Writing Stella Gibbons

1 writing

1.1 style
1.2 reception , reputation
1.3 list of works

1.3.1 novels
1.3.2 short stories
1.3.3 children s books
1.3.4 poetry

writing
style

gibbons s writing has been praised critics perspicacity, sense of fun, charm, wit , descriptive skill—the last product of journalistic training—which used convey both atmosphere , character. although beauman refers malicious wit , truss sees no cruelty in barbed humour, reflected gibbons s detestation of pomposity , pretence. truss has described gibbons jane austen of 20th century , parallel novelist malcolm bradbury thought apt; flora poste in cold comfort farm, higher common sense , jane-ite heroine transformed clear-eyed modern woman . bradbury observed many of gibbons s novels end in austen-like nuptials.

truss highlights importance gibbons places on detachment necessary adjunct effective writing: many doctor, seems have considered sympathy peculiar , redundant emotion, , terrible waste of time. matter-of-fact quality in prose might, according gibbons s guardian obituarist richard boston, reaction against turbulent , violent emotions witnessed within own family who, said, madly highly-sexed, starkadders . is, observed neville, irony overheated melodrama gibbons disliked @ heart of 1 great success; gibbons s writings on everyday life brought restrained approval, no noticeable literary recognition. nevertheless, straightforward, style, unadorned except in parody, admired rachel cooke, praises sworn enemy of flatulent, pompous , excessively sentimental. while short of sentimentality, gibbons s writing, in prose or verse, did not lack sensitivity. had 1 analyst described rare ability enter feelings of uncommunicative , bring life emotions of unremarkable .

some of gibbons s poetry expressed love of nature , prophetic awareness environmental issues such sea pollution, decades before such concerns became fashionable. in critical summary of gibbons s poems, loralee macpike has described them slight lyrics ... [which] tend toward classic, archaic, diction, , occasionally ... show flashes of novels wit . such lines thoughts, purple parrots / brood / in sick light come dangerously close indeed overblown rhetoric satirized in cold comfort farm: how yaks drowsy thoughts .

reception , reputation

the immediate , enduring success of cold comfort farm dominated rest of gibbons s career. neville thought after singular success @ start of career, rest of anticlimax, despite considerable industry , undoubted skills. 1985 edition of oxford companion english literature defines gibbons solely in terms of cold comfort farm; mentions none of other works—while providing bêtes noires morgan , mary webb full entries. gibbons, cold comfort farm became book or you-know-what , title never mentioned. despite growing irritation , expressed distaste it, book continued lauded successive generations of critics, boston described 1 of rare books of comic genius imprints on brain , can never afterwards eradicated . more negative view of book has been expressed literary critic mary beard, considers rather controlling victory of modern order, cleanliness, contraception , medicine on these messy, different, rural types ... found myself screaming rights of these poor country folk not fall hands of people flora .

faye hammill: stella gibbons: ex-centricity , suburb

although boston suggested gibbons s rating in academic english literature world ought high, literary status indeterminate. did not promote herself, , indifferent attractions of public life: m not shy , told oliver, m unsociable . truss records gibbons had overtly rejected literary world ... didn t move in literary circles, or visit literary squares, or love in literary triangles . truss posits further reasons why gibbons did not become literary canon. because woman wrote amusingly, classified middlebrow ; furthermore, published longmans, non-literary publisher. lampooning of literary establishment in spoof dedication of cold comfort farm 1 anthony pookworthy did not amuse establishment, further offended book s mockery of writing of such canonical figures lawrence , hardy—hence virginia woolf s reaction prix Étranger award. belief in called gentle powers (pity, affection, time, beauty, laughter) flew in face of disillusioned modernism.

the literary critic john carey suggests abandonment intellectuals of clerks , suburbs subjects of literary interest provided opening writers prepared exploit underexplored area. considers john betjeman , stevie smith 2 writers achieved this. hammill believes gibbons should named alongside these two, since in writings rejects stereotypical view of suburbia unexciting, conventional , limited. instead, says hammill, gibbons s fictional suburbs socially , architecturally diverse, , characters—who range experimental writers shopkeepers—read , interpret suburban styles , values in varying , incompatible ways . hammill adds gibbons s strong identification own suburban home, in lived 53 years, may have influenced preference stay outside mainstream of metropolitan literary life, , time time mock it.

after many years in of gibbons s output has been out of print, in 2011 publishers vintage classics reissued paperback versions of westwood, starlight, , conference @ cold comfort farm. announced plans publish 11 of other novels, on print-on-demand basis.

list of works

publisher information relates first publication only. many of books have been reissued, different publishers.

novels

short stories

roaring tower , other stories. london: longmans. 1937. oclc 6705456. 
christmas @ cold comfort farm , other stories. london: longmans. 1940. oclc 771331616. 
beside pearly water. london: peter nevill. 1954. oclc 6922440. 

children s books

the untidy gnome. london: longmans. 1935. oclc 560579789. 

poetry

the mountain beast. london: longmans. 1930. 
the priestess , other poems. london: longmans. 1934. oclc 7123475. 
the lowland venus. london: longmans. 1938. oclc 10421672. 
collected poems. london: longmans. 1950. oclc 3372203. 




^ stella still burns brightly . herald. 11 december 2011. retrieved 19 june 2016. 
^ oliver, p. 217
^ beauman, p. 217
^ truss 2006, p. xv
^ bradbury, malcolm (23 july 1998). taking comfort in classic . times. p. 41. 
^ cite error: named reference trussxi invoked never defined (see page).
^ boston, richard (20 december 1989). our comfort . guardian. p. 29. 
^ cite error: named reference odnb1 invoked never defined (see page).
^ cite error: named reference cooke invoked never defined (see page).
^ schleuter , schleuter (eds), pp. 190–91
^ quoted in r. oliver, out of woodshed (london 1998) p. 36-7
^ s. gibbons, cold comfort farm (penguin 1938) p. 114
^ drabble (ed.), pp. 210, 390, 668–69 , 1052
^ oliver, p. 122
^ beard, mary (13 october 2011). cold comfort farm read ? . times literary supplement online. archived original on 21 november 2011. retrieved 15 november 2011. 
^ hammill 2009, p. 76
^ oliver, p. 237
^ truss 2006, p. xvii
^ cite error: named reference trussxvi invoked never defined (see page).
^ r. olliver, out of woodshed (london 1998) p. 188
^ r. olliver, out of woodshed (london 1998) p. 125
^ carey, p. 66
^ hammill 2009, p. 75
^ hammill 2009, p. 90

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