Elizabeth Bowen CBE (; 7 June 1899 – 22 February 1973) was an Irish-British novelist and short story writer notable for her books about the "big house" of Irish landed Protestants as well her fiction about life in wartime London.

Life

Elizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen was born on 7 June 1899 at 15 Herbert Place in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, daughter of barrister Henry Charles Cole Bowen (1862–1930), who succeeded his father as head of their Irish gentry family traced back to the late 1500s, of Welsh origin, and Florence Isabella Pomeroy (died 1912), daughter of Henry FitzGeorge Pomeroy Colley, of Mount Temple, Clontarf, Dublin, grandson of the 4th

Viscount Harberton Viscount Harberton, of Carbery in the County of Kildare is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created on 5 July 1791 for Arthur Pomeroy, 1st Baron Harberton, who had previously represented County Kildare in the Irish House of Commons. He h ...

. Florence Bowen's mother was granddaughter of the 4th

Viscount Powerscourt Viscount Powerscourt ( ) is a title that has been created three times in the Peerage of Ireland, each time for members of the Wingfield family. It was created first in 1618 for the Chief Governor of Ireland, Richard Wingfield. However, this cre ...

. Elizabeth Bowen was baptised in the nearby St Stephen's Church on Upper Mount Street. Her parents later brought her to her father's family home, Bowen's Court at Farahy, near Kildorrery,

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...

, where she spent her summers. When her father became mentally ill in 1907, she and her mother moved to England, eventually settling in

Hythe Hythe, from Anglo-Saxon ''hȳð'', may refer to a landing-place, port or haven, either as an element in a toponym, such as Rotherhithe in London, or to: Places Australia * Hythe, Tasmania Canada *Hythe, Alberta, a village in Canada England * ...

. After her mother died in September 1912 Bowen was brought up by her aunts; her father remarried in 1918. She was educated at

Downe House School Downe House School is a selective independent girls' day and boarding school in Cold Ash, a village near Newbury, Berkshire, for girls aged 11–18. The '' Good Schools Guide'' described Downe House as an "Archetypal traditional girls' full b ...

under the headship of Olive Willis. After some time at art school in London she decided that her talent lay in writing. She mixed with the

Bloomsbury Group The Bloomsbury Group—or Bloomsbury Set—was a group of associated English writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the first half of the 20th century, including Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster and Lytton St ...

, becoming good friends with

Rose Macaulay Dame Emilie Rose Macaulay, (1 August 1881 – 30 October 1958) was an English writer, most noted for her award-winning novel '' The Towers of Trebizond'', about a small Anglo-Catholic group crossing Turkey by camel. The story is seen as a spiritu ...

who helped her seek out a publisher for her first book, a collection of short stories entitled ''Encounters'' (1923). In 1923 she married Alan Cameron, an educational administrator who subsequently worked for the BBC. The marriage has been described as "a sexless but contented union." The marriage was reportedly never consummated. She had various extra-marital relationships, including one with Charles Ritchie, a Canadian diplomat seven years her junior, which lasted over thirty years. She also had an affair with the Irish writer Seán Ó Faoláin and a relationship with the American poet

May Sarton May Sarton was the pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton (May 3, 1912 – July 16, 1995), a Belgian-American poet, novelist and memoirist. Although her best work is strongly personalised with erotic female imagery, she resisted the label of ‘lesbi ...

. Bowen and her husband first lived near

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, where they socialised with Maurice Bowra,

John Buchan John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. After a brief legal career ...

and

Susan Buchan Susan Charlotte Buchan, Baroness Tweedsmuir (''née'' Grosvenor; 20 April 1882 – 22 March 1977) was a British writer and the wife of author John Buchan. Between 1935 and 1940 she was viceregal consort of Canada while her husband was the gover ...

