"English Novelists," by Elizabeth Bowen

My dear friend B. recently gave me a book that was perfect for me! (She knows my literary taste very well!) Let’s start with the title – a simple “English Novelists.” Although I have read, enjoyed, valued, and learned from novels from around the world, I must admit that I have always had a very special place in my heart for English novels, by English novelists. Next: The author is Elizabeth Bowen, a longtime favorite novelist of mine. In the case of this book, she is a literary historian and critic as well. Third, the physical appearance of the book: It is a slim book (of 48 pages), with a worn-at-the-corners and slightly-torn dust jacket featuring a drawing of a writing quill. The back cover tells us that this book is part of a series titled “Britain in Pictures,” which includes enticing titles such as “English Poets,” “English Women,” “English Villages,” “The Story of Scotland,” “English Children,” and many more. Inside the front cover, there is a handwritten name of a former owner of the book, apparently a military man with a military address, perhaps a soldier during World War II, taking some time to focus on something he loves – literature – in the midst of the horrors of war. The title page tells us this book was published by William Collins of London in 1942. It is also noted that the book includes “8 plates in colour” and “19 illustrations in black & white,” and indeed these plates and illustrations, scattered throughout the book, are charming. Bowen gives very brief histories of the authors, works, styles, and reputations of several writers, starting with Henry Fielding and continuing with such authors as Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, and Laurence Sterne. Then there are Fanny Burney, Jane Austen, William Thackeray, and Charles Dickens, who are followed by Sir Walter Scott, the Bronte sisters, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling, Arnold Bennett and a few others. Bowen concludes with E.M. Forster and Virginia Woolf. She sets the context for each new generation of writers, is concisely informative about each author, and offers her own opinions about their works and their places in literary history. A couple of her opinions surprised me, such as her very guarded and hedged praise of George Eliot; Eliot is one of my favorites, but I did understand some of Bowen’s criticisms. In any case, I loved looking at, holding, leafing through and reading this brief but concentrated look at the development of the English novel and its best-known authors. Everything about it came together to make it a very appealing book. It will have a special place on my bookshelves.