COMEDY AND THE FEMININE MIDDLEBROW NOVEL: ELIZABETH VON ARNIM AND ELIZABETH TAYLOR Literary texts and the Popular Marketplace Series Editors: Kate Macdonald Ann Rea Editorial Board: Kristin Bluemel David Carter Stella Deen Christoph Ehland David Finkelstein Faye Hammill Nick Hubble Phyllis Lassner Elizabeth Maslen Victoria Stewart Titles in this Series 1 Th e Business of the Novel: Economics, Aesthetics and the Case of Middlemarch Simon R. Frost 2 Fashioning the Silver Fork Novel Cheryl A. Wilson Forthcoming Titles John Buchan and the Idea of Modernity Kate Macdonald and Nathan Waddell (eds) William Clark Russell and the Victorian Nautical Novel: Gender, Genre and the Marketplace Andrew Nash Women’s University Fiction, 1880–1945 Anna Bogen Th e Gothic Novel and the Stage: Romantic Appropriations Francesca Saggini www.pickeringchatto.com/ltpm COMEDY AND THE FEMININE MIDDLEBROW NOVEL: ELIZABETH VON ARNIM AND ELIZABETH TAYLOR by Erica Brown PICKERING & CHATTO 2013 Published by Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Limited 21 Bloomsbury Way, London WC1A 2TH 2252 Ridge Road, Brookfi eld, Vermont 05036-9704, USA www.pickeringchatto.com All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior permission of the publisher. © Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Ltd 2013 © Erica Brown 2013 To the best of the Publisher’s knowledge every eff ort has been made to contact relevant copyright holders and to clear any relevant copyright issues.  Any omissions that come to their attention will be remedied in future editions. british library cataloguing in publication data Brown, Erica, 1975– Comedy and the feminine middlebrow novel: Elizabeth von Arnim and Elizabeth Taylor. – (Literary texts and the popular marketplace) 1. Von Arnim, Elizabeth, 1866–1941 – Criticism and interpretation – History – 20th century. 2. Taylor, Elizabeth, 1912–1975 – Criticism and interpretation – History – 20th century. 3. Women in literature. 4. Middle class in literature. 5. Humor in literature. 6. Humorous stories, English – History and criticism. 7. English fi ction – Women authors – History and criticism. I. Title II. Series 823.9’12099287-dc23 ISBN-13: 9781848933385 e: 9781848933392 ∞ Th is publication is printed on acid-free paper that conforms to the American National Standard for the Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. Typeset by Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Limited Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by the MPG Books Group CONTENTS Acknowledgements ix Introduction 1 1 Th e Middlebrow and Comedy: Elizabeth Taylor and Elizabeth von Arnim’s Cultural and Literary Context 5 2 A Comedic ‘Response’ to War? Elizabeth von Arnim’s Christopher and Columbus (1919) and Mr Skeffi ngton (1940), and Elizabeth Taylor’s At Mrs Lippincote’s (1945) 29 3 ‘One Begins to See what is Meant by “Th ey Lived Happily Ever Aft er”’: Elizabeth von Arnim’s Vera (1921) and Elizabeth Taylor’s Palladian (1946) 65 4 ‘One Shudders to Th ink what a Less Sophisticated Artist would have Made of It’: Th e Comedy of Age in Elizabeth von Arnim’s Love (1925) and Elizabeth Taylor’s In a Summer Season (1961) 89 Conclusion 113 Notes 125 Works Cited 147 Index 159 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Th roughout the writing of this book I have benefi ted from the support of mem- bers of the AHRC Middlebrow Network, an invaluable community of scholars who share my sense that the middlebrow matters. I would especially like to thank Mary Grover, Faye Hammill and Chris Hopkins – they have been unfailingly generous with their time and always encouraging of this project. Th anks also go to the Document Supply Services team at the Adsetts Centre, Sheffi eld Hallam University, for arranging copies of so many old newspaper reviews and out-of- print books, without which this book could not have been written. Like most books, this one has taken many years to write, and I would like to thank my friends and family for supporting me throughout. Particular thanks go to Helen Brown, Alan Brown, Margaret Booth and Maurice McCabe. It is oft en thought that the surest way to kill a joke is to try and analyse it; I have not found this to be the case. My fi nal heartfelt thanks go to Elizabeth von Arnim and Elizabeth Taylor, for still making me laugh aft er years of thinking about how they do it. – ix –