Rose Macaulay, Gender, and Modernity

This collection offers fresh insights into the works of Rose Macaulay, examining her contributions to modern British literature and gender discourse.

This interdisciplinary book sets a new agenda for international scholarship on Macaulay, reformulating contemporary ideas about gender and genre in 20th-century British literature. The collection is the first to focus on the British author Rose Macaulay (1881-1958), establishing connections between her work and themes of modernism and the middlebrow. The essays delve into Macaulay’s attentiveness to contemporary depictions of gender in her fiction, exploring how her writing transcended and celebrated various genre characteristics, reflecting her responses to modernity.

The book navigates through various themes, from the interiorized self and the psyche's relationship with the body to gender identity and the role of women in society. It examines how both Macaulay and her characters utilize language as a means of generic self-expression, set against the backdrop of their lived environments. Embracing technology enthusiastically, Macaulay’s modern approach to writing showcases her treatment of gender and genre, which mirrors her engagement with modernism, historical narratives, and the complexities of age and travel.

By presenting a diverse range of perspectives, Rose Macaulay, Gender, and Modernity illustrates how Macaulay’s fiction is crucial to modern British literature. It highlights her aesthetic concerns, technical experimentation, and advocacy for the autonomy and professional independence of modern women. The connections drawn between her writing and contemporary issues, such as theology, popular culture, and feminism, offer a rich interdisciplinary exploration that sets a new agenda for scholarship on Macaulay's works.