Daily modernism the literary diaries of Virginia Woolf, Antonia White, Elizabeth Smart, and Anaïs Nin

Author/Creator:

Podnieks, Elizabeth

Publication/Creation:

Montreal ; Ithaca : McGill-Queen's University Press, c2000

Resource Type:

Book

More Details

Additional/Related Title Information

Full Title:

Daily modernism the literary diaries of Virginia Woolf, Antonia White, Elizabeth Smart, and Anaïs Nin / Elizabeth Podnieks

Subjects/Genre

Subjects:

Woolf, Virginia,1882-1941--Diaries
Smart, Elizabeth,1913-1986--Diaries
White, Antonia,1899-1980--Diaries
Nin, Anaïs,1903-1977--Diaries
English diaries--Women authors--History and criticism
Authors, English--20th century--Diaries--History and criticism
Authors, American--20th century--Diaries--History and criticism
Authors, Canadian--20th century--Diaries--History and criticism
Women and literature--English-speaking countries--History--20th century
Diaries--Women authors--History and criticism
Modernism (Literature)--Great Britain
Modernism (Literature)--United States
Modernism (Literature)--Canada

Description/Summary

Table of Contents:

Contents; Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; Introduction; 1 Blurring Boundaries: Mapping the Diary as Autobiography and Fiction; 2 ""That profoundly female, and feminist, genre""; 3 Life Writing a Modernist Text; 4 Virginia Woolf's Diary: ""the proper stuff of fiction""; 5 ""Still waiting for revelation: key to unlock"": The Diaries of Antonia White, A Literary Case Study; 6 ""Keep out / Keep out / Your snooting snout"": The Irresistible Diaries of Elizabeth Smart; 7 ""I was born to hear applause"": Self-Promotion and Performance in the Diaries of Anai's Nin; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography
IndexA; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; R; S; T; V; W; Y

Summary:

Redrawing established boundaries between genres, Podnieks builds a broad critical and theoretical range on which she maps the diary as an aesthetic work, showing how diaries inscribe the aesthetics of literary modernisms. Drawing on feminist theory, literary history, biography, and personal anecdotes, she argues that the diary is an especially subversive space for women writers. Podnieks details how Virginia Woolf, Antonia White, Elizabeth Smart, and Anaïs Nin wrote their diaries under the pretence that they were private, while always intending them to be published. She travelled extensively to examine the original diary manuscripts and offers unique first-hand descriptions of the manuscripts that underscore the artistic intentions of their authors. Daily Modernism contributes to the ongoing feminist revision of literary history and, in its disruption of traditional concepts of "major" and "minor" literary forms, paves the way for a much needed reconsideration of the diary as a valid literary achievement.

Language:

English

Language Note:

English

Physical Type/Description:

1 online resource (420 p.)

General Note:

Description based upon print version of record.

Additional Identifiers

Catalog ID (MMSID):

9936528516002486

ISBN:

1-282-85844-0
9786612858444
0-7735-6824-7

OCLC Number:

929121227

Other Identifiers:

doi: 10.1515/9780773568242