Cold Comfort Farm Stella Gibbons

in time lady, gibbons established reputation caustic book reviewer, , particularly critical of fashionable loam , lovechild rural novels. novelists such mary webb , sheila kaye-smith had achieved considerable popularity through depictions of country life; webb favourite of british prime minister stanley baldwin. gibbons had first become familiar genre when provided summaries of webb s golden arrow evening standard s 1928 serialisation. found writing overblown , plotting ridiculous, , decided own first novel comic parody of genre. february 1932 had completed manuscript , delivered publishers, longmans.

cold comfort farm, chapter v. judith starkadder explains mysterious properties of sukebind .

gibbons s chosen title novel had been curse god farm , before friend elizabeth coxhead, had connections in hinckley district of leicestershire, suggested cold comfort alternative, using name of farm in hinckley area. gibbons delighted suggestion, , work published cold comfort farm in september 1932. plot concerns efforts of rational, bossy london heroine bring order , serenity rustic relations, starkadders, on run-down sussex farm. according feminist companion literature in english, gibbons s parody [demolishes] ... stock-in-trade of earthy regionalists such thomas hardy, mary webb, sheila kaye-smith , d. h. lawrence . literary scholar faye hammill describes work extremely sophisticated , intricate parody meaning produced through relationship literary culture of day , work of such canonical authors d. h. lawrence, thomas hardy, , emily brontë . in history of 1930s, juliet gardiner ascribes socio-economic dimension book: picture of rural gloom caused government lassitude , urban indifference .

the work immediate critical , popular success. satire heightened gibbons s mockery of purple prose, whereby marked florid , overwritten passages of book asterisks, reader s delectation , mirth . 1 critic found hard accept well-developed parody work of scarcely known woman writer, , speculated stella gibbons pen-name evelyn waugh. gibbons found herself in demand in literary circles , fellow writers, raised celebrity status found distasteful. acquired agent, advised confidently expect regular , comfortable income novelist. assurance prompted her, @ end of 1932, resign position lady , embark on full-time writing career.

in march 1931 gibbons had become engaged allan webb, budding actor , opera singer 5 years junior. son of cricketing parson, , grandson of allan becher webb, former bishop of bloemfontein served dean of salisbury cathedral. on 1 april 1933 couple married @ st matthew s, bayswater. later year learned cold comfort farm had been awarded prix Étranger, foreign novel category of prestigious french literary prize, prix femina. had won against works 2 more experienced writers, bowen , rosamond lehmann. outcome irritated virginia woolf, herself former prix Étranger winner, wrote bowen: enraged see gave £40 (the cash value of prize) gibbons; still, , rosamond can join in blaming . cooke observes of prix Étranger winners inter-war years, cold comfort farm , woolf s lighthouse remembered today, , former has bequeathed phrase has passed common usage: nasty in woodshed .

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