Any regular reader of Stuck in a Book between 2009 and 2013 will know that I was busy doing a DPhil in English literature, but I can never remember how much I wrote about it here. That’s partly because I found the first year quite stressful and almost quit, and partly because nobody’s interested in hearing how I didn’t manage to get to the library that day, and how annoying it is that no two fantasy theorists have the same definition of ‘fantasy’.
BUT – I shan’t bury the lede – my DPhil thesis is now available to read online or download, should you so wish. I requested a one-year embargo (the lowest available) and, hey presto, four years later it’s here! I still think the topic is fascinating, so you might enjoy reading it. (I don’t want to know about any typos…)
And it seems like a good opportunity to give a quick overview of what I did it in – starting with the title: ‘Dark, mysterious, and undocumented’: The Middlebrow Fantasy and the Fantastic Middlebrow. Yep, that’s a quote from Virginia Woolf – from Orlando, in fact, which was initially quite a substantial part of my thesis, but substantially cut after my first year viva.
Middlebrow fantasy
In brief, the ‘middlebrow fantasy’ was a bit of a conflation: the fake portrayal of middlebrow readers (in the 1920s and ’30s) as unthinking and unintelligent, and middlebrow literature as reductive and limited in scope (oh hi Leavises). I also used it to refer to the fantasy of the ideal middle-class home, without any problems – which was then subverted and challenged by fantastic strands in middlebrow novels.
Fantastic middlebrow
Upon hearing my thesis title (and saying “what?” and having it repeated), people often said “Oh, like Lord of the Rings?” No, not like Lord of the Rings. It doesn’t help that every fantasy theorist, as mentioned, uses the terminology differently – but I was only looking at novels that were based in the real world, but with an element of fantasy that intrudes. And people are surprised, otherwise it would be magical realism. Confusing, no? But this is how I define fantastic literature, and it’s the sort of novel I love – while fantasy novels, set in alternative universes with different natural laws, don’t interest me.
So, which books did I write about?
I was doing a thematic thesis, which meant defining my limits was really hard. I often envied single-author thesis writers, who could just say “I’ll do all their books”, or “I’ll do all their early poetry” or whatever using my pdf creator. I’m sure that comes with its own challenges. But I had to try to find every fantastic middlebrow novel of note in the 1920s and ’30s, often just through reading contemporary reviews or blurbs or publishers ads. It was a fun treasure hunt, but I lived in fear that I’d discover a massively important one when I finished the thesis. So far, I have not…
The main books I looked at were Lady into Fox by David Garnett, Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner, The Love Child by Edith Olivier, Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker, Flower Phantoms by Ronald Fraser, The Venetian Glass Nephew by Elinor Wylie, and Her Monkey Wife by John Collier, with Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield as a non-fantastic counterpoint – but I also included bits on books by Virginia Woolf, David Lindsay, Bernadette Murphy, Rachel Ferguson, Stella Benson, Bea Howe, Rose Macaulay, May Sinclair, Rebecca West, G.E. Trevelyan, Herbert Read, Mary Pendered, C.M.A. Peake, and more.
These chapters were the most fun to write. I spent two years working on my chapters on the middlebrow broadly and on fantasy theory, with a lot on the influence of Freud too, and in the second half of my DPhil I could look at primary texts! Yay! Close readingggg! All of this was the most fun, especially as I felt on surer ground – having bedded myself in with all that theoretical reading.
How was it structured?
After those chapters looking at the middlebrow and the fantastic, I linked up manifestations of the fantastic with specific societal anxieties affecting the middle classes of the 1920s and ’30s. First, metamorphosis alongside the changing sexual role of women in marriage; second, creation narratives and childlessness; third, witchcraft and the increase in single women after the First World War.
This did mean I had to dispense with chapters on fantastic time and fantastic space (though the latter pops up quite a bit) because they didn’t seem to me to link to any specific anxieties, and that was the most productive way to structure my thesis.
Writing all this has made me feel rather pleased with how it worked out – and skimming over the contents page makes me want to re-read it. It does feel as though somebody has written the book that most matches my literary interests! It was a long, sometimes slow and painful, often exciting journey to get to the finished thing. And, if you fancy having a gander yourself, do please go ahead.
How exciting! And since you’ve covering several books I love I shall have to take a look – I mean, Miss Hargreaves!! :)
I would love to say I am familiar with those books but that would be fibbing… I can sympathise with your challenge about scope – too broad and you end up just skimming, too focused and you risk running out of material. I’ve downloaded and shall read in awe
I’ve downloaded it and shall definitely give it a go. Sounds very interesting! Now I have to read the books!
Without wishing to denegrate your academic work, I think I’m more interested in reading the novel you finished writing this week. I’m no longer on Twitter but I saw your tweet about it on the Shiny New Books site. Well done on completing the novel. Are you planning to self-publish it?
Oh, very interesting news! Simon would you consider being crowdfunded to publish?
I never answered you, Peter and David! Once I’ve finished typing it up and editing, I think I’ll explore the traditional agent/publisher route and see where I get to.
I loved Rebecca West’s The Fountain Overflows and follow up books. I wonder how they fit into your thesis. They seem so disdainful of the middle class environments the family was forced to live even as they couldn’t really afford to keep up with the middle class neighbour’s accoutrements. The first time I read it as a happy tale of family life (I was in my late 20s and a bit obtuse) and later I think I read it as it was intended, but is continues to be one of my favourite books.
I do want to read your thesis. I’m pretty sure though, you wouldn’t want to read mine – about mutations in ribosomal RNA leading to abnormalities in function :)
What an interesting subject to explore, and in such depth!! Congratulations on coming full circle with it :) I’ve been meaning to read Lolly Willowes for aaages, and seeing it listed here among so many other fantastic works you looked at gives me the kick in the bum that I need ;) Keep up the great work (and I’ve got my fingers crossed for you that there are no nasty types out there who’ll come at you with a highlighter on any typos – that’s my worst nightmare!).
The thing is, I love middlebrow novels, but…I hate fantasy. My own grandmother wrote a Lady into Fox novel (“Tama”) and it’s my least favorite of hers! Still, I’ll take a look, because you certainly covers plenty of territory that fascinates me – and of course, you wrote it, and what an achievement that is! I emphatically echo David Nolan, though. I want to hear more about your novel!
I’ve downloaded it, and even though the only book on your list I’ve read is Lolly Willowes, I’ll give it a go because I admire the way you write. I had no idea you had been writing a book as well. Makes sense after all. Looking forward to learning more about it.
I am so in awe of the fact that you wrote a 300 page thesis! I was so eternally grateful that my MLS program did not require one!
A whole thesis could probably be written on definitions of fantasy and fantastic in literature! (Ditto Science Fiction and all its offshoots). I’ve had a gander at your introduction and am in awe, and need to read Lolly Willowes and the Monkey Wife book (I have a copy of the latter). I am inordinately excited about your novel though…
Yes I will. You can read mine (a PhD thesis) too if you wish. Use the link below and select the “Fulltext.pdf” file.
http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/9984
Thank you very much for letting us access you DPhilthesis.
How fascinating. That thesis would make the kind of book that I’d like to stock. You may quote me should you be doing the rounds of publishers!