Reception and reputation Stella Gibbons

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.