Book contents
- Elizabeth Bowen in Context
- Elizabeth Bowen in Context
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Chronology
- Abbreviations
- Part IGenres
- Part IIAesthetics
- Part IIIEngagements
- Part IVLocations
- Part VStances
- Part VIIdentities
- Chapter 27Girls
- Chapter 28Women
- Chapter 29Lovers
- Chapter 30Ghosts
- Chapter 31Servants
- Chapter 32Writers
- Part VIIReputation
- Further Reading
- Index
Chapter 27 - Girls
from Part VI - Identities
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 March 2026
Book contents
- Elizabeth Bowen in Context
- Elizabeth Bowen in Context
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Chronology
- Abbreviations
- Part IGenres
- Part IIAesthetics
- Part IIIEngagements
- Part IVLocations
- Part VStances
- Part VIIdentities
- Chapter 27Girls
- Chapter 28Women
- Chapter 29Lovers
- Chapter 30Ghosts
- Chapter 31Servants
- Chapter 32Writers
- Part VIIReputation
- Further Reading
- Index
Summary
Elizabeth Bowen’s fiction is full of girls; in nearly all her work, she focuses on the act of maturing through adolescence to early adulthood. The experience of girlhood among Bowen’s characters maps onto the generic characteristics of her truncated, ambiguous Bildungsromane, all of which subvert expectations and resist satisfying maturation. Her novels focus on figures experiencing historical and emotional arrest, and her adolescent girls often remain in moments of developmental or social suspension. This essay traces girlhood and adolescence in abeyance in Bowen’s short fiction, and in novels ranging from The Hotel to The Death of the Heart to The Little Girls.
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- Elizabeth Bowen in Context , pp. 275 - 284Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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