Elizabeth Bowen (1) (1899–1973)
Author of The Death of the Heart
For other authors named Elizabeth Bowen, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
Elizabeth Bowen, distinguished Anglo-Irish novelist, was born in Dublin in 1899, traveled extensively, lived in London, and inherited the family estate-Bowen's Court, in County Cork. Her account of the house, Bowen's Court (1942), with a detailed fictionalized history of the family in Ireland show more through three centuries, has charm, warmth, and insight. Seven Winters is a fragment of autobiography published in England in 1942. The "Afterthoughts" of the original edition are critical essays in which she discusses and analyzes, among others, such literary figures as Virginia Woolf, E. M. Forster, Katherine Mansfield, Anthony Trollope, and Eudora Welty. Bowen's stories, mostly about people of the British upper middle class, portray relationships that are never simple, except, perhaps, on the surface. Her concern with time and memory is a major theme. Beautifully and delicately written, her stories, with their oblique psychological revelations, are symbolic, subtle, and terrifying. A Time in Rome (1960) is her brilliant evocation of that city and its layered past. In 1948, Bowen was made a Commander of the British Empire. Bowen died in 1973. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Elizabeth Bowen
Seven winters; memories of a Dublin childhood & afterthoughts, pieces on writing (1999) 14 copies, 1 review
Why do I write? : An exchange of views between Elizabeth Bowen, Graham Greene & V. S. Pritchett ; with a pref. by V. S. (1975) 6 copies
The Faber Book of Modern Stories 4 copies
The Demon Lover [short story] 3 copies
Novels, Memoirs, Travels, Essays 2 copies
Telling [short story] 2 copies
Las mujeres observadas 1 copy
The Happy Autumn Fields 1 copy
Pink May 1 copy
Die ferne Stadt Kor. Erzählungen. Aus dem Englischen übersetzt von Annette Charpentier, Katrine von Hutten und Hartmut Zahn. (1985) 1 copy
Bowen Elizabeth 1 copy
Spookverhalen 1 copy
Maria 1 copy
Reduced 1 copy
anything 1 copy
Contos Fantásticos 1 copy
Associated Works
Uncle Silas: A Tale of Bartram-Haugh (1864) — Introduction, some editions — 1,599 copies, 35 reviews
Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense (1970) — Contributor, some editions — 896 copies, 4 reviews
The World of the Short Story: A 20th Century Collection (1986) — Contributor — 513 copies, 4 reviews
The Smiles of Rome: A Literary Companion for Readers and Travelers (2005) — Contributor — 67 copies, 2 reviews
The House of the Nightmare and Other Eerie Tales (1967) — Contributor; Author, some editions — 54 copies, 2 reviews
Out of the Best Books: An Anthology of Literature, Vol. 1: The Individual and Human Values (1964) — Contributor — 40 copies
Ladies of Horror: Two Centuries of Supernatural Stories by the Gentle Sex (1971) — Contributor — 29 copies
A Very Irish Christmas: The Greatest Irish Holiday Stories of All Time (2021) — Contributor — 20 copies, 1 review
Het neusje van de zalm een feestelijke bloemlezing uit Querido's 'vlaggetjesreeks' (1986) — Contributor — 7 copies
The Best British Short Stories of 1933 — Contributor, some editions — 2 copies
Horizon 21 (September 1941) — Contributor — 2 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Bowen, Elizabeth
- Legal name
- Cameron, Elizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen
- Other names
- Bowen, Bitha
Bowen, Elizabeth - Birthdate
- 1899-06-07
- Date of death
- 1973-02-22
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Downe House School, Kent, England, UK
- Occupations
- novelist
short story writer - Awards and honors
- Order of the British Empire (Commander, 1948)
Companion of Literature (1965)
Doctor of Letters, Trinity College, Dublin
Doctor of Letters, Oxford University (1956)
Lacy Martin Donnelly Fellow (1956) - Relationships
- Ritchie, Charles (lover)
- Short biography
- Elizabeth Bowen was born in Dublin in 1899, the only child of an Irish lawyer and landowner. Her book Bowen's Court (1942) is the history of her family and their house in County Cork. Throughout her life, she divided her time between London and Bowen's Court, which she inherited. She had friends among the Bloomsbury Group, and was close to Rose Macaulay, who helped her find a publisher for her first book, a collection of short stories called Encounters (1923). During World War II, Elizabeth Bowen lived in London and worked for the British Ministry of Information. She received acclaim for her novels and short story collections, was awarded the CBE (Companion of the Order of the British Empire) in 1948, and was made a Companion of Literature by the Royal Society of Literature in 1965. She died in 1973.
