Comedy and the Feminine Middlebrow Novel: Elizabeth von Arnim and Elizabeth Taylor [Paperback]

Elizabeth von Arnim and Elizabeth Taylor wrote witty and entertaining novels about the domestic lives of middle-class women. Widely read and enjoyed, their work was often dismissed as middlebrow. Brown argues their skilful use of comedy and irony provided the receptive reader with subversive commentary on the cruelties and disappointments of life.Elizabeth von Arnim and Elizabeth Taylor wrote witty and entertaining novels about the domestic lives of middle-class women. Widely read and enjoyed, their work was often dismissed as middlebrow. Brown argues their skilful use of comedy and irony provided the receptive reader with subversive commentary on the cruelties and disappointments of life.Acknowledgments; Introduction; Chapter 1 The Middlebrow and Comedy: Elizabeth Taylor and Elizabeth Von Arnims Cultural and Literary Context; Chapter 2 A Comedic Response to War? Elizabeth Von Arnims Christopher and Columbus (1919) and Mr Skeffington (1940), and Elizabeth Taylors at Mrs Lippincotes (1945); Chapter 3 One Begins to See What is Meant by They Lived Happily Ever after: Elizabeth Von Arnims Vera (1921) and Elizabeth Taylors Palladian (1946); Chapter 4 One Shudders to Think What a Less Sophisticated Artist Would Have Made of It: The Comedy of Age in Elizabeth Von Arnims Love (1925) and Elizabeth Taylors in a Summer Season (1961); Conclusion;US? Taylor & Francis 2013