Taking on the neglected issue of the short story's relationship to literary Modernism, Claire Drewery examines works by Katherine Mansfield, Dorothy Richardson, May Sinclair, and Virginia Woolf. Drewery argues that the short story as a genre is preoccupied with transgressing boundaries, and thus offers an ideal platform from which to examine the Modernist fascination with the liminal. Embodying both liberation and restriction, liminal spaces on the one hand enable challenges to traditional cultural and personal identities, while on the other hand they entail the inevitable negative consequences of occupying the position of the outsider: marginality, psychosis, and death. Mansfield, Richardson, Sinclair, and Woolf all exploit this paradox in their short fiction, which typically explores literal and psychological borderline states that are resistant to rational analysis. Thus, their short stories offered these authors an opportunity to represent the borders of unconsciousness and to articulate meaning while also conveying a sense of that which is unsayable. Through their concern with liminality, Drewery shows, these writers contribute significantly to the Modernist aesthetic that interrogates identity, the construction of the self, and the relationship between the individual and society.

Taking on the neglected issue of the short story's relationship to literary Modernism, Claire Drewery examines works by Katherine Mansfield, Dorothy Richardson, May Sinclair, and Virginia Woolf. Drewery argues that the short story as a genre is preoccupied with transgressing boundaries, and thus offers an ideal platform from which to examine the Modernist fascination with the liminal. Embodying both liberation and restriction, liminal spaces on the one hand enable challenges to traditional cultural and personal identities, while on the other hand they entail the inevitable negative consequences of occupying the position of the outsider: marginality, psychosis, and death. Mansfield, Richardson, Sinclair, and Woolf all exploit this paradox in their short fiction, which typically explores literal and psychological borderline states that are resistant to rational analysis. Thus, their short stories offered these authors an opportunity to represent the borders of unconsciousness and to articulate meaning while also conveying a sense of that which is unsayable. Through their concern with liminality, Drewery shows, these writers contribute significantly to the Modernist aesthetic that interrogates identity, the construction of the self, and the relationship between the individual and society.

Explores the tension between the abstract intellect and material bodies in May Sinclair's writingMay Sinclair was a bestselling author of her day whose versatile literary output, including criticism, philosophy, poetry, psychoanalysis and experimental fiction, now frequently falls between the established categories of literary modernism. In terms of her contribution to dominant modernist paradigms she was, until recently, best remembered for recasting the psychological novel as 'stream of consciousness' narrative in a 1918 review of Dorothy Richardson's Pilgrimage.This book brings together the most recent research on Sinclair and re-contextualises her work both within and against dominant Modernist narratives. It explores Sinclair's negotiations between the public and private, the cerebral and the corporeal and the spiritual and the profane in both her fiction and non-fiction.Key FeaturesBrings together the most recent research undertaken by foremost Sinclair scholars and early-career researchersConsiders Sinclair's contribution to contemporary aesthetic and philosophical debates about the nature and representation of human identityExplores a wide range of Sinclair's work, including fiction, psychology, philosophy and short stories

Explores the tension between the abstract intellect and material bodies in May Sinclair's writing May Sinclair was a bestselling author of her day whose versatile literary output, including criticism, philosophy, poetry, psychoanalysis and experimental fiction, now frequently falls between the established categories of literary modernism. In terms of her contribution to dominant modernist paradigms she was, until recently, best remembered for recasting the psychological novel as 'stream of consciousness' narrative in a 1918 review of Dorothy Richardson's Pilgrimage. This book brings together the most recent research on Sinclair and re-contextualises her work both within and against dominant Modernist narratives. It explores Sinclair's negotiations between the public and private, the cerebral and the corporeal and the spiritual and the profane in both her fiction and non-fiction. Key Features Brings together the most recent research undertaken by foremost Sinclair scholars and early-career researchers Considers Sinclair's contribution to contemporary aesthetic and philosophical debates about the nature and representation of human identity Explores a wide range of Sinclair's work, including fiction, psychology, philosophy and short stories