, and where she wrote her early novels, including '' The Last September'' (1929). Following the publication of ''To the North'' (1932) they moved to 2 Clarence Terrace,

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, where she wrote ''

The House in Paris ''The House in Paris'' is Elizabeth Bowen's fifth novel. It is set in France and Great Britain following World War I, and its action takes place on a single February day in a house in Paris. In that house, two young children—Henrietta and Leop ...

'' (1935) and ''

The Death of the Heart ''The Death of the Heart'' is a 1938 novel by Elizabeth Bowen set in the interwar period. It is about a sixteen-year-old orphan, Portia Quayne, who moves to London to live with her half-brother Thomas and falls in love with Eddie, a friend of h ...

'' (1938). In 1937, she became a member of the Irish Academy of Letters. In 1930 Bowen became the first (and only) woman to inherit Bowen's Court, but remained based in England, making frequent visits to Ireland. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

she worked for the British Ministry of Information, reporting on Irish opinion, particularly on the issue of neutrality. Bowen's political views tended towards Burkean conservatism. During and after the war she wrote among the greatest expressions of life in wartime London, ''The Demon Lover and Other Stories'' (1945) and '' The Heat of the Day'' (1948); she was awarded the CBE the same year. Her husband retired in 1952 and they settled in Bowen's Court, where he died a few months later. Many writers visited her at Bowen's Court from 1930 onwards, including

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born ...

, Eudora Welty, Carson McCullers, Iris Murdoch, and the historian Veronica Wedgwood. For years Bowen struggled to keep the house going, lecturing in the United States to earn money. In 1957 her portrait was painted at Bowen's Court by her friend, painter Patrick Hennessy. She travelled to Italy in 1958 to research and prepare ''A Time in Rome'' (1960), but by the following year Bowen was forced to sell her beloved Bowen's Court, which was demolished in 1960. In the following months, she wrote for CBS the narrative of the documentary titled ''Ireland the Tear and the Smile'' which was realised in collaboration with Bob Monks as camera man and associate producer. After spending some years without a permanent home, Bowen finally settled at "Carbery", Church Hill,

, in 1965. St Colman's Church, Farahy - geograph

Her final novel, '' Eva Trout, or Changing Scenes'' (1968), won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1969 and was shortlisted for the

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...

in 1970. Subsequently, she was a judge (alongside her friend

Cyril Connolly Cyril Vernon Connolly CBE (10 September 1903 – 26 November 1974) was an English literary critic and writer. He was the editor of the influential literary magazine '' Horizon'' (1940–49) and wrote ''Enemies of Promise'' (1938), which comb ...

) that awarded the 1972 Man Booker Prize to John Berger for '' G''. She spent Christmas 1972 at

Kinsale Kinsale ( ; ) is a historic port and fishing town in County Cork, Ireland. Located approximately south of Cork City on the southeast coast near the Old Head of Kinsale, it sits at the mouth of the River Bandon, and has a population of 5,281 ( ...

, County Cork, with her friends, Major Stephen Vernon and his wife, Lady Ursula (daughter of the Duke of Westminster) but was hospitalised upon her return. Here she was visited by Connolly, Lady Ursula Vernon,

Isaiah Berlin Sir Isaiah Berlin (6 June 1909 – 5 November 1997) was a Russian-British social and political theorist, philosopher, and historian of ideas. Although he became increasingly averse to writing for publication, his improvised lectures and talks ...

Rosamund Lehmann Rosamond Nina Lehmann (3 February 1901 – 12 March 1990) was an English novelist and translator. Her first novel, '' Dusty Answer'' (1927), was a ''succès de scandale''; she subsequently became established in the literary world and intimat ...

, and her literary agent, Spencer Curtis Brown, among others. In 1972 Bowen developed lung cancer. She died in

University College Hospital University College Hospital (UCH) is a teaching hospital in the Fitzrovia area of the London Borough of Camden, England. The hospital, which was founded as the North London Hospital in 1834, is closely associated with University College Lon ...

on 22 February 1973, aged 73. She is buried with her husband in St Colman's churchyard in Farahy, close to the gates of Bowen's Court, where there is a memorial plaque to the author (which bears the words of John Sparrow) at the entrance to St Colman's Church, where a commemoration of her life is held annually.

