More than "Wisteria and Sunshine": The Garden as a Space of Female Introspection and Identity in Elizabeth von Arnim's <em>The Enchanted April and Vera</em>

Recent scholarly interest in Elizabeth von Arnim has related Elizabeth and Her German Garden and The Solitary Summer to the New Woman and Female Aesthete movements, concluding that von Arnim does not align herself with any movement per se. Rather, in these early works, Elizabeth advocates and adaman...

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Main Author: Young, Katie Elizabeth
Format: Others
Published: BYU ScholarsArchive 2011
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Online Access:https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/3033
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4032&amp;context=etd
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spelling ndltd-BGMYU2-oai-scholarsarchive.byu.edu-etd-40322021-08-21T05:01:36Z More than "Wisteria and Sunshine": The Garden as a Space of Female Introspection and Identity in Elizabeth von Arnim's <em>The Enchanted April and Vera</em> Young, Katie Elizabeth Recent scholarly interest in Elizabeth von Arnim has related Elizabeth and Her German Garden and The Solitary Summer to the New Woman and Female Aesthete movements, concluding that von Arnim does not align herself with any movement per se. Rather, in these early works, Elizabeth advocates and adamantly defends her right to time in her garden, which becomes her sanctuary for reading and thinking. Little critical attention has been paid to von Arnim's later works; however, many of the themes established in von Arnim's early works can be traced through her later novels. In The Enchanted April Lady Caroline retreats to the garden at San Salvatore in order to escape the attention of others and discover who she really is and what she wants out of life. Because she follows the early von Arnim model by defending her garden sanctuary, she is able to find the strength to insist on being treated as a person rather than a beautiful object. Additionally, Lucy Enstwhistle's interrupted time in the garden in Vera demonstrates the importance of the role of von Arnim's garden in forming an identity and developing the ability to make decisions for oneself. Because Lucy allows Everard Wemyss to rob her of these opportunities, she loses the opportunity to create her identity. She soon becomes the second Mrs. Wemyss, realizes that she is abject, and begins taking on first wife Vera's attributes and passions to cope with Everard's constant demands. Because Lucy has forfeited the formative experiences the garden space can provide, Lucy is left to take up Vera's identity and tragic fate. 2011-06-16T07:00:00Z text application/pdf https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/3033 https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4032&amp;context=etd http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/ Theses and Dissertations BYU ScholarsArchive Elizabeth von Arnim Vera The Enchanted April garden women authors twentieth-century fiction abjectification novelists English English Language and Literature
collection NDLTD
format Others
sources NDLTD
topic Elizabeth von Arnim
Vera
The Enchanted April
garden
women authors
twentieth-century fiction
abjectification
novelists
English
English Language and Literature
spellingShingle Elizabeth von Arnim
Vera
The Enchanted April
garden
women authors
twentieth-century fiction
abjectification
novelists
English
English Language and Literature
Young, Katie Elizabeth
More than "Wisteria and Sunshine": The Garden as a Space of Female Introspection and Identity in Elizabeth von Arnim's <em>The Enchanted April and Vera</em>
description Recent scholarly interest in Elizabeth von Arnim has related Elizabeth and Her German Garden and The Solitary Summer to the New Woman and Female Aesthete movements, concluding that von Arnim does not align herself with any movement per se. Rather, in these early works, Elizabeth advocates and adamantly defends her right to time in her garden, which becomes her sanctuary for reading and thinking. Little critical attention has been paid to von Arnim's later works; however, many of the themes established in von Arnim's early works can be traced through her later novels. In The Enchanted April Lady Caroline retreats to the garden at San Salvatore in order to escape the attention of others and discover who she really is and what she wants out of life. Because she follows the early von Arnim model by defending her garden sanctuary, she is able to find the strength to insist on being treated as a person rather than a beautiful object. Additionally, Lucy Enstwhistle's interrupted time in the garden in Vera demonstrates the importance of the role of von Arnim's garden in forming an identity and developing the ability to make decisions for oneself. Because Lucy allows Everard Wemyss to rob her of these opportunities, she loses the opportunity to create her identity. She soon becomes the second Mrs. Wemyss, realizes that she is abject, and begins taking on first wife Vera's attributes and passions to cope with Everard's constant demands. Because Lucy has forfeited the formative experiences the garden space can provide, Lucy is left to take up Vera's identity and tragic fate.
author Young, Katie Elizabeth
author_facet Young, Katie Elizabeth
author_sort Young, Katie Elizabeth
title More than "Wisteria and Sunshine": The Garden as a Space of Female Introspection and Identity in Elizabeth von Arnim's <em>The Enchanted April and Vera</em>
title_short More than "Wisteria and Sunshine": The Garden as a Space of Female Introspection and Identity in Elizabeth von Arnim's <em>The Enchanted April and Vera</em>
title_full More than "Wisteria and Sunshine": The Garden as a Space of Female Introspection and Identity in Elizabeth von Arnim's <em>The Enchanted April and Vera</em>
title_fullStr More than "Wisteria and Sunshine": The Garden as a Space of Female Introspection and Identity in Elizabeth von Arnim's <em>The Enchanted April and Vera</em>
title_full_unstemmed More than "Wisteria and Sunshine": The Garden as a Space of Female Introspection and Identity in Elizabeth von Arnim's <em>The Enchanted April and Vera</em>
title_sort more than "wisteria and sunshine": the garden as a space of female introspection and identity in elizabeth von arnim's <em>the enchanted april and vera</em>
publisher BYU ScholarsArchive
publishDate 2011
url https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/3033
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4032&amp;context=etd
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