Alienation And Anxiety

As one of the finest writers of fiction in the 20^thcentury Britain,Elizabeth Bowen?1899-1973?is often held in public esteem,second only to Virginia Woolf.Her novels are known for emotional subtleties,explicit expressions of sentiments,and unique psychological descriptions.She is therefore considered by many to be“a great psychological novelist.”The previous studies,however,have failed to acknowledge her contribution to the enrichment of the notion of culture by writing novels.In other words,her due position in the history of the interaction between English literature and the idea of culture has not been given adequate treatment.This thesis therefore proposes to look into Elizabeth Bowen's participation in British cultural criticism in the 20^thcentury focusing on“alienation and anxiety.”This thesis has explored Bowen's contribution to British cultural criticism in the20^thcentury.In her novels such as The Death of the Heart,The Last September and The Heat of the Day,Bowen sheds light on human alienation and social alienation in her society which is caught in the throes of anxiety over social transition.She exposes human alienation mainly from two perspectives:the alienation of people's hearts from their bodies,and the alienation of the individual from his or her environment.And the social alienation,as laid bare in her novels,also lies mainly in two aspects:the alienation of people's material pursuit from their spiritual aspirations,and the alienation of people's aesthetic taste from their social ethics.By exploring these two forms of alienation,Bowen has managed to throw insight into the prevalent social phenomenon in her times in detail and in depth.This,as a matter of fact,shows Bowen's anxiety over social transition in her times,hence the cultural connotations of her novels and her identity as a cultural critic.More importantly,there exists an intertextual relationship between Bowen's novels and the 19^thcentury cultural critics such as Matthew Arnold,John Ruskin,and Charles Kingsley whose works inaugurated a great tradition of British cultural criticism by responding to the discourse of“progress.”It is in this particular tradition that we propose to examine Bowen's literary and cultural significance,especially her contribution to the continuity and extension of the above-said cultural critique.In a nutshell,Elizabeth Bowen plays an important role in the context of British cultural criticism in the 20^thcentury.By taking a cultural approach to her novels,this thesis seeks to add a new dimension to the overall map of knowledge regarding Elizabeth Bowen and the way she has expanded and enriched the connotations of cultural criticism.Permeating the present thesis is an implication that Bowen's novels can serve as a mirror for Chinese people in their efforts to develop their culture while faced with various challenges due to the social transition.