Legacy

In 1977,

Victoria Glendinning Victoria Glendinning (''née'' Seebohm; born 23 April 1937) is a British biographer, critic, broadcaster and novelist. She is an Honorary Vice-President of English PEN and Vice-President of the Royal Society of Literature. She won the James Tait ...

published the first biography of Elizabeth Bowen. In 2009, Glendinning published a book about the relationship between Charles Ritchie and Bowen, based on his diaries and her letters to him. In 2012,

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

marked Bowen's Regent's Park home at

Clarence Terrace Clarence Terrace overlooks Regent's Park in Marylebone, City of Westminster, London, England. This terrace is the smallest in the park. The terrace is a Grade I listed building. Architecture This row of terraced houses is named after William I ...

with a

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term ...

. A blue plaque was unveiled 19 October 2014 to mark Bowen's residence at the Coach House, The Croft,

Headington Headington is an eastern suburb of Oxford, England. It is at the top of Headington Hill overlooking the city in the Thames valley below, and bordering Marston to the north-west, Cowley to the south, and Barton and Risinghurst to the east. ...

, from 1925 to 1935.

Themes

Bowen was greatly interested in "life with the lid on and what happens when the lid comes off", in the innocence of orderly life, and in the eventual, irrepressible forces that transform experience. Bowen also examined the betrayal and secrets that lie beneath a veneer of respectability. The style of her works is highly wrought and owes much to literary modernism. She was an admirer of film and influenced by the filmmaking techniques of her day. The locations in which Bowen's works are set often bear heavily on the psychology of the characters and on the plots. Bowen's war novel '' The Heat of the Day'' (1948) is considered one of the quintessential depictions of London’s atmosphere during the bombing raids of World War II. She was also a notable writer of ghost stories. Supernatural fiction writer Robert Aickman considered Elizabeth Bowen to be "the most distinguished living practitioner" of ghost stories. He included her tale 'The Demon Lover' in his anthology ''The Second Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories''.

Selected works

Novels

*''The Hotel'' (1927) *'' The Last September'' (1929) *''Friends and Relations'' (1931) *''To the North'' (1932) *''

'' (1935) *''

'' (1938) *'' The Heat of the Day'' (1949) *''A World of Love'' (1955) *''The Little Girls'' (1964) *'' Eva Trout'' (1968)

Short story collections

* ''Encounters'' (1923) * ''Ann Lee's and Other Stories'' (1926) * ''Joining Charles and Other Stories'' (1929) * ''The Cat Jumps and Other Stories'' (1934) * ''Look at All Those Roses'' (1941) * ''The Demon Lover and Other Stories'' (1945) * ''Ivy Gripped the Steps and Other Stories'' (1946, USA) * ''Stories by Elizabeth Bowen'' (1959) * ''A Day in the Dark and Other Stories'' (1965) * ''The Good Tiger'' (1965, children's book) - illustrated by M. Nebel (1965 edition) and

Quentin Blake Sir Quentin Saxby Blake, (born 16 December 1932) is an English cartoonist, caricaturist, illustrator and children's writer. He has illustrated over 300 books, including 18 written by Roald Dahl, which are among his most popular works. For his ...