- Nationality
- Ireland
- Birthplace
- Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland
- Places of residence
- Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland
Farahy, County Cork, Ireland
Hythe, Kent, England, UK
Regent's Park, London, Middlesex, England, UK
Headington, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK - Place of death
- London, Middlesex, England, UK
- Burial location
- St Colman's Church, Farahy, County Cork, Ireland
Members
Reviews
This is one of those completely unskimmable novels, that you are therefore forced to take slowly. It is set in London in the middle years of WWII and I found the details of this period (I gather Bowen wrote the novel actually during that time) fascinating - I knew about black out blinds, but it had never occurred to me that train windows would also need to be blacked out, nor had I realized the difficulties there would be in travelling to neutral Ireland.
The characters were very interesting show more and stayed with me while I wasn't reading, although Robert, Stella's boyfriend and possible Nazi spy, remained a bit opaque to me. Obviously Harrison, the intelligence officer who pursues Stella and makes this claim about Robert, is intentionally opaque and mysterious. There were sections which were very funny - any involving Robert's mother and sister and most involving the appallingly young (since he is serving his country) Roderick.
This was hard work, but worth the effort. show less
The characters were very interesting show more and stayed with me while I wasn't reading, although Robert, Stella's boyfriend and possible Nazi spy, remained a bit opaque to me. Obviously Harrison, the intelligence officer who pursues Stella and makes this claim about Robert, is intentionally opaque and mysterious. There were sections which were very funny - any involving Robert's mother and sister and most involving the appallingly young (since he is serving his country) Roderick.
This was hard work, but worth the effort. show less
How sharply and poignantly the writing cuts. This book is a gorgeous vessel full of poison and (mostly) despicable people. There is a keen reading pleasure to be had, though, despite the cruelty.
Oh, those polite conversations over tea – fine china, scones, crumpets, it’s all there. There are gaping maws underneath all that polish, and they will swallow you whole if you are not careful.
“One thing one must learn is, how to confront people that at that particular moment one cannot bear to show more meet.”
“In that airy vivacious house, all mirrors and polish, there was no place where the shadows lodged, no point where feeling could thicken.”
Even when the object is Eddie (=let me teach you everything you need to know about abusive relationships, and aren’t you a darling to let me, aren’t you sweet…), I do like things Bowen has to say about love. “One solid pleasure of love is to check up together on what has happened.”
As soon as Portia appears on the page for the first time, you know that she will break, that she will dissolve – the question is only of how, not if and when. Bowen has no mercy for anyone. Portia puts sharp knives of her clear-eyed innocence into the empty people around her, and they cannot take it.
It is so right that this novel should end with a door opening.
P.S. I should definitely read more Bowen, being careful not to overdose. show less
Oh, those polite conversations over tea – fine china, scones, crumpets, it’s all there. There are gaping maws underneath all that polish, and they will swallow you whole if you are not careful.
“One thing one must learn is, how to confront people that at that particular moment one cannot bear to show more meet.”
“In that airy vivacious house, all mirrors and polish, there was no place where the shadows lodged, no point where feeling could thicken.”
Even when the object is Eddie (=let me teach you everything you need to know about abusive relationships, and aren’t you a darling to let me, aren’t you sweet…), I do like things Bowen has to say about love. “One solid pleasure of love is to check up together on what has happened.”
As soon as Portia appears on the page for the first time, you know that she will break, that she will dissolve – the question is only of how, not if and when. Bowen has no mercy for anyone. Portia puts sharp knives of her clear-eyed innocence into the empty people around her, and they cannot take it.
