Description
Book SynopsisInformed by newly available diaries and correspondence, here is the first comprehensive biographical and critical study of this enigmatic writer whose tragic suicide at the age of thirty-one served to plunge her fascinating body of work into obscurity.
Trade Review'In this book, Claire Flay succeeds in revitalising Dorothy Edwards and her writings for a new generation of readers; through her perceptive use of previously unexplored manuscript material, as well as her innovative readings of the published works, she throws new light on the radical and subversive subtext of Edwards' modernist fictions.' Professor Jane Aaron, School of Humanities, University of Glamorgan. 'At last this brilliant and neglected modernist has got the book-length study that her work and life so deserve. With a wealth of original research into the life, Claire Flay sets about exploring the development of Edwards's fiction and charts a course among the tensions of gender, class and nationality with painstaking skill. Historians of the early 20th century as well as literature lovers and those wanting to know more about Edwards will learn much from this book. It will become essential to the study of this astonishing writer and her enigmatic, tragic life.' Christopher Meredith, Faculty of Business and Society 'A full appreciation of the achievement of Dorothy Edwards in her fiction has only recently begun to emerge and Claire Flay's study - the first book-length ritical biography - is a major contribution to our understanding of this subtle and remarkable writer. Drawing extensively and perceptively from newly-available manuscript material, Claire Flay thoughtfully demonstrates how Edwards draws on her inner personal tensions - her sense of female marginalization, her lonely search for love, her struggle to define the nature of her Welsh identity - to create her unique fictional world. Hers is a genuinely Modern voice.' Professor Tony Brown, School of English, Bangor University '... there can be no doubt to the service this book performs. The author's careful reading also turns up orignal observations that are of lasting value both in their own right and because they suggest directions for future scholarship ... the most significant contribution yet published to the understanding of Edwards.' Welsh History Review