(1970 edition) * ''Elizabeth Bowen’s Irish Stories'' (1978) * ''The Collected Stories of Elizabeth Bowen'' (1980) * ''The Bazaar and Other Stories'' (2008) - edited by Allan Hepburn

Nonfiction

* ''Bowen's Court'' (1942, 1964) * ''Seven Winters: Memories of a Dublin Childhood'' (1942) * ''English Novelists'' (1942) * ''Anthony Trollope: A New Judgement'' (1946) * ''Why Do I Write?: An Exchange of Views between Elizabeth Bowen, Graham Greene and V.S. Pritchett'' (1948) * ''Collected Impressions'' (1950) * ''The Shelbourne'' (1951) * ''A Time in Rome'' (1960) * ''Afterthought: Pieces About Writing'' (1962) * ''Pictures and Conversations'' (1975), edited by Spencer Curtis Brown * ''The Mulberry Tree: Writings of Elizabeth Bowen'' (1999), edited by Hermione Lee * ''"Notes on Éire": Espionage Reports to Winston Churchill by Elizabeth Bowen, 1940–1942'' (2008), edited by Jack Lane and Brendan Clifford * ''People, Places, Things: Essays by Elizabeth Bowen'' (2008) - edited by Allan Hepburn * ''Love's Civil War: Elizabeth Bowen and Charles Ritchie: Letters and Diaries, 1941–1973'' (2009), edited by Victoria Glendinning and Judith Robertson * ''Listening In: Broadcasts, Speeches, and Interviews by Elizabeth Bowen'' (2010), edited by Allan Hepburn * ''Elizabeth Bowen's Selected Irish Writings'' (2011), edited by Éibhear Walshe * ''The Weight of a World of Feeling: Reviews and Essays by Elizabeth Bowen'' (2016), edited by Allan Hepburn

Critical studies of Bowen

* Jocelyn Brooke: ''Elizabeth Bowen'' (1952) * William Heath: ''Elizabeth Bowen: An Introduction to Her Novels'' (1961) * Edwin J. Kenney: ''Elizabeth Bowen'' (1975) *

: ''Elizabeth Bowen: Portrait of a Writer'' (1977) * Hermione Lee: ''Elizabeth Bowen: An Estimation'' (1981) * Patricia Craig: ''Elizabeth Bowen'' (1986) *

Harold Bloom Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was described as "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking worl ...

(editor): ''Elizabeth Bowen'' (1987) * Allan E. Austin: ''Elizabeth Bowen '' (1989) * Phyllis Lassner: ''Elizabeth Bowen'' (1990) * Phyllis Lassner: ''Elizabeth Bowen: A Study of the Short Fiction'' (1991) * Heather Bryant Jordan: ''How Will the Heart Endure?: Elizabeth Bowen and the Landscape of War'' (1992) * Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royle: ''Elizabeth Bowen and the Dissolution of the Novel: Still Lives'' (1994) * Renée C. Hoogland: ''Elizabeth Bowen: A Reputation in Writing'' (1994) * John Halperin: ''Eminent Georgians: The Lives of King George V, Elizabeth Bowen, St. John Philby, and Lady Astor'' (1995) * Éibhear Walshe (editor): ''Elizabeth Bowen Remembered: The Farahy Addresses'' (1998) * John D. Coates: ''Social Discontinuity in the Novels of Elizabeth Bowen: The Conservative Quest'' (1998) * Lis Christensen: ''Elizabeth Bowen: The Later Fiction'' (2001) * Maud Ellmann: ''Elizabeth Bowen: The Shadow Across the Page'' (2003) * Neil Corcoran: ''Elizabeth Bowen: The Enforced Return'' (2004) * Éibhear Walshe (editor): ''Elizabeth Bowen: Visions and Revisions'' (2008) * Susan Osborn (editor): ''Elizabeth Bowen: New Critical Perspectives'' (2009) * Lara Feigel: ''The Love-charm of Bombs Restless Lives in the Second World War'' (2013) * Jessica Gildersleeve: ''Elizabeth Bowen and the Writing of Trauma: The Ethics of Survival'' (2014) * Nels Pearson: ''Irish Cosmopolitanism: Location and Dislocation in James Joyce, Elizabeth Bowen, and Samuel Beckett'' (2015) * Jessica Gildersleeve and Patricia Juliana Smith (editors): ''Elizabeth Bowen: Theory, Thought and Things'' (2019)

