modernist Short Chapter 5 War and the Short Story: Elizabeth Bowen Chapter 6 ‘Haunted, whether we like it or not’: The Ghost Stories of Muriel Spark Chapter 7 Disaggregative Character Identity and the Politics of Aesthetic In-betweenness in Angela Carter's Short Narratives Chapter 8 New Waves of Interest: Women’s Short Story Writing in the Late Twentieth Century Chapter 9 Feminist F(r)iction: Short Stories and Postfeminist Politics at the Millennial Moment Chapter 10 Class as Destiny in the Short Stories of Tessa Hadley Chapter 11 Address, Temporality and Misdelivery: The Postal Effects of Ali Smith’s Short Stories Chapter 12 Housewives and Half-Stories: A Question of Genre and Gender in Microfiction Chapter 13 Postscript: British Women’s Short Story Writing Index