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"Impudent Scribblers": Place and the Unlikely Heroines of the Interwar Years

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Perriam, Geraldine (2011) "Impudent scribblers": place and the unlikely heroines of the interwar years. PhD thesis http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2515/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] “Impudent Scribblers”: Place and the unlikely heroines of the interwar years Geraldine Perriam BEd, MEd, MRes, Dip. Teach. Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Geographical and Earth Sciences Faculty of Law, Business and Social Sciences University of Glasgow Deposited in University Library on 18th April, 2011 ABSTRACT The central focus of this thesis is the storytelling of place and the place of storytelling. These elements comprise the geoliterary terrains of narrative, the cultural matrix in which texts are sited, produced and received, including the lifeworld of the author. The texts under scrutiny in this research have been written by women during the interwar years of the 20th Century in Britain and Australia. One of the primary aims of the thesis is to explore the geoliterary terrains (including the space known as the middlebrow) of these texts in light of their relative neglect by contemporary critics in comparison with the prominence given to works written by men during this period. Analysis of the texts through the lens of locational feminism (Friedman, 1998, p.5) provides the framework for an interdisciplinary inquiry that draws on geography, feminist literary criticism and new historicism. The examination of the first of the texts, Hostages to Fortune (1933), is centred on the politics of the domestic space and the main character, Catherine‟s experiences of domestic life. The chapter dealing with the second novel, A Charmed Circle (1929), while still engaging with the politics of domesticity and the everyday, also pursues the more psychological space of individual and family life as well as locating the interior spaces of the author‟s lifeworld. The inquiry broadens out into spiritual and regional landscapes in the probing of The Nine Tailors (1934) which is set in the Fens of East Anglia. Expanding still further into empire, nation and identity, the fourth of the novels, The Invaluable Mystery, set in Australia, is explored in terms of the politics of place. More discussion of these sub-themes ensues as the therapeutic landscape of High Rising (1933) located in an imagined setting, is investigated and the links between the author and the writing of the novel are under scrutiny. The substantive themes of domesticity, home and nation are found to be embedded in these works and in the lifeworlds of their authors. The critical neglect of the texts is located within a set of cultural and material practices that marginalised women writers during this period. This marginalisation is in turn located within a longer historical practice of attempting to silence women‟s narratives. Operating beside/against these practices are the imperative of storytelling and women‟s „will to be known‟ through narrative. ii CONTENTS Page Abstract ii List of Figures iv List of Appendices v Acknowledgement vi Author’s declaration viii Chapter One. Introduction 1 Chapter Two. Geography, Narrative and Place 37 Chapter Three. “Continuities branching”: Gender, narrative and the cultural matrix 72 Chapter Four. Domestic Dwelling: Hostages to Fortune and the post-war domestic landscape 102 Chapter Five. “Old, Unhappy, Far-off Things”: Anna Kavan and A Charmed Circle 133 Chapter Six. The Nine Tailors: Sayers, spirituality and the Fens 168 Chapter Seven. The Invaluable Mystery and the Politics of Place. 205 Chapter Eight. Escaping to Barsetshire: Angela Thirkell’s therapeutic landscape 237 Chapter Nine. Conclusion 281 References 288 Appendices 315 iii LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1.1 The war record of Valentine Madden 7 Figure 1.2 The cover of Good Housekeeping, January, 1937 28 Figure 1.3 Sarah Paretsky, 2004 32 Figure 2.1 Harvesting with a boat at Ramsey 41 Figure 2.2 Cover of Back to Billabong Figure 2.3 Frontispiece of True Riches 64 Figure 5.1 Cover of A Charmed Circle 136 Figure 5.2 Kavan aged 18 153 Figure 5.3 Kavan with Edmonds 157 Figure 5.4 Kavan with her mother 159 Figure 5.5 Kavan self-portrait 161 Figure 5.6 Kavan later self-portrait 163 Figure 6.1 A fenland landscape 175 Figure 6.2 Tony Martin and his house 176 Figure 6.3 Fenchurch St. Paul 183 Figure 6.4 Detail of bell and cage 184 Figure 6.5 The roof of St. Wendreda‟s Church 186 Figure 6.6 Photograph of Dorothy