Critical essays on Bowen

* The Bellman ( Seán Ó Faoláin): "Meet Elizabeth Bowen" in '' The Bell'' Vol. 4 (September 1942) * David Daiches: "The Novels of Elizabeth Bowen" in ''The English Journal'' Vol. 38, No. 6 (1949) * Elizabeth Hardwick: "Elizabeth Bowen’s Fiction" in ''Partisan Review'' Vol. 16 (1949) * Bruce Harkness: "The Fiction of Elizabeth Bowen" in ''The English Journal'' Vol. 44, No. 9 (1955) * Gary T. Davenport: "Elizabeth Bowen and the Big House" in ''Southern Humanities Review'' Vol. 8 (1974) * Martha McGowan: "The Enclosed Garden in Elizabeth Bowen’s ''A World of Love''" in ''Éire-Ireland'' Vol. 16, Issue 1 (Spring 1981) * Seán Ó Faoláin: "A Reading and Remembrance of Elizabeth Bowen" in ''London Review of Books'' (4–17 March 1982) * Antoinette Quinn: "Elizabeth Bowen’s Irish Stories: 1939-45" in ''Studies in Anglo-Irish Literature'' (1982) * Harriet S. Chessman: "Women and Language in the Fiction of Elizabeth Bowen" in ''Twentieth Century Literature'' Vol. 29, No. 1 (1983) * Brad Hooper: "Elizabeth Bowen’s 'The Happy Autumn Fields': A Dream or Not?" in ''Studies in Short Fiction'' Vol. 21 (1984) * Margaret Scanlan: "Rumors of War: Elizabeth Bowen’s ''The Last September'' and J. G. Farrell’s ''Troubles''" in ''Éire-Ireland'' Vol. 20, Issue 2 (Summer 1985) * Phyllis Lassner: "The Past is a Burning Pattern: Elizabeth Bowen’s ''The Last September''" in ''Éire-Ireland'' Vol. 21, Issue 1 (Spring 1986) * John Coates: "Elizabeth Bowen’s ''The Last September'': The Loss of the Past and the Modern Consciousness" in ''Durham University Journal'', Vol. LXXXII, No. 2 (1990) * Roy F. Foster: "The Irishness of Elizabeth Bowen" in ''Paddy & Mr Punch: Connections in Irish and English History'' (1993) * John Halperin: "The Good Tiger: Elizabeth Bowen" in ''Eminent Georgians: The Lives of King George V, Elizabeth Bowen, St. John Philby, and Nancy Astor'' (1995) * Julian Moynahan: "Elizabeth Bowen" in ''Anglo-Irish: The Literary Imagination in a Hyphenated Culture'' (Princeton University Press, 1995) *

Declan Kiberd Declan Kiberd (born 24 May 1951) is an Irish writer and scholar with an interest in modern Irish literature, both in the English and Irish languages, which he often approaches through the lens of postcolonial theory. He is also interested in th ...