It is so right that this novel should end with a door opening.
P.S. I should definitely read more Bowen, being careful not to overdose. show less
This is the story of a 16 year old orphan who comes to live with her fashionable half brother and his wife. The girl is completely emotionally needy and innocent but her brother and sister-in-law are completely unable to comfort her, and she becomes romantically involved with a cad.
Throughout the novel there is this incredible suspense about whether she will make a disastrous decision to consummate their relationship. I won't disclose what happens, but the tension this uncertainty creates show more leads you to focus on tiny, very finely wrought descriptions of social interaction and expression. Comparisons with Henry James are entirely appropriate.
Although there is an undertone about the loss of romantic naivete and trust, I think there is another interesting theme about the perverse relationship between writers and the people they write about. Early in the novel, the sister-in-law discovers the girl's diary and eagerly consumes her descriptions about herself. Though the sister-in-law laughs at the school-girl observations and concerns, she also feels judged and spied upon. I think Elizabeth Bowen was commenting on writing about people you know can poison relationships.
I think I like this book more the more I think about it. show less
Throughout the novel there is this incredible suspense about whether she will make a disastrous decision to consummate their relationship. I won't disclose what happens, but the tension this uncertainty creates show more leads you to focus on tiny, very finely wrought descriptions of social interaction and expression. Comparisons with Henry James are entirely appropriate.
Although there is an undertone about the loss of romantic naivete and trust, I think there is another interesting theme about the perverse relationship between writers and the people they write about. Early in the novel, the sister-in-law discovers the girl's diary and eagerly consumes her descriptions about herself. Though the sister-in-law laughs at the school-girl observations and concerns, she also feels judged and spied upon. I think Elizabeth Bowen was commenting on writing about people you know can poison relationships.
I think I like this book more the more I think about it. show less
This is the third novel I've read by [[Elizabeth Bowen]], and she is a hit or miss author for me. It took me a while to get into [The Heat of the Day]. Bowen writes densely. It's easy to miss a big plot point in a long descriptive passage, so you have to read closely.
This book was published in 1948, but takes place in 1942 London. I wondered when she actually wrote the novel. It has an immediacy regarding WWII that is impactful. The main character is Stella, who is in a relationship with a show more man named Robert. In the opening scenes, a stranger named Harrison approaches her and tells her that Robert is a spy. As the book unfolds, Stella has to decide who to believe and whether or not she even wants to know. The parallel story involves her adult son, Roderick, who is in the Army. He inherits an Irish estate from his father's family, who Stella had divorced early in their marriage. This inheritance brings up the past and secrets are revealed. There are two other side plots - one involving Robert's family and one involving a young woman, Louie, who meets Harrison in the opening scene. I never did understand what Louie's story was meant to add to the book.
Once I got past the opening scenes and got my bearings, the plot carried the book along for me. The setting is also strong. However, sometimes I felt like Bowen was over-writing the material and putting the reader too far removed from the characters. The book is a bit meandering, but in the end I'm glad I read it. show less
This book was published in 1948, but takes place in 1942 London. I wondered when she actually wrote the novel. It has an immediacy regarding WWII that is impactful. The main character is Stella, who is in a relationship with a show more man named Robert. In the opening scenes, a stranger named Harrison approaches her and tells her that Robert is a spy. As the book unfolds, Stella has to decide who to believe and whether or not she even wants to know. The parallel story involves her adult son, Roderick, who is in the Army. He inherits an Irish estate from his father's family, who Stella had divorced early in their marriage. This inheritance brings up the past and secrets are revealed. There are two other side plots - one involving Robert's family and one involving a young woman, Louie, who meets Harrison in the opening scene. I never did understand what Louie's story was meant to add to the book.
Once I got past the opening scenes and got my bearings, the plot carried the book along for me. The setting is also strong. However, sometimes I felt like Bowen was over-writing the material and putting the reader too far removed from the characters. The book is a bit meandering, but in the end I'm glad I read it. show less
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- Works
- 74
- Also by
- 90
- Members
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- Popularity
- #2,637
- Rating
- 4.3
- Reviews
- 192
- ISBNs
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