L. Sayers when young 204 Figure 7.1 Map of Sydney, 1920 207 Figure 7.2 The Spit, Mosman 209 Figure 7.3 Lesbia Harford and her brother 221 Figure 7.4 A sign in the school at Villers-Bretonneux 225 Figure 7.5 The cemetery outside Villers-Bretonneux 227 Figure 8.1 Thirkell‟s Barsetshire – map 257 Figure 8.2 Trollope‟s Barsetshire – map 264 Figures 8.3 & 8.4: 4 Grace Street & The Gables, Malvern 269 iv LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix Title Page 1 Long and short list of novels considered 315 2 The Orange Prize, its Judges and British Women Writers 316 3 The Works of Angela Thirkell and Review Listings 318 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I thank Dr Joanne Sharp and Professor Chris Philo, my supervisors, for their guidance, interest and support and for their diligent reading and assessment of my work at all stages. I thank other members of the Human Geography Research Group within the Department for their support and I also thank staff throughout the Department who provided administrative and moral support in a variety of ways. I am grateful to the Faculty of Law, Business and Social Sciences (LBSS) at the University of Glasgow for the award of a scholarship to support me in the first two years of this project. I am also grateful to Leeann Stevenson and Alan McConnell from the Faculty Office of LBSS who have been responsive and helpful in a number of ways throughout my candidature. Fellow postgraduates have been supportive and diverting, providing both escape and reinforcement. I am especially grateful to David Beel and Cheryl McGeachan, Senior Graduate Teaching Assistants, for their camaraderie. I have also been blessed to have shared office space, at different times, with two wonderful women: Merle Patchett and Isla Forsyth, both of whom have been supportive, affirming, stimulating and, most importantly, fun. I thank them both for enriching the postgraduate experience. Several people contributed „material artefacts‟ to this research. Margaret Kelly gave me a copy of Harford‟s Invaluable Mystery to read. I thank her for starting me off on the Harford research which forms a significant part of this project. June Cox, Penny Aldred and other members of the Angela Thirkell Society provided support as well as unpublished material. Christopher Dean, Chairman of the Dorothy L. Sayers Society and Bunty Parkinson, archivist, provided unpublished and scarce material for my researches. Seona Ford generously allowed me access to her photographs of the Fens and permission to use them in the thesis. David Collins also graciously gave permission for the use of his images of church architecture and the fictional Fenchurch St. Paul. Jasmine Simeone‟s work on women in the fiction of Sayers was essential to my researches also. Victoria Walker of the fledgling Anna Kavan Society was most helpful as were staff at the British Library Reading Room. Women writers were enthusiastic in their encouragement of my work and in the provision of materials, insights and experiences. I thank Catherine Aird for sending me a copy of From the Verandah, which was most useful for my research. Nicola Beauman provided details of Elizabeth Cambridge‟s life when information was scarce. I thank them both for their generosity. I also thank Jessica Mann and Mavis Cheek for their support, enthusiasm for the project and for sharing some of their professional experiences. I thank Dan Markus for his insights into therapeutic landscapes and for much more. His support has been indispensable and for that I am most grateful. A network of „excellent women‟ from both hemispheres needs acknowledgement also. I am profoundly grateful for their support, patience and affection. This project has also been a family affair. My sister-in-law, Debra Perriam, generously offered the outcome of family researches in the materials related to vi my great-uncles: the service records of Valentine and Daniel Madden. My cousin, Joy Newling, generously scanned and sent an electronic copy of the dust jacket for Back to Billabong as well as details of the Billabong series. In addition, Joy kindly gave me precious copies of our great aunt, Maude Holdsworth‟s childhood books, which I treasure. My sister, Lyndall Dumas, gave unfailing support and, at various stages of the project, provided space and hospitality. My late father, Ray, with his lifelong engagement with politics as well as his love of poetry and the Australian landscape was and is, an inspiration. My mother, Joan, taught me to read, to be a reader and much more besides. The story I tell in this thesis is theirs as well as mine.
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