: "Elizabeth Bowen: The Dandy in Revolt" in Éibhear Walshe: ''Sex, Nation and Dissent in Irish Writing'' (1997) * Carmen Concilio: "Things that Do Speak in Elizabeth Bowen’s The Last September" in ''Moments of Moment: Aspects of the Literary Epiphany'' edited by Wim Tigges (1999) * Neil Corcoran: "Discovery of a Lack: History and Ellipsis in Elizabeth Bowen’s ''The Last September''" in ''Irish University Review'' Vol. 31, No. 2 (2001) * Elizabeth Cullingford: "'Something Else': Gendering Onliness in Elizabeth Bowen's Early Fiction" in ''MFS Modern Fiction Studies'' Vol. 53, No. 2 (2007) * Elizabeth C. Inglesby: "'Expressive Objects': Elizabeth Bowen's Narrative Materializes" in ''MFS Modern Fiction Studies'' Vol. 53, No. 2 (2007) * Brook Miller: "The Impersonal Personal: Value, Voice, and Agency in Elizabeth Bowen's Literary and Social Criticism" in ''Modern Fiction Studies'', Vol. 53, No. 2 (Summer 2007) * Sinéad Mooney: "Unstable Compounds: Bowen's Beckettian Affinities" in ''Modern Fiction Studies'', Vol. 53, No. 2 (Summer 2007) * Victoria Stewart: "'That Eternal Now': Memory and Subjectivity in Elizabeth Bowen's ''Seven Winters''" in ''MFS Modern Fiction Studies'' Vol. 53, No. 2 (2007) * Keri Walsh: "Elizabeth Bowen, Surrealist" in ''Éire-Ireland'' Vol. 42, No. 3-4 (2007) * Heather Bryant Jordan: "A Bequest of Her Own: The Reinvention of Elizabeth Bowen" in ''New Hibernia Review'' Vol. 12, No. 2 (2008) * Céline Magot: "Elizabeth Bowen’s London in ''The Heat of the Day'': An Impression of the City in the Territory of War" in ''Literary London'' (2008) * Éibhear Walshe: "No abiding city." ''The Dublin Review'' No. 36 (2009) * Jessica Gildersleeve: "An Unnameable Thing: Spectral Shadows in Elizabeth Bowen’s ''The Hotel'' and ''The Last September''" in ''Perforations'' * John D. Coates: "The Misfortunes of Eva Trout" in ''Essays in Criticism'' 48.1 (1998) * Karen Schaller: "'I know it to be synthetic but it affects me strongly': 'Dead Mabelle' and Bowen's Emotion Pictures" in ''Textual Practice'' 27.1 (2013) * Patricia J. Smith: "'Everything to Dread from the Dispossessed': Changing Scenes and the End of the Modernist Heroine in Elizabeth Bowen's ''Eva Trout''" in ''Hecate'' 35.1/2 (2009) * James F. Wurtz: "Elizabeth Bowen, Modernism, and the Spectre of Anglo-Ireland" in ''Estudios Irlandeses'' No. 5 (2010) * Patrick W. Moran: "Elizabeth Bowen's Toys and the Imperatives of Play" in ''Éire-Ireland'' Vol. 46, Issue 1&2 (Spring/Summer 2011) * Kathryn Johnson:"'Phantasmagoric Hinterlands': Adolescence and Anglo-Ireland in Elizabeth Bowen’s ''The House in Paris'' and ''The Death of the Heart''" in ''Irish Women Writers: New Critical Perspectives'', ed. Elke d’Hoker, et al. (2011) * Tina O’Toole: "Unregenerate Spirits: The Counter-Cultural Experiments of George Egerton and Elizabeth Bowen" in ''Irish Women Writers: New Critical Perspectives'', ed. Elke d’Hoker, et al. (2011) * Lauren Elkin: "Light's Language: Sensation and Subjectivity in Elizabeth Bowen's Early Novels." Réfléchir (sur) la sensation, ed. Marina Poisson (2014) * Gerry Smyth, "A Spy in the House of Love: Elizabeth Bowen's '' The Heat of the Day'' (1949)" in ''The Judas Kiss: Treason and Betrayal in Six Modern Irish Novels'' (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2015), 115-34

Television and film adaptations

* ''The House in Paris'' (BBC, 1959) starring Pamela Brown,

Trader Faulkner Ronald "Trader" Faulkner (7 September 1927 – 14 April 2021) was an Australian actor, raconteur and flamenco dancer, best known for his work in the UK on the stage and television. Early life Faulkner was born in Manly, Australia, the son of ...

, Clare Austin and

Vivienne Bennett Vivian (and variants such as Vivien and Vivienne) is a given name, and less often a surname, derived from a Latin name of the Roman Empire period, masculine ''Vivianus'' and feminine '' Viviana'', which survived into modern use because it is the n ...

