Jean Rhys in Australian neo-Victorian and Great House imaginaries

This innovative book examines the development of modernism in four European cities: London, Paris, Berlin, and Vienna. Focusing upon how literary and cultural outsiders represented various spaces in these cities, it draws upon contemporary theories of affect, mood, and literary geography to offer an original account of the geographical emotions of modernism. It considers three broad features of urban modernism: the built environment of the particular cities, such as cafés or transport systems; the cultural institutions of publishing that underpinned the development of modernism in these locations; and the complex perceptions of writers and artists who were outsiders to the four cities. Particular attention is thus given to the transnational qualities of modernism by examining figures whose view of the cities considered is that of migrants, exiles, or strangers. The writers and artists discussed include Mulk Raj Anand, Gwendolyn Bennett, Bryher, Blaise Cendrars, Joseph Conrad, T. S. Eliot, Christopher Isherwood, Hope Mirlees, Noami Mitchison, Jean Rhys, Sam Selon, and Stephen Spender.

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Envoi

10.3366/edinburgh/9781474427418.003.0007 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Vike Martina Plock

Keyword(s):

Cold War ◽

Virginia Woolf ◽

Edith Wharton ◽

Jean Rhys ◽

Suez Crisis ◽

The Cold War

It is 1956, the height of the Cold War. The year will end in the Suez Crisis and the Hungarian Uprising. Edith Wharton and Virginia Woolf have both been dead for a while, Jean Rhys is all but forgotten and Rosamond Lehmann’s career as a novelist is on the wane....

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Conformity and Idiosyncrasy: Jean Rhys

10.3366/edinburgh/9781474427418.003.0003 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Vike Martina Plock

Keyword(s):

Twentieth Century ◽

Social Change ◽

Jean Rhys ◽

Left Bank ◽

Female Images ◽

Image Construction ◽

Political Modernity ◽

Early Twentieth Century ◽

Good Morning ◽

Professional Mobility

By looking at Jean Rhys’s ‘Left Bank’ fiction (Quartet, After Leaving Mr Mackenzie, Good Morning, Midnight, ‘Illusion’, ‘Mannequin’), this chapter investigates how new operational procedures such as Fordism and Taylorism, which were introduced into the French couture industry at the beginning of the twentieth century, affected constructions of modern femininity. Increasingly standardized images of feminine types were produced by Paris couturiers while the new look of the Flapper seemingly advertised women’s expanding social, political and professional mobility. Rhys, this chapter argues, noted fashion’s ability to provide resources for creative image construction but she simultaneously expressed criticism of its tendency to standardize female costumes and behaviour. Ultimately, Rhys demonstrates in her fiction that the radically modern couture of the early twentieth century was by no means the maker of social change and women’s political modernity. To offset the increased standardization of female images that she witnessed around her, Rhys created heroines and texts that relied on an overt display on difference.

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BATOMBE: WARISAN BUDAYA BANGSA DARI NAGARI ABAI PROVINSI SUMATERA BARAT

Madah Jurnal Bahasa dan Sastra ◽

10.31503/madah.v7i2.425 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 159

Author(s):

Eva Krisna

Keyword(s):

Oral Tradition ◽

Multidisciplinary Approach ◽

Descriptive Analysis ◽

Community Life ◽

Psychological Approach ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Great House ◽

Close Relationship ◽

West Sumatra ◽

The Relationship

“Batombe” is an oral tradition of the Nagari Abai society at Sangir Batanghari Subdistrict, South Solok District, West Sumatra Province. Batombe is exchanging rhymes (berbalas pantun) which is performed as an entertainment on the wedding party (baralek). Batombe is identical with Great House (Rumah Gadang) Nagari Abai which is a unique house because it is a long traditional custom house that has many rooms. It reaches 21 rooms. The rhymes in batombe tends to deliver a feeling of lilting so the singers often drift into the atmosphere of the show. Therefore, as part of community life, batombe often cause a negative effects for the singers soul. This paper describes various things, such as: who batombe singer is; the time to perform this activity; the relationship between batombe and Great House (Rumah Gadang) at Nagari Abai; and the negative effects caused by batombe for the singers. This paper based on the fact that in oral tradition there is a close relationship between text and the speakers and text with context (place, time and atmosphere), a multidisciplinary approach is used in this paper, such as historical, sociological, anthropological, and psychological approach. The method used is descriptive analysis method.AbstrakBatombe adalah tradisi lisan masyarakat Nagari Abai, Kecamatan Sangir Batanghari, Kabupaten Solok Selatan, Provinsi Sumatra Barat. Batombe adalah tradisi berbalas pantun yang dilakukan sebagai hiburan pada pesta pernikahan (baralek). Batombe identik dengan rumah gadang Nagari Abai yang unik, yakni rumah adat dengan ruangan yang sangat panjang hingga 21 ruangan. Pantun-pantun batombe cenderung menyampaikan perasaan yang mendayu-dayu sehingga para pedendangnya sering hanyut ke dalam suasana pertunjukan. Oleh sebab itu, sebagai bagian dari kehidupan masyarakat, seringkali batombe menyebabkan efek negatif bagi (kejiwaan) para pedendangnya. Tulisan ini mendeskripsikan berbagai hal, seperti penutur batombe, waktu untuk melakukan batombe, hubungan batombe dengan rumah gadang di Nagari Abai, dan efek negatif yang ditimbulkan batombe bagi pedendangnya. Tulisan ini bertolak dari kenyataan bahwa pada tradisi lisan terdapat hubungan erat, antara lain seperti teks dengan penutur dan teks dengan konteks (tempat, waktu, dan suasana). Pendekatan multidisipliner digunakan pada tulisan ini, yakni pendekatan historis, sosiologis, antropologis, dan psikologis. Metode yang digunakan adalah metode analisis deskriptif.

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