The 1920s
A Decade of Modern British Fiction
Published on 21. August 2025
Book
Hardback
344 pages
978-1-350-43343-4 (ISBN)
Description
The particularity of 1920s British fiction has become obscured by an academic focus on modernism. This book takes a fresh approach to the decade by examining both canonical writers such as Virginia Woolf and E. M. Forster as well as less widely-studied writers such as A. A. Milne and Naomi Mitchison.
From the aftermath of First World War to the Great Depression of 1929, and its political consequences, the 1920s were a decade marked by radical social change. Internationally, there was an ongoing shift of global power and nationally, Britain was adjusting to the aftermath of First World War, to no longer being the dominant imperial power in the world, and to the introduction of universal male suffrage and votes for women over thirty, which was extended to those over twenty-one in 1928. This volume relates the British fiction of the decade to these contexts in order to reassess and explain trends of the period, such as war books, fantastic romance, literary modernism, and new expressions of gender and sexuality.
A major critical re-evaluation of the decade, the book covers such writers as Agatha Christie, E. M. Forster, Ethel Mannin, Somerset Maugham, R. H. Mottram, D. H. Lawrence, Wyndham Lewis, A. A. Milne, Hope Mirrlees, Naomi Mitchison, Dorothy Richardson and Virginia Woolf, among others; illustrating how their key themes and concerns fit within the social and political circumstances of the decade.
From the aftermath of First World War to the Great Depression of 1929, and its political consequences, the 1920s were a decade marked by radical social change. Internationally, there was an ongoing shift of global power and nationally, Britain was adjusting to the aftermath of First World War, to no longer being the dominant imperial power in the world, and to the introduction of universal male suffrage and votes for women over thirty, which was extended to those over twenty-one in 1928. This volume relates the British fiction of the decade to these contexts in order to reassess and explain trends of the period, such as war books, fantastic romance, literary modernism, and new expressions of gender and sexuality.
A major critical re-evaluation of the decade, the book covers such writers as Agatha Christie, E. M. Forster, Ethel Mannin, Somerset Maugham, R. H. Mottram, D. H. Lawrence, Wyndham Lewis, A. A. Milne, Hope Mirrlees, Naomi Mitchison, Dorothy Richardson and Virginia Woolf, among others; illustrating how their key themes and concerns fit within the social and political circumstances of the decade.
Reviews / Votes
This volume undertakes a salutary unravelling and re-weaving of literary history. Returning to the beginning of a turbulent century of social and literary change, the editors and contributors incisively trace a host of fictional modalities that supplement and blur the narrative of modernism, revealing the decade of the 1920s as a complex braid, excitingly rife with experiments both gendered and generic. -- Debra Rae Cohen, Distinguished Professor of English Emerita, University of South Carolina, USAMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
6 bw illus
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
678 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-43343-4 (9781350433434)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Nick Hubble is Professor of Modern and Contemporary English at Brunel University London, UK.
Shene Boskani has recently completed her PhD at Brunel University London. UK.
Tamas Benyei is Professor of English Literature at the Department of British Studies at the University of Debrecen, Hungary.
Shene Boskani has recently completed her PhD at Brunel University London. UK.
Tamas Benyei is Professor of English Literature at the Department of British Studies at the University of Debrecen, Hungary.
Content
Contributors
Series Editors' Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction:
Tamas Benyei (University of Debrecen, Hungary), Shene Boskani (Brunel University London, UK) and Nick Hubble (Brunel University London, UK)
1. Fairy Fruit and Creative Auto-Intoxication: The 1920s as a Decade of Fantastic Romance
Nick Hubble (Brunel University London, UK)
2. The Way Things (Still) Are: Women, Visions and Realities in the 1920s
Lesley A. Hall (University College London, UK)
3. The Shapes of Time: Novelistic Form and Decadal Time in the 1920s British Novel
Tyrus Miller (University of California, Irvine, USA)
4. The First World War in the 1920s
Andrew Frayn (Edinburgh Napier University, UK)
5. Home and Away: The Fiction of the 1920s and the British Empire
Tamas Benyei (University of Debrecen, Hungary),
6. Casting Shadows: Women, Absence, and History in the Gendered Narratives of
Naomi Mitchison
Shene Boskani (Brunel University London, UK)
7. Englishness, Modernism and Gender-The Hungarian Reception of Virginia Woolf
Nora Sellei (University of Debrecen, Hungary)
8. Platforming the Poor in 1920s Britain: Habermas, Foucault, and the Politics of
Display
Luke Lewin Davies (University of Tromso, Norway)
9. Animals at the Hearth: A.A. Milne, E. H. Shepard and Illustrated Fantasies of Rural
Living
Kristin Bluemel (Monmouth University, USA)
Timeline of Works
Timeline of National Events
Timeline of International Events
Biographies of Writers
Index
Series Editors' Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction:
Tamas Benyei (University of Debrecen, Hungary), Shene Boskani (Brunel University London, UK) and Nick Hubble (Brunel University London, UK)
1. Fairy Fruit and Creative Auto-Intoxication: The 1920s as a Decade of Fantastic Romance
Nick Hubble (Brunel University London, UK)
2. The Way Things (Still) Are: Women, Visions and Realities in the 1920s
Lesley A. Hall (University College London, UK)
3. The Shapes of Time: Novelistic Form and Decadal Time in the 1920s British Novel
Tyrus Miller (University of California, Irvine, USA)
4. The First World War in the 1920s
Andrew Frayn (Edinburgh Napier University, UK)
5. Home and Away: The Fiction of the 1920s and the British Empire
Tamas Benyei (University of Debrecen, Hungary),
6. Casting Shadows: Women, Absence, and History in the Gendered Narratives of
Naomi Mitchison
Shene Boskani (Brunel University London, UK)
7. Englishness, Modernism and Gender-The Hungarian Reception of Virginia Woolf
Nora Sellei (University of Debrecen, Hungary)
8. Platforming the Poor in 1920s Britain: Habermas, Foucault, and the Politics of
Display
Luke Lewin Davies (University of Tromso, Norway)
9. Animals at the Hearth: A.A. Milne, E. H. Shepard and Illustrated Fantasies of Rural
Living
Kristin Bluemel (Monmouth University, USA)
Timeline of Works
Timeline of National Events
Timeline of International Events
Biographies of Writers
Index