* ''

'' (1987) starring Patricia Hodge,

Nigel Havers Nigel Allan Havers (born 6 November 1951) is an English actor. His film roles include Lord Andrew Lindsay in the 1981 British film ''Chariots of Fire'', which earned him a BAFTA nomination; as Dr. Rawlins in the 1987 Steven Spielberg war dram ...

Robert Hardy Timothy Sydney Robert Hardy (29 October 1925 – 3 August 2017) was an English actor who had a long career in theatre, film and television. He began his career as a classical actor and later earned widespread recognition for roles such as Sieg ...

, Phyllis Calvert, Wendy Hiller and

Miranda Richardson Miranda Jane Richardson (born 3 March 1958) is an English actress. She made her film debut playing Ruth Ellis in '' Dance with a Stranger'' (1985) and went on to receive Academy Award nominations for '' Damage'' (1992) and ''Tom & Viv'' (1994). ...

* '' The Heat of the Day'' (Granada Television, 1989) starring Patricia Hodge,

Michael Gambon Sir Michael John Gambon (; born 19 October 1940) is an Irish-English actor. Regarded as one of Ireland and Britain's most distinguished actors, he is known for his work on stage and screen. Gambon started his acting career with Laurence Olivi ...

, Michael York, Peggy Ashcroft and

Imelda Staunton Imelda Mary Philomena Bernadette Staunton (born 9 January 1956) is an English actress and singer. After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Staunton began her career in repertory theatre in 1976 and appeared in various theatre prod ...

* '' The Last September'' (1999) starring

Maggie Smith Dame Margaret Natalie Smith (born 28 December 1934) is an English actress. With an extensive career on screen and stage beginning in the mid-1950s, Smith has appeared in more than sixty films and seventy plays. She is one of the few performer ...

Fiona Shaw Fiona Shaw (born Fiona Mary Wilson; 10 July 1958) is an Irish film and theatre actress. She is known for her roles as Petunia Dursley in the ''Harry Potter'' film series (2001–2010), Marnie Stonebrook in the fourth season of the HBO ser ...

, Jane Birkin, Lambert Wilson,

David Tennant David John Tennant (''né'' McDonald; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He rose to fame for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor (2005–2010 and 2013) in the BBC science-fiction TV show ''Doctor Who'', reprising the rol ...

, Richard Roxburgh and

Keeley Hawes Claire Julia Hawes (born 10 February 1976), known professionally as Keeley Hawes, is an English actress. After beginning her career in a number of literary adaptations, including ''Our Mutual Friend'' (1998) and ''Tipping the Velvet'' (2002), Haw ...

References

External links

1956 recording: Elizabeth Bowen discusses the importance of character to novels
(Video, 11 mins)
Elizabeth Bowen at Irish Writers Online
*
Elizabeth Bowen Collection
at the Harry Ransom Center at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Elizabeth Bowen in ''Encyclopædia Britannica''

(1957), Crawford Municipal Art Gallery,

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

, Ireland
Blue plaque to Elizabeth Bowen in Headington, Oxford

"Notes on Writing a Novel,"
an essay, at Narrative Magazine. *
Elizabeth Bowen
at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowen, Elizabeth 1899 births 1973 deaths 20th-century Anglo-Irish people Bisexual women Bisexual writers LGBT writers from Ireland LGBT novelists Writers from Dublin (city) People from Hythe, Kent People educated at Downe House School Irish Anglicans Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Deaths from lung cancer in England Ghost story writers James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients 20th-century British women writers Irish women novelists 20th-century Irish novelists Irish women short story writers 20th-century Irish short story writers British women novelists 20th-century British novelists British short story writers British women short story writers 20th-century British short story writers British horror writers Irish horror writers People with speech impediment Women horror writers 20th-